£1.4m pension pot for official of the Trust

Of all the top 54 managers across the six health trusts Dr Paddy Loughran, Southern Health and Social Care Trust medical director will receive a pension between 60,000 to 65,000 a year from a pot valued at 1.4m. It also claimed Dr Loughran would receive a tax free lump sum, thought to be around 190,000, once he turns 60.

The figures, revealed in The Irish News last week detail over 31million is to be handed out to top health bosses across the province.

It was also revealed that chief executive of the trust, Colm Donaghy, would receive a pension of between 40,000 and 45,000 with a lump sum payment on retirement of around 125,000 with a pension pot reportedly of 834,000.

The Southern Trust employs over 12,000 staff and serves a population of around 324,000 people and has an income of around 400million.

The claims come at a time of savage frontline cuts across the health service, a spokeswoman for the Department of Health said the department was aware of the "high cost" of public sector pensions and "recognises the need for savings".

She said senior managers have "pension entitlements as part of their contract of employment".

The spokeswoman said public sector pensions were being reviewed by a British Government commission.

However, she said, there would be no change to the "accrued contractual pension entitlements for staff".