GOVERNMENT plans to cap redundancy payments will mainly hit the lowest-paid and loyal workers the hardest, unions warned yesterday.

The Treasury launched a consultation on banning “golden goodbyes” over £95,000 in the NHS, local authorities and the Civil Service.

Tory minister Greg Hands said: “It’s not right that highly paid public-sector workers should receive huge taxpayer-funded payouts when they’re made redundant.”

But unions unmasked his prudential posturing as another cut to the living standards of Britain’s lowest-paid workers.

PCS general secretary Mark Serwotka said: “The reality is that capping the redundancy payments at the proposed level will affect long-serving, loyal staff earning just above the average Civil Service pay.”