Euan Sutherland, former Co-operative Group chief executive and, before that, boss of Kingfisher, is to receive a £1m golden handshake from the mutual.
Mr Sutherland was group chief operating officer at B&Q and Screwfix parent Kingfisher until he left in March 2013 to take on the chief executive position at the Co-op.

Barely a year into his new role, however, Mr Sutherland resigned, complaining about leaks over the size of his £3.6m pay package and describing the Co-op as "ungovernable". Now, it has been revealed that Mr Sutherland will receive a £1m payoff.

In a statement the Co-op said: "Euan Sutherland was on a 12-month notice period as group chief executive. When he resigned in March, the board did not feel it appropriate to ask him to work his notice period and exercised its right to put him on gardening leave, which is normal for a senior executive."