BRADFORD Council spent nearly £1 million on making staff redundant last year, according to new figures.

Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government statistics show around 50 people were made redundant by the Council in 2023-24.

This cost the authority £907,000, at an average of £19,300 per redundancy package.

Bradford Council did not comment on the data.

Nationally, Councils spent just under £200m on redundancies in the year to March - up from £183m on the previous 12 months and the first rise since 2016-17.

A spokesperson for the Local Government Association (LGA) said: "The number of people working in local Government has reduced in size over the last decade as Councils continue to face significant financial pressures.

"In this context, Councils make decisions based on their contractual and legal responsibilities when determining the level of severance or settlement payments made to their employees.

"Councils need adequate funding and longer-term certainty to meet rising costs and demand pressures and avoid more redundancies.

"This will also prevent exacerbating an already acute capacity crisis in some areas, with more than nine in 10 Councils experiencing staff recruitment and retention difficulties."

Council finances have been significantly strained recently, with six authorities effectively filing for bankruptcy since 2021.

In February, financially troubled Bradford Council announced that it would not need to declare bankruptcy after the then-Government agreed to measures allowing the authority to borrow millions of pounds.

Speaking after that announcement, Susan Hinchliffe, leader of Bradford Council, said: "It is welcome news. It will be £80m this year and £140m next year.

"But just to be clear, this is not a grant - this is money we will have to pay back."

In a speech at the LGA forum, Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner said Labour would "end the Dragons' Den approach" - in which local authorities bid for funding.

Ms Rayner said: "I know the biggest crisis facing local Government is financial. I won't shy away from that. Demand for services is up, and so are your costs.

"But it doesn't have to be like this. You told me you need more stability and certainty to plan for the long term, and we will provide this through long-term integrated funding settlements.

"We will end the Dragons' Den approach, as I see it, of the bidding wars between local authorities and instead show you some respect with long-term funding giving you the flexibility to spend it where it is needed."