Pickering: I didn't resign

The recent National Audit Office report on the handling of the investigation into the expenses claims of the former vice chancellor of the University of Portsmouth is a serious and damning indictment of Neil Merritt, the university's board of governors, its internal auditors and the Higher Education Funding Council for England. Nothing should be allowed to deflect attention from these primary issues raised in the report.

But I trust you will allow me to point out that I did not resign from the University of Portsmouth. I was made redundant by the chairman of the board of governors. As all competent employment lawyers would confirm, so I am advised, redundancy is a form of dismissal, which does not allow one the choice of staying or going. The compromise agreement was the consequence of that dismissal, not its means.

Furthermore, I did not receive a redundancy package worth Pounds 200,000, even if that was what it cost the university. Much of this was in the form of payments for pension enhancement (less than the maximum allowable) and one year's salary to which I was entitled.

John Pickering, Hampshire