A consultant hired to review Kent County Council’s communications department has cost the taxpayer more than £142,000.

Information obtained under the Freedom of Information Act shows the council has to date paid an agency through which the consultant was recruited a total of £142,458.

The authority interviewed applicants for a post of communications director last week on an advertised salary of between £72,000 to £92,000. The decision to hire a director was among the key recommendations of the review.

KCC said in a statement that it believed the costs had been reasonable.

“The current review [of the communications department] is considered to have been a reasonable investment in the interests of producing an effective, co-ordinated communications function that merges the former External Communications and Customer Relationship departments, and which is fit to serve the needs of the county’s taxpayers."

The authority said that as a result of a restructure, which brought together different departments, it had cut 20 jobs, leading to savings of 35%.

“While this review has been going on, a number of changes have already been agreed and implemented, and this process has resulted in the need to employ the consultant as interim head of the newly restructured department while the role is recruited on a permanent basis,” the council said.