THE COUNCIL shelled out more than £160,000 in order to pay off employees in the last three years.

An investigation by the News found that payments to eight separate employees or former employees who made a claim against the council made up the eye-watering sum.

Nikki Gibbons, Director of Organisational Development, Transformation and Human Resources at Bracknell Forest Council said: “Given the confidential nature of settlement agreements we are unable to comment on the details relating to these specific agreements.

“We have stringent policies and procedures in place to ensure that that these are used in a few exceptional and appropriate individual circumstances.”

The largest payout saw one individual receive more than £46,000 after their contract with the council was ended early.

The payouts are known as ‘compromise agreements’, which means employees who claim against the council for a range of issues - which could be, for example, a dispute over holiday pay, discrimination or leave - may negotiate a fee with the organisation so that their employment can be ended.

Payouts of £36,000, £35,000, £22,000 were also listed in the figures seen by the News.

The smallest payouts were £2,600, £4,500 and £5,000.

In total, this amounted to £164,027.56.