New figures have shown that the council spent hundreds of thousands of pounds on staff redundancy settlements in the space of a year.

Data from the Department for Levelling Up and Communities shows the council spent £623,000 to make 49 staff members redundant in the year up to March.

Each package had an average cost of £13,000 each.

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The council made a total of 32 redundancies the year before, at a cost of £641,000.

It spent £3.37m less than in the year to 2020, when its bill for redundancies was just under £4m.

Councils across the UK have seen their workforces shrink in recent year while facing increasing demand for services and severe budget pressures.

Nationally, more than £185m was spent on staff redundancies by councils across England, the lowest annual amount in nine years.

Last year just over £214m was paid out to departing employees.

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In response to the statistics, a council spokesperson said: “The council has been through a decade of austerity, during which we have been forced to make cuts of many millions of pounds.

“Unfortunately, and as a last resort, sometimes that results in a number of redundancies having to be made.

“These are made only following consultation with staff and their representatives.

“In such cases, we will ensure that staff who leave us receive the redundancy and associated payments that they are legally entitled to.”

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