MORE than £8m in severance costs has been paid to redundant Worcestershire County Council workers over the last two years - with the average pay-out £9,275.

A total of 610 jobs have been axed at County Hall over the last two years, a record tally, as the cash-strapped authority seeks to shed spending.

But bosses say despite the costs a combination of staffing cuts, leaving vacancies open and redeployment saved £33.4m in wages.

It comes at a time when reduced Government funding and the ageing population means £98m needs to be saved by 2017.

The Conservative leadership says the figures are a major boost to budget, but the opposition Labour group has insisted it will damage the economy.

At least another 600 jobs are being axed by 2017, taking the workforce to below 3,000 for the first time in history.

Councillor John Campion, cabinet member for transformation and commissioning, said: “These savings are not insignificant and have contributed, and will continue to contribute, to the council's challenging overall savings targets.

“Clearly we have had to fund one-off redundancy costs, but this has been planned for and there is a substantial net reduction going forward.

“The council has been open and transparent about how we will operate in the future - we are likely to be at least 40 per cent smaller by 2017.

“This means our workforce is likely to fall from 4,500 to less than 3,000, although we anticipate many jobs will transfer to other sectors.

“While we appreciate the personal impact this will have on affected staff, a headcount reduction is inevitable as we change the way we operate.”

The council is looking to commission as many services as possible - a buzzword for handing it over to another provider like voluntary groups, not-for-profit bodies or the private sector.

But Councillor Peter McDonald, leader of the Labour group, said: “Local taxpayers’ money should be used to protect and provide as many local jobs as possible and not to outsource them away from Worcestershire or the United Kingdom.

“We believe in local jobs for local people.”

The figures were for the financial years 2011/12 and 2012/13.