FIGURES that Thurrock Council has been forced to release under duress show that the authority has paid out £177,000 to facilitate the departure from the authority of 17 senior staff over recent years.

The figures have been revealed in a story published by the BBC's Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) that initially ran up against a brick wall when dealing with Thurrock Council as part of a wider investigation about 'fat cat payments' across South Essex regional councils.

The council initially refused to answer questions from the LDRS but following a complaint to the Information Commissioner the notoriously secretive council was forced to reveal the figures.

The biggest pay-out was £55,424 to an 'assistant director legal'. Thurrock Nub News believes that to be Ian Hunt, whose departure from the council was exclusively reported on the local news service last December.  

Across the wider south Essex region, four councils paid out more than £1.8 million to departing senior bosses over the last five years.

Basildon Council paid out £1.1 million, reportedly including a payment of £166,090.91to its axed former chief Bala Mahendran who left the authority in July 2017. Other Basildon payments included £258,963 paid to one 'interim director' in the financial year 2020-21. Other pay-outs included £236,661 to a group manager in corporate finance, £236,617 to a group manager, and £166,000 to a human resources and performance manager.

Southend Council spent more than £450,000 between 2017/18 and 2020/21 on payouts and Rochford Council spent a total £176,000 on the departure of four senior staff, including a managing director.

Southend, Basildon and Rochford councils have co-operated with the investigation, releasing figures at the first time of asking, but the secrecy surrounding Thurrock Council and its reluctance to deal with media, which includes the LDRS, the BBC, Yourthurrock.com, the Thurrock Gazette and Echo daily newspaper – as well as Thurrock Nub News - leads to the suggestion that it is hiding many other significant payouts and financial arrangements. In particular, the council is fighting a protracted legal battle costing tens of thousands, to deny the renowned Bureau of Investigative Journalism, to reveal information about the council's multi-million pound 'borrow to invest' policy.

Danielle Boxall, spokesman for watchdog the TaxPayers' Alliance, said: "Taxpayers will be shocked that councils have been dishing out these massive golden goodbyes.

"Most hard-pressed ratepayers could only dream of something like these public sector pay outs.

"The government needs to press ahead with promised legislation so it can throw the book at huge exit payments like these in future."

A spokesperson for Thurrock Council told the LDRS: "These payments do not need to be justified – they are normal contractual payments made to staff on leaving employment covering final salary, annual leave and notice."