REDUNDANCIES at Selby District Council could lead to staff payouts of up to £800,000, it has been revealed.

A spokesman for the council confirmed to The Press that the total cost of redundancies up to last month was £633,000, and that the council had £800,000 set aside in total to cover the payouts.

He said: “This will, however, enable us to deliver the necessary £3 million base budget savings, not just a £3 million one-off saving, but we must reduce base budget by £3 million each year.”

Roles in the council have been reduced by about 70 jobs, but most of these have been achieved by not replacing people who have left, as well as supporting voluntary redundancy.

The spokesman said: “Initially we identified 14 individuals, but we’ve been working closely with those affected to look at other opportunities and this number has reduced.”

The £633,000 has been split between about 40 individuals.

The spokesman said: “Redundancy payments range from a few hundred pounds to around £10,000, but the latter only applies to those with the longest service and is the exception rather than the rule.”

Earlier this year, the council introduced a new Service Delivery Vehicle, which split the commissioning and delivery of services, which it hoped would soften the blow of the 30 per cent reduction in Government funding over the next four years.

The major change in structure has meant all council staff had to go through a recruitment process.

Council chief executive Martin Connor said: “This has been a hugely challenging time for staff as we’ve put in place some major changes to protect front-line services in light of reductions in central Government funding. I’d like to thank everyone for their support.”

Mr Connor said the staff reduction was needed to make savings