Fears that high-speed rail project HS2’s £55.7bn budget could spiral higher have been underlined by an audit showing unauthorised redundancy payments to staff, far above the government cap on payouts. The head of the NAO, Sir Amyas Morse, said the findings highlighted troubling “culture and behaviours” at HS2, which needed to be addressed if taxpayers’ money was to be protected. Meanwhile, 27 staff were given voluntary redundancy packages worth £1.84m, with eight individuals earning more than £150,000 a year receiving up to £200,000 each. The chairman of HS2, Sir David Higgins, said the NAO report showed the company had made a “serious error”. He said: “HS2 takes its responsibility for spending taxpayers’ money extremely seriously so when we get things wrong we will hold our hands up.

Source: The Guardian July 19, 2017 14:41 UTC