Brexit civil servants received thousands in bonus payments despite only 34% of staff saying they were happy with their pay and benefits and the Government missing its scheduled EU exit date.

According to the Department for Exiting the EU (DExEU) Annual Report and Accounts 2018-19, senior civil servants received thousands in bonuses and payments in kind, despite the fact that a survey of department employees found that only 34% were happy with their pay and benefits.

Phillip Rycroft, who serves as Permanent Secretary at DExEU, received over £33,000 to cover travel costs from his home to work between 2017-19.

Helen Mills, Corporate Centre Director, was awarded upwards of £5,000 in the last financial year, bringing her total renumeration to a staggering £175,000. This was despite Ms Mills failing to attend 44% of meeting of the operations committee. Her predecessor, Richard Ney, also received at least £5,000 the year before.

Both Director General Susannah Storey and the previous incumbent of her role, Sarah Healey, received at least £10,000 in the last financial year.

The report also showed that the Brexit department loaned 55 members of staff from other departments in 2018-19, at a cost of £660,000. These loaned staff members stayed at DExEU for only one and half months on average.

Commenting, Best for Britain CEO Naomi Smith said:

"These bonuses don't reflect DExEU's woeful record.

"To be honest, it's a bit of a kick in the teeth for ordinary working people who earn a fraction of these sums.

"We need to stop Brexit so we can stop funding badly performing Brexit departments and start giving money to our crumbling public services."