The government is looking to make �22.5bn in savings

Two Treasury staff shared a �1.1m payoff, according to data provided in written answers by ministers.

Lib Dem Treasury spokesman Lord Oakeshott said the benefits of redundancies were "vague".

But the government said efficiency savings had "already delivered significant improvements".

Ministers are more than halfway through a three-year programme designed to save �21.5bn in spending by government departments.

'Clear'

But ministerial written answers reveal that payments totalling �432m have been made to 7,718 staff made redundant as a result, the Lib Dems say.

Lord Oakeshott said: "The government has thrown half a billion pounds of taxpayers' cash at civil servants to pay them not to work. The costs to the taxpayer are only too clear.

"The benefits are vague and stretching into the future. No business that runs its redundancy programme like this would last 10 minutes.

"Two Treasury bigwigs really hit the jackpot, splitting over a million pounds between them.

"Did 67 senior managers at the Treasury really deserve golden goodbyes averaging over �220,000 each, on top of their generous pensions?

"The Home Office and MoD are totally incompetent for failing to give answers, when other big departments can give us these vital figures.

"No wonder the Home Office loses track of who to deport if it can't even count its own redundancies. The MoD doesn't seem to have a clue what 19,000 non-retiring leavers have cost the taxpayer."

The spending cuts were set out in the 2004 Gershon Review of public spending, which was carried out on behalf of the Treasury.

A Treasury spokesman said: "Civil service workforce reductions are contributing to �20bn resource savings which we have been able to redirect to front line services as part of the government's wider efficiency programme.

"The National Audit Office has stated that the programme has already delivered significant improvements in the way public services are being delivered."