MORE than £3.29million has been spent by Southampton City Council on redundancy payments in just two years, new figures reveal.

The authority made 101 positions redundant between 2019 and 2021, according to fresh data from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG).

However, the bulk of those redundancies were made in the 2019-20 financial year, with 83 staff laid off, costing £3million.

In the most recent financial year of 2020-21, 18 staff were made redundant, costing £292,900.

The figures also revealed that the average cost of exit packages in Southampton last year was £16,271 – down from £36,444 in 2019-20.

In response to the figures, a spokesperson for Southampton City Council said the authority implemented a new senior management structure in 2019-20, resulting in many lay offs.

They claim that despite the huge redundancy costs, it saved £420,000 in 2020/21 “and each year onwards”.

They said: “This means a saving for the council in the long term, as well as making sure we have invested in the teams and leaders to deliver for our residents.”

The lower redundancy costs in 2020-21 was down to more service-based reviews and change with less staff under fire, the council said.

They added: “Reshaping and reviewing services helps ensure we deliver on the priorities of our residents and customers. We always seek to minimise redundancies as part of any review of staffing.”

It is not known how many lay offs were due to the impact of the Covid pandemic, which prompted the first national lockdown on March 23 last year. The 2019-20 financial year ended a few weeks later, on April 5.

Across councils nationally, the total value of exit packages more than halved from £544million in 2016-17 to £252million last year. The average exit package was £26,703.

Since 2014-15, the average cost of exit payments has risen by 31% for senior employees – when adjusted for inflation – and 15% for those below this level.

The figures were published as part of the Government’s research into ending “excessively high” exit payments in the public sector.

The Local Government Association said its survey of local authorities indicated that many planned redundancies in 2020 and 2021 for several reasons, including funding shortages and local government reorganisation.

It said council restructures tend to be focused on removing senior posts, which means older, longer-serving and higher paid staff are often the ones affected – and these workers are also more likely to volunteer for redundancy.

An LGA spokesman said: “Councils are required to ensure termination payments are fair, proportionate, lawful and provide value for money for the taxpayer.”

An MHCLG spokeswoman added: “Severance pay is the responsibility of individual councils and we urge them to ensure that payments reflect value for money to the taxpayers who fund them.”