THE borough council forked out nearly 50 per cent more cash on staff payouts last year.

Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council spent £215,580 on terminating the contracts of eight members of staff in 2017/18, up from £140,348 in the 2016/17 financial year.

The Basingstoke Labour group put the rise down to reducing staff numbers to meet budgets.

Group leader Councillor Paul Harvey said: “It is important to note this (the rise) and to reflect on it as an organisation with the costs and the reduction in staff numbers.

“The council is committed to making reductions in the number of staff and it begs the question whether services are being affected.”

The £215,000 fees came from ending the contracts of four staff on the £0 to £20,000 pay bracket and two staff in each of the £20,001 to £40,000 cost band and the £40,001 to £80,000 category.

The 2016/17 figure came from four staff redundancies.

Leader at Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council Councillor Clive Sanders said: “This is about improving services and not cutting them.

“The redundancies were part of an ongoing process of reviewing our organisation to improve its effectiveness and value for money in delivering the best possible services to our residents.”

Figures from the authority’s draft statement of accounts also show that four staff were paid more than £100,000 in the 2017/18 financial year, the same as the previous year.

However, there was one fewer staff member that was being paid more than £50,000 - down to 47 in 2017/18 from 46 in 2016/17.