George Entwistle is to receive £450,000 in severance pay after stepping down as director general of the BBC.
The BBC Trust confirmed Entwistle will receive a year's salary after resigning in the wake of a Newsnight investigation which incorrectly implicated a senior former Tory in a child abuse scandal.
The package has provoked outrage on social networking site Twitter as Entwistle had been in his role only 55 days. Rob Wilson, MP for Reading East told ITV's political correspondant Alex Forrest:
"License fee payers will be angry and astounded. As many of them scrimp and save to pay their TV tax, the BBC sanctions a pay of what the average person would take almost 25 years to earn. What is the BBC thinking?"
The BBC's Norman Smith said although Entwistle was legally only entitled to six months pay, the larger package was agreed in order to bring the matter to a swift resolution.
He also tweeted the following:
A BBC Trust spokesman said: "The BBC reached a consensual termination agreement with George Entwistle last night and agreed to pay him 12 months pay, in lieu of notice.
"This reflects the fact that he will continue to help on BBC business, most specifically the two ongoing inquiries."
His severance pay is equivalent to 3,092 licence fees, or £8,333 for every day spent in his job as director general.
On Monday Lord Patten and acting director general Tim Davie will lay out plans for dealing with some of the issues arising from the Newsnight broadcast "as a first step in restoring public confidence," after the programme broadcast "defamatory and false" allegations linking a senior Tory to abuse at a North Wales children's home.
Rupert Murdoch weighed in on the latest revelations with a tweet calling on David Cameron to sort out the "BBC mess"