By . Kieran Corcoran . PUBLISHED: . 16:29 EST, 17 September 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 11:32 EST, 18 September 2013 . The Crown Prosecution Service spent more than £1million on ‘golden goodbye’ pay-offs for departing employees, it emerged today. The pay packages, which total between £515,000 and £620,000, were made in the past four years by the service, which takes legal action against suspected criminals on behalf of the Government. The bumper payments, made to former chief operating officer Mike Kennedy, 59, and an unidentified other employee, were uncovered by Exaro, the investigative website. Mike Kennedy, pictured here when he was president of EU quango Eurojust, was given a payout of more than £515,000 when he left the CPS . The second employee, who was made redundant in 2009, was given an even larger severance package, totalling £623,555. This means that the CPS spent has spent more than £1.1million on deals for only these two members of staff. The package for Mr Kennedy, who was made redundant last November from his £145,000-a-year-position, is made up of several different payments worth between £45,000 and £170,000 each. CPS accounts for the last financial year show that Mr Kennedy was given between £45,000 and £60,000 to compensate him for not having a notice period, a lump sum of between £160,000 and £170,000 when he started drawing his civil service pension, and an unexplained ‘compensation’ payment of between £255,000 and £260,000. He would also have become eligible for the first year of regular payments from his pension, which amount to between £55,000 and £60,000 per year. This means the total value of his payment for leaving the job was between £515,000 and £550,000. General 'compensation'  £255,000  -  £260,000 . Notice period payment      £45,000  -    £60,000 . Pension lump sum          £160,000  -  £170,000 . First year of pension        £55,000  -    £60,000 . Total                               £515,000  -  £550,000 . One insider told Exaro that Kennedy left his post last November because the CPS struggled to find a role for him after he returned from a secondment to a European Union body. Before being made redundant Mr Kennedy had been on a five-year secondment as president of the EU quango Eurojust, which helps different judicial systems work together. After his return in 2007, an insider alleges that CPS bosses did not know what to do with Kennedy, but that they were contractually bound to give him his job back. The anonymous source told Exaro: 'You have this guy who has been out for five years, but what do you do with him? Mike Kennedy was the chief operating office of the CPS, but left for five years to be president of an EU quango . 'At the end of his secondment, he was guaranteed the right of return to his home organisation. It is normal when you are seconded that your home organisation must take you back.' However, a spokesman denied that Mr Kennedy had left the CPS for lack of a job to do. He said: 'We know Mike Kennedy’s employment history. He was appointed as COO well before his secondment at Eurojust was due to end. 'Mike returned to act in this important role and stayed in it for five years. The situation that the source describes – Mike Kennedy returning from Eurojust and not having a job to do, somehow prompting his retirement five years later – has no factual basis.' In addition to Mr Kennedy’s package, the CPS paid off a second ‘senior employee’, who has not been identified. He or she received a payment of £623,555 – tens of thousands more than Mr Kennedy’s – in 2009. A spokesman for the CPS said that payments to Mr Kennedy were made: 'entirely in accordance with all appropriate Cabinet Office guidance and Civil Service pension rules.' The spokesman also said that in the case of the secpond payment that the CPS: ‘Applied the contractual compulsory redundancy terms to which the employee was entitled, and had no discretion in the size of this payment.’ Pay-offs for high-ranking public officials have been under especial scrutiny recently, after MPs attacked executives at the BBC over the scale of ‘golden goodbye’ payments. The corporation gave senior managers received a total of £25milion in severance deals between 2009 and 2012. It tried to keep their identities secret, but has been ordered by Parliament to name the individuals.
Former chief operating office Mike Kennedy received at least £515,000 .
An unnamed employee received £623,000 in 2009 .
CPS says it acted properly over the payments, which exceed £1.1million .
By . Kieran Corcoran . PUBLISHED: . 16:29 EST, 17 September 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 11:32 EST, 18 September 2013 . The Crown Prosecution Service spent more than £1million on ‘golden goodbye’ pay-offs for departing employees, it emerged today. The pay packages, which total between £515,000 and £620,000, were made in the past four years by the service, which takes legal action against suspected criminals on behalf of the Government. The bumper payments, made to former chief operating officer Mike Kennedy, 59, and an unidentified other employee, were uncovered by Exaro, the investigative website. Mike Kennedy, pictured here when he was president of EU quango Eurojust, was given a payout of more than £515,000 when he left the CPS . The second employee, who was made redundant in 2009, was given an even larger severance package, totalling £623,555. This means that the CPS spent has spent more than £1.1million on deals for only these two members of staff. The package for Mr Kennedy, who was made redundant last November from his £145,000-a-year-position, is made up of several different payments worth between £45,000 and £170,000 each. CPS accounts for the last financial year show that Mr Kennedy was given between £45,000 and £60,000 to compensate him for not having a notice period, a lump sum of between £160,000 and £170,000 when he started drawing his civil service pension, and an unexplained ‘compensation’ payment of between £255,000 and £260,000. He would also have become eligible for the first year of regular payments from his pension, which amount to between £55,000 and £60,000 per year. This means the total value of his payment for leaving the job was between £515,000 and £550,000. General 'compensation' £255,000  -  £260,000 . Notice period payment £45,000  -    £60,000 . Pension lump sum          £160,000  -  £170,000 . First year of pension        £55,000  -    £60,000 . Total                               £515,000  - £550,000 . One insider told Exaro that Kennedy left his post last November because the CPS struggled to find a role for him after he returned from a secondment to a European Union body. Before being made redundant Mr Kennedy had been on a five-year secondment as president of the EU quango Eurojust, which helps different judicial systems work together. After his return in 2007, an insider alleges that CPS bosses did not know what to do with Kennedy, but that they were contractually bound to give him his job back. The anonymous source told Exaro: 'You have this guy who has been out for five years, but what do you do with him? Mike Kennedy was the chief operating office of the CPS, but left for five years to be president of an EU quango . 'At the end of his secondment, he was guaranteed the right of return to his home organisation. It is normal when you are seconded that your home organisation must take you back.' However, a spokesman denied that Mr Kennedy had left the CPS for lack of a job to do. He said: 'We know Mike Kennedy’s employment history. He was appointed as COO well before his secondment at Eurojust was due to end. 'Mike returned to act in this important role and stayed in it for five years. The situation that the source describes – Mike Kennedy returning from Eurojust and not having a job to do, somehow prompting his retirement five years later – has no factual basis.' In addition to Mr Kennedy’s package, the CPS paid off a second ‘senior employee’, who has not been identified. He or she received a payment of £623,555 – tens of thousands more than Mr Kennedy’s – in 2009. A spokesman for the CPS said that payments to Mr Kennedy were made: 'entirely in accordance with all appropriate Cabinet Office guidance and Civil Service pension rules.' The spokesman also said that in the case of the secpond payment that the CPS: ‘Applied the contractual compulsory redundancy terms to which the employee was entitled, and had no discretion in the size of this payment.’ Pay-offs for high-ranking public officials have been under especial scrutiny recently, after MPs attacked executives at the BBC over the scale of ‘golden goodbye’ payments. The corporation gave senior managers received a total of £25milion in severance deals between 2009 and 2012. It tried to keep their identities secret, but has been ordered by Parliament to name the individuals.
Exaro, the investigative website. Mike Kennedy, employee, who was made redundant in 2009, was Total                               £515,000  - chief operating office of the CPS, but left for executives at the BBC over the scale of ‘golden