The Leicester Mercury can today confirm that former Labour MPs Patricia Hewitt and Andy Reed both took "golden goodbye" payments worth tens of thousands of pounds.

Under the "resettlement grant" system, which has now been changed, former Leicester West MP Ms Hewitt was entitled to withdraw a £54,403 lump sum when she left her job as an MP.

Meanwhile, former Loughborough MP Andy Reed, who lost his seat to the Conservative Nicky Morgan last May, was entitled to £32,383.

It is the first time anyone has been able to confirm that any particular MP withdrew a grant, for months the House of Commons refused to release a list of who had done so and who had not.

The Mercury had to take its case that the list should be released to the Information Commissioner – which adjudicates disagreements relating to data release – before the Commons authorities backed down.

The Commons authorities have now finally written to the paper with a list showing that of the 225 MPs eligible to take the grant, 220 had done so.

The Mercury will have to submit another request to find out how much the MPs received.

Of the five that had not taken the grant, one, Rudi Vis, died last year.

Meanwhile three more – David Chaytor, Jim Devine and Elliot Morely – could not do so as they were subject to criminal proceedings for making illegal claims and have since been jailed.

The final member who did not claim, Harry Cohen, was banned from taking the grant by the House of Commons after it ruled he received £60,000 in expenses that he was not entitled to.

Those who did take the grant include former cabinet ministers Stephen Byers, Geoff Hoon, Charles Clarke and John Prescott. MP Derek Conway, who was found to have paid his son for a non-job in his parliamentary office, also took it.

Under rules in place in May 2010, MPs were entitled to a resettlement grant to "help them adjust" to non-parliamentary life.

The grant was worked out depending on the number of years the MP has served and their final salary.

Critics argued there was no need for the payment particularly where MPs earned significant wages from jobs outside Westminster. Ms Hewitt has held jobs simultaneously at Eurotunnel, Alliance Boots, BT Group, Barclays Capital and private equity group Cinven.

In February 2010, the parliamentary register of members' interests showed she had declared an income of £59,475 for 140 hours of work for the BT Group.

She had also registered £23,000 paid for 75 hours of work with Boots and £17,250 for 30 hours with Cinven.

Changes made to strengthen fairness and accountability in the system after the expenses scandal have since seen the grant greatly reduced – though the new system came into force only after Ms Hewitt left office.

As she is no longer an MP and does not have to register earnings, it is not known how much she receives from those jobs now.

Ms Hewitt said she did not want to comment on the matter yesterday.

Mr Reed was unavailable for comment.