A KCC meeting in session

by political editor Paul Francis

Plans by Kent County Council to shed 1,500 jobs as part of budget cuts could cost it more than £4m in redundancy payouts.

The county council has set aside £4.3m in reserves to meet the costs it anticipates will be associated with slimming down in its workforce over the next three years.

"we know there are going to be costs in connection with these plans...” – cllr simmonds

KCC is cutting £95m from its budget this year and has already announced a further £65m will be needed next year.

A significant amount of those savings are to come from cutting jobs and KCC says that overall, a major re-structuring of the way the council is run will eventually save it £20m.

Last week, it emerged the authority had paid two senior directors a total of £350,000 after they took redundancy in a shake-up of senior directors.

Cllr John Simmonds, KCC’s cabinet member for finance, said: "We know there are going to be costs in connection with these plans and we are making sensible estimates of what they are likely to be.

"When you are going to shed this number of staff, you obviously have to make some provision for it."

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The £4.3m averages as about £30,000 per redundancy but the sum will also cover others costs such as payments in lieu of notice.

The costs of redundancy are governed by employment law and payments vary according to length of service and salary levels.

A recent snapshot of KCC’s staffing levels suggested that between March 2010 and March 2011, the number of full time equivalent staff fell from 39,402 to 37,644 - a drop of 1,317.