THE Town Hall stands accused of spending huge amounts of public money on making sure staff “keep their mouths shut” about the reasons for their departure.

The charge came from Liberal Democrat councillor Flick Rea as it was revealed that Camden has spent more than £3million in a series of secretive pay-off deals bound up with gagging clauses. She described the figures as “obscene”.

The figures were revealed after she pressed Labour council chiefs  on the issue at Monday’s full council meeting.

Gagging clauses stop exiting employees from talking about their work at the Town Hall, or the story behind their departures. More officially, they are described in council circles as compromise agreements.

The revelation on the council’s outlay comes amid swirling speculation from several Town Hall sources about a run of staff departures over the last 12 months or so that are understood to be particularly sensitive. 

Camden’s communications department will not comment on individual causes when asked by the press. 

The clauses mean that the public are kept from knowing about any grievances exiting staff may have had or the specific amount of money they received, even if it runs into several thousands of pounds. The formula for deciding the pay-off sums is also kept secret.

The council insists its employment practices are not out of keeping with how most local authorities or other big public organisations deal with staff departures.

In a written exchange with Cllr Rea supplied to the meeting, finance chief Councillor Theo Blackwell said that compromise agreements “protect and provide clarity to staff members and the organisation on the terms of staff leaving the organisation”. He added: “Since 2010, Camden has extended the use of compromise agreements to situations where staff leave due to a redundancy.”

Discretionary extra payments are paid to departing staff if they sign the agreements and work notice periods with “satisfactory conduct”, his answer added.

Cllr Blackwell said there were 392 cases in which compromise agreements had been struck among staff on the “principal officer” grade or above. The payments, he added, totalled £3.25milllion – an average sum of just over £8,000 each.

Cllr Rea said: “Considering the stretched circumstances most local authorities are in, the expenditure of over £3million on people to make sure they keep their mouths shut as to why they left the council seems totally obscene.

“The agreements when people leave need to be scaled down. What are they hiding if they are paying this amount of money?”