DUDLEY Council spent more than £1 million on staff redundancy settlements last year, new figures show.

New data from the Department for Levelling Up and Communities shows the council spent £1,582,000 to make 90 staff members redundant in the year to March 2023.

Each package had an average cost of around £18,000 each.

Councillor Steve Clark, cabinet member for finance, legal and human resources, said: “Like all local authorities, we continue to face the challenges of balancing the budget and delivering value for money.

“As the borough’s largest employer, and as an authority that is committed to creating opportunities, redundancies are always a last resort and we always work with our employees to support them when roles are at risk.

“Sometimes we are forced to make difficult decisions to meet our financial targets in order to ensure stability for the people we serve. Redundancies typically occur as service needs or requirements of the local authority change, or in instances where people can no longer work in the same location as they were previously based.”