County Hall coffers hit by £11m in redundancy costs
Kent County Council has spent more than £11 million in four years on staff redundancies and so-called exit packages, figures show.
The authority has had to shed hundreds of jobs over recent years to save money in the face of the government’s austerity drive and dwindling government grants.
But that cost-cutting has come at a price, with a mixture of compulsory and voluntary redundancies leaving the authority with a bill of £11.6m over the last four years.
Draft accounts published by the body show that for 2016-17, £2.3m was spent on payments made to 275 former employees – 100 more than in 2015-16.
Of these, 28 were on salaries between £20,000 and £150,000 and 247 on staff earning up to £20,000.
The council says one reason for the increase in numbers is the closure of a secondary school in Folkestone, Pent Valley.
There were 204 compulsory job losses with the remainder voluntary redundancies.
Over the last four years, 1,083 jobs have been cut.
At the same time, the council’s three most senior directors have seen their overall earnings break the £200,000 mark, once pension payments and other unspecified allowances are incorporated.
David Coburn, corporate director for business strategy and support, earned £243,265 – including a £42,219 pension contribution and salary of £193,385.
Andrew Ireland, corporate director for social care, earned £229,151 – including a salary of £189,381 – while corporate director for education, Patrick Leeson, earned £205,575, of which £160,804 was salary and £35,852 was by way of pension contribution.
The county council has dispensed with having a chief executive.