Sharp rise in one-off redundancy payments following staff cutbacks at RSPB reserves

                                         

The RSPB's  HQ in Sandy, Bedfordshire

LAST year's controversial cull of staff at some of  the RSPB's  200-plus UK reserves contributed to increased redundancy payments for the bird charity.

These payouts totalled £631,228 according to the society's annual report.

This figure compares with £218,475 the previous year.

However, the total number of employees only fell by 31 - from 2,517  to 2,486 this year.

This is because other staff were taken on elsewhere across the organisation - for instance, in membership recruitment and in encouraging equality, diversity and inclusion.