£2.8m in exit payments for Olympic executives

The financial reports of the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) show 144 officials were paid a share of more than £2m ahead of the authority winding down in 2014.

Exit payments, to staff on permanent contracts, cost £2.8m in 2012-13, the Annual Report and Accounts said.

Dennis Hone, the ODA’s chief executive, who was made redundant at the end of March, was paid an exit payment of £80,000, as well as an immediate pension of £373,000.

The ODA’s Annual Report and Accounts said that Mr Hone, now chief executive of the London Legacy Development Corporation, was entitled to statutory redundancy pay and a terminal bonus equivalent to 60% of his salary.

It said: “The Remuneration Committee decided to award a terminal bonus of 49% of his salary and to defer 50% of the bonus until the successful completion of the sale of East Village to QDD.”

The ODA’s director of transport, Hugh Sumner, also received £73,000 in exit payments, while director of venues and infrastructure Simon Wright received £72,000.

An ODA spokesman said: “London 2012 was a unique and challenging project and a great British success story and we needed to recruit and pay for the best talent from the private and public sectors, requiring people in many cases to give up secure long-term jobs elsewhere, with no certainty of the project’s success or getting a job after the Games.

“The exit payments for staff other than our former chief executive, Dennis Hone, are limited to statutory redundancy pay, any leave they were unable to take before their employment ended, and, where appropriate, payment in lieu of notice.

“We had to adopt a flexible approach to managing staff contracts to ensure that key people, especially directors, remained with the project throughout periods critical to its success, until such time as the ODA could be certain that their skills and knowledge were no longer required. Our staff delivered this huge project on time and under budget – in fact making savings of over £1 billion for the public purse.

“Like other staff, Dennis Hone received performance-related pay, but this was far from guaranteed and was measured against tough performance criteria, evaluated personally and in relation to the organisation he successfully led in the critical 18 months up to the Games, during London 2012 and immediately after. Pension payments made in relation to Dennis Hone were legal and contractual obligations under the scheme of which he was a member throughout his employment at the ODA.”