A revised Impact Assessment, which was released the day after the Commons voted in favour of the Health Bill, shows that PCTs are expected to pay a total of £634m in redundancy payments to 11,300 staff.

But it also shows that ‘NHS leadership’ staff, which included DoH workers, will receive an average of £127,500 in pay-offs.

The revised Impact Assessment also showed that estimates of the savings expected to be made as a result of the reforms are substantially lower than previously expected.

It shows that the long-term annual savings expected from 2014/15 will be £1.5bn per year. Previously this was estimated to be £1.7bn per year.

It also revealed that the net savings over the transition period are predicted to be around £3.2bn - £6m lower than the previous estimate made in January.

Health secretary Andrew Lansley said: ‘The revised Impact Assessment shows that the cost of modernising the NHS is only a fraction of the savings which will result.

‘We are cutting waste and are still on track to reduce administrative spend by a third. Every penny saved will be reinvested into patient care, delivering significant long-term benefits to patients.’

But writing on Twitter, shadow health minister Liz Kendall (@LeicesterLiz) said: ‘You couldn’t make it up. The government publishes an impact assessment of Health Bill the day after it is voted through the Commons.’