PATRICIA HODGSON, the last chief executive of the Independent Television Commission, was paid about £500,000 when the ITC was succeeded by Ofcom, the new communications regulator, The Times has learnt.

The sum paid, which is thought to include compensation for loss of office, will ultimately be paid by the television companies Ms Hodgson used to regulate. The precise figure will become clear when Ofcom publishes the ITC’s final annual report this summer.

The compensation for Ms Hodgson, who recently applied for the chairmanship of the BBC, and the £1.5 million that went to six other ITC directors, have surprised Ofcom officials.

Ms Hodgson was chief executive of the ITC from 2000 until its closure at the end of last year. She applied unsuccessfully for the chief executive’s job in Ofcom.

Broadcasters and telephone companies will end up paying for the cost of the redundancy packages of those who lost their jobs in the five regulatory bodies replaced by Ofcom.

The new body had to honour the contractual arrangements made by the different regulators. It is believed that the ITC’s terms were the most generous.

The regulator was forced to take out a £52 million loan to cover the costs of its creation. Ofcom said yesterday that a “significant proportion” of the loan was accounted for by the costs of redundancies and getting rid of unneeded buildings.

Ofcom has about 800 staff, nearly 400 fewer than the combined staff of the five bodies it replaced at the beginning of this year.