THE NUMBER of managers taking home £50,000 or more at Hampshire County Council has increased despite recent redundancies.

Annual accounts show there were 382 managers earning between £50,000 and £180,000 in 2014-15, up on 345 in 2013-14 and 322 in 2012-13 – a hike of 16 per cent in two years.

When the number of senior employees receiving substantial redundancy payments is included, the total rises to 430 in 2014-15.

At the same time, the Tory council is spending millions on management consultants, including £18m with Deloitte in a contract running from 2014-16 to “support transformational change”, as previously reported in the Chronicle.

The increase in the number of higher earners, which does not include teaching staff, comes after the Conservative council culled about 25 per cent of manager posts in 2011 and 2012.

The latest accounts show Hampshire County Council paid out £11.86m of taxpayers’ money in redundancy payments for 693 non-school staff (all grades) in 2014-15. But the number of full-time equivalent posts only fell by 216. Most were voluntary redundancies.

Two staff each received ‘golden goodbye’ payouts of between £80,001 and £100,000, five between £60,001 and £80,000 and 20 between £40,001 and £60,000.

Under the legal statutory guidelines an employee age 41-plus would get 1.5 weeks’ pay for each full year of service. But under the county council’s generous voluntary scheme this rises to three weeks’ pay per year of service.

Payouts are capped at 40 weeks’ salary. The council is poised to axe a further 450 jobs in the latest round of budget cuts, including at least one senior manager.

The council has confirmed Gill Duncan, director of adult services, is taking voluntary redundancy and her £153,000 post axed.

An analysis of the annual accounts shows the council spent £39m in redundancy payments to 2,549 non-school staff between 2011 and 2015. Most were voluntary.

However the number of full time equivalent posts only fell by 1,388 in this time. The difference is partly due to part-time staff volunteering for redundancy. But the council also replaced some posts and created others.

In 2013-14, the total number of non-school posts (full time equivalents) actually increased by 216 to 9,529. This was partly due to 156 staff transferring from Hampshire Constabulary and Hampshire Fire and Rescue to provide shared back office support, a cost-cutting measure.

Jonathan Isaby, chief executive of TaxPayers’ Alliance, said: "Taxpayers are still paying far too much for the bloated bureaucracies and middle management that have been established in town halls."

“The bills for redundancies are enormous, but it would be disappointing for taxpayers if the council had planned poorly, meaning that they now have to re-hire for certain posts.”

Winchester Cllr Martin Tod, a leading opposition Liberal Democrat on the county council, commented: “When there’s such extreme pressure on services for children and care for the elderly and disabled, you have to wonder why the county council is increasing spending on management.”

Andy Strakker, Hampshire Unison regional organiser, said: “Management numbers and costs should not be going up if staffing levels are going down and staff pay is stagnating.”

The accounts show chief executive Andrew Smith received £232,853 in pay and pension contributions in 2014-15. Mr Smith, who retired last week, has been replaced by his deputy, John Coughlan, director of children’s services, who had a £190,753 pay and pensions package.

Council leader Roy Perry defended the local authority, saying £240m savings had been achieved since 2008 and management cut by 25 per cent.

He said: “Any post deleted as a result of redundancy, cannot be re-recruited to in its identical form. Aspects of the work may still need to be done and so a modified personnel structure will be put in place – invariably at a lower cost.”

Cllr Perry said a “modest” national pay award and promotion had seen some staff at the top of the lower grades pushed into the £50,000-plus bracket.

He said staff numbers had increased in some areas where the council sells services to other public sector bodies, for example architecture, while decreasing in others. He said new posts are funded by additional income and not council tax which has been frozen for the past six years.

Separate figures show 26 managers at Winchester City Council received pay and pension packages between £50,000 and £105,000 in 2014-15.

The city council paid out £475,100 in redundancy payments to 26 staff last year. Seven employees received redundancy payments between £20,000 and £120,000.