by political editor Paul Francis

Redundancy payments to senior County Hall staff in a major shake-up of how the county council is run cost the taxpayer the taxpayer £350,000.

The costs were confirmed by the council as it published the pay and perks of its top officers this week in line with new transparency rules on executive pay.

The official accounts reveal that Peter Gilroy, the former chief executive of Kent County Council received a pay package worth £439,000 in his final year in the job.

Mr Gilroy, who left the role last May, received the six-figure sum because of his much-publicised £200,000 payout he was given on the day he left.

Meanwhile, two senior directors who left their jobs in April following a major re-organisation received £215,129 in severance payments.

kcc’s recruitment costs revealed

some of the costs of taking on a string of interim directors to cover key jobs after nine directors took redundancy are highlighted in the accounts.

the cost of appointing malcolm newsam, acting director of children’s services, for three months is shown as £78,750 including fees paid to the agency that recruited him.

however, the actual costs of several others are not detailed or are incorporated into the pay of senior staff who "acted up" as interim directors.

a recent foi request revealed that kcc had paid £205,000 for interim directors over a three month period.

cllr simmonds said: "when you analyse them and take into account the fact that we do not have to pay pension contributions, holiday or sickness payments, employers national insurance, the costs are almost identical indeed, in a number of cases cheaper than employing a permanent member of staff."

Oliver Mills, the authority’s former director of adult social care, received £118,472 compensation, meaning he was paid £317,649 in 2010-2011.

Former children’s services director Rosalind Turner received £96,657, bringing her yearly earnings to £318,237.

KCC managing director Katherine Kerswell, who succeeded Mr Gilroy, received nearly £200,000, of which £160,883 was salary.

It is the second year all councils have been required to set out much greater detail on executive pay for those earning more than £150,000.

Mr Gilroy’s annual salary was £214,233 but because the accounts cover the final few weeks he was in his post, he is shown as earning £25,362.

However, his overall remuneration was nearly £440,000 - reflecting the £200,000 lump sum he was paid in return for extending his contract for a further year.

The sum actually cost the taxpayer £407,851 taking into account National Insurance and income tax contributions.

The payout was criticised by auditors although the lump sum was not considered either unlawful or unreasonable.

The published accounts also record that the overall number of staff whose overall earnings were above £150,000 rose last year to 15 compared with eight the previous year.

KCC said the increase was because of compensation payments paid to staff who lost their jobs.

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Cllr John Simmonds, KCC’s cabinet member for finance, said:

"The payments for staff shown reflect the immense changes taking place in response to the toughest financial challenge the council has ever faced - £165m of savings over the next 24 months for this council alone."

"A number of senior directors who were earning over £100,000 have already left the organisation.

"Redundancies always incur an unavoidable cost, as governed by employment law.

"The resulting redundancy costs of these departures total a one-off cost of £350,000."

He added the shake-up would save £700,000 a year.

"The clear savings return on the cost of this restructure compares very favourably with the best practice in the private sector."

Read KCC’s accounts here:http://bit.ly/k4Pkqc