Central Bedfordshire Council handed £247,213 to ten employees in "compromise agreements"

Bedfordshire on Sunday reports:

A council has paid almost a quarter of a million pounds in ‘compromise agreements’ to staff in just nine months – a figure that puts a neighbouring authority’s payments in the shade.

Central Bedfordshire Council handed £247,213 to ten employees since January this year.

The agreements, which average £24,700 per worker, come at a time when the authority is looking to axe 250 jobs and has slashed the wages of 1,500 workers.

Last week Bedfordshire on Sunday revealed Bedford Borough Council has spent £86,000 this year on seven members of staff to bar them from discussing issues at Borough Hall.

Its Central Bedfordshire counterpart had refused to give us the figures claiming it would cost too much to process the information. But after a week of wrangling with the authority it handed over the totals which is almost three times as much as the borough council tally.

Chief executive Richard Carr, who is the authority’s top earner on £185,000-ayear, has denied that the payments were to silence ex-employees and said: “Central Bedfordshire Council does not pay staff not to talk about its work once their employment has ended.

“Since January we have reached compromise agreements with ten employees to mutually agree the terms of their departure from the council. These agreements are based on statutory entitlements (such as redundancy and notice periods).

“The total cost of the agreements entered into with the staff concerned has been £247,213.”

Via Council Watch UK.