A WHITEHALL official at the centre of the Windrush Generation row and the mandarin with responsibility for Brexit talks have been awarded bumper bonuses.
Payments were made to Hugh Ind, the former Home Office director general of immigration enforcement, and Olly Robbins, the senior official involved in talks with Brussels.
The Brexit Department's annual report showed Robbins received up to £20,000.
The Home Office's annual report for 2017-18 shows Ind received a bonus of between £5000 and £10,000.
Ind left the Home Office for a new role in the Cabinet Office in May, shortly after Amber Rudd was forced to quit for "inadvertently misleading" Parliament over her knowledge of targets for removing illegal immigrants.
It emerged she had been copied in to an internal memorandum – written by Ind – which described targets set by the Immigration Enforcement (IE) agency for removing people who had no right to be in the UK.
The "hostile environment" for illegal immigrants was blamed for the Windrush scandal, which saw people who were entitled to be in the UK face being deported if they could not prove their status.
Another official, Patsy Wilkinson, also moved from her senior role at the Home Office in May at the same time as Ind.
She received a bonus of up to £5000 in 2017-18.
At the Department for Exiting the European Union, Robbins – who was the permanent secretary until September 2017 – was awarded a bonus of between £15,000 and £20,000.
Robbins subsequently moved to become Theresa May's Europe adviser and has been blamed by Brexiteers for the softening of the UK's stance on Brexit.
Asked about the bonus, Downing Street said May signed it off after a recommendation from the Permanent Secretaries Remuneration Committee.
The committee is made up of an independent chair, three independent members and also includes the Cabinet Secretary, the Civil Service chief executive and the Permanent Secretary to the Treasury.
A Downing Street spokeswoman said: "Bonuses in government are based on performance levels and are made as part of an appraisal process which has an independent chair and a robust process."
The spokeswoman said the Prime Minister believed that Robbins deserved the bonus.
"There are processes around individual pay awards that I cannot go into, but they are robust processes based on performance levels made as part of an appraisal process across the senior civil service and that process has been followed here," she said.
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here