Councils pay out more than £1 million to former employees
Councils in the Black Country and Staffordshire spent more than £1 million on reaching settlements with former employees over the last three years, it has been revealed.
Settlement agreements mostly paid to ex-workers in order to settle a dispute.
New figures showed large amount had been paid out by local authorities in the region to make disputes go away.
Dudley Council paid out £388,864 between 2016/17 and 2018/19 in relation to 49 settlements, while Walsall Council parted with £372,643 for 32 cases.
South Staffordshire paid out a hefty £261,000 for just seven settlements and Cannock Chase District Council paid £152,062 in relation to eight cases.
South Staffordshire Council said the payments were a result of restructuring rather than disputes.
It meant the councils paid out a total of £1,174,569 over the three financial years, with the average settlement being just over £12,000.
The payments were labelled "hush money" and "golden goodbyes" by the Taxpayers' Alliance, which said in most cases the totals did not include redundancy payments.
Wolverhampton and Sandwell councils did not provide details to the Alliance.
Darwin Friend, from the organisation, said: "Though settlement agreements are sometimes necessary, councils need to remember that it's ratepayers who foot the bill.
"These settlements have been signed at the same time that the vast majority of local authorities have increased council tax, meaning some have spent huge sums on hush money while hiking up local rates.
"Given that almost 50 councils have managed to spend nothing on these deals, it should be perfectly possible for those paying the most to do better and keep down the costs of individual golden goodbyes."
Councillor Simon Phipps, cabinet member responsible for HR at Dudley Council, said: “We do not use settlement agreements as a matter of course, following our routine HR procedures and negotiating is always our first approach, but in cases where a settlement is necessary we consider what is best for our staff, for us as a responsible employer and for our residents and taxpayers.”
Jackie Smith, commercial corporate director at South Staffordshire Council, said: "The payments are as a result of restructuring. These payments enabled reductions in the recurring wage bill, were required as part of a broader efficiency drive, and are fully disclosed in our published accounts.”
Walsall Council said it did not comment on "individual employment matters".
Cannock Chase District Council declined to comment.
