TWO district councils have refused to reveal why a former manager was paid £54,000 in compensation.

Fiona Narburgh, the former joint head of strategy, democratic and customer services for Wychavon and Malvern Hills district councils, was paid £54,000 in compensation by the two authorities.

The 'exit package' money was revealed in Wychavon District Council's statement of accounts for 2017 to 2018.

Ms Narburgh's role was scrapped after her departure, with her responsibilities being shared out between senior managers.

A spokesman for Wychavon District Council said it could not reveal why Ms Narburgh received the cash, for reasons of confidentiality.

But the spokesman added: "The role itself wasn’t replaced, instead the senior management team was restructured and the duties previously undertook by that person were divided between different senior management team members.

"A new position of head of housing and communities was created to reflect our growing focus on housing issues."

Ms Narburgh's company website states: "I decided to leave my management team role as head of strategy, democratic and customer services at Wychavon and Malvern Hills councils, in Worcestershire, to help other organisations improve their strategy, their communications and their staff engagement levels by going fully freelance."

Ms Narburgh was unavailable for comment.