More than 170 members of staff have been laid off

Cash-strapped Brent Council has paid out nearly �2million in redundancy payments in the past year, the Times can reveal. More than 170 staff positions were axed between December 2010 and December 2011, resulting in the local authority having to find �1,903,617 in payouts – nearly �160,000 a month.

The figures were released under a Freedom of Information request submitted by the Times.

Peter Firmin, chairman of campaign group Brent Fightback, said: “These people should never have been made redundant in the first place.

Millions

“This shows that even though the council is cutting hundreds of jobs it has to find millions of pounds to pay them off. “The council will say it will save money in the long-run, but this is at a cost to the borough’s services.

“It is not primarily Brent Council’s fault. These cuts are coming from central government.

“But we are now beginning to see services being run into the ground and soon the council will no-longer be able to provide them.”

The local authority has already closed half of the borough’s libraries, day care centres for people with learning difficulties and a care home for people with dementia.

Park wardens have been made redundant and street sweeping cut back.

Two nurseries, Treetops and Harmony, face closure and hundreds of people have lost their jobs.

The council says it has to make �104million of cuts by 2014.

A spokeswoman for the local authority said: “For the past two years Brent has downsized the workforce by 20 per cent in order to meet budget cuts.

“For the period from December 2010 to December 2011, more than 170 posts were made redundant.

“Whilst this cost nearly �2million in one-off redundancy costs, the annual saving for the council will be more than �6million.

“Overall the staffing reductions will save Brent Council more than �20 million each year.”