The cost of exit packages for Bristol City Council staff tripled last year to almost £3million, new figures reveal. A total of 106 employees were paid a combined £2.9million to leave the authority in 2022/23 – a huge 58 per cent rise on the 67 workers who collectively received £1million the year before.
It means the average payout has soared from less than £15,000 in 2021/22 to more than £27,000 last year. The authority says its succession planning policy has allowed staff to apply to leave and receive a severance payment which has resulted in the overall cost increase, but that it will ultimately save taxpayers money in subsequent years.
The rise comes despite a big drop in the number of compulsory redundancies – there were just eight compared with 46 in the previous 12 months, according to the local authority’s annual draft statement of accounts. The number of non-compulsory departures involving exit packages – defined as “the cost to the council of early termination of staff employment before normal retirement age”, which includes voluntary severance and early pensions – rocketed from 21 to 98 employees in 2022/23.
