The personal details of hundreds of Medway Council workers have been leaked on the internet.

Police are investigating after information about employees was published online.

The data was being held by Diagnostic Health Solutions (DHS), a company hired by the council to monitor the sickness levels of their staff.

The names, date of birth, staff ID numbers, contract start dates and working hours of employees have appeared on a website called 99w.net, but a spokesman for Medway Council said no bank details or other sensitive information had been published.

Around 750 council employees in the Regeneration, Community and Culture department have been affected.

The City of London Police confirmed it is investigating a report of theft of data from DHS, but would not comment any further.

A spokesman for the company said it could not comment while the police investigation was on-going.

Medway Council was informed of the leak on Monday and it has since terminated its contract with DHS.

The council has written to all employees whose information was leaked.

Robin Cooper, director of Regeneration, Community and Culture said: "We have made all those affected aware of the situation and assured them that no personal data such as bank account details and salaries has been published."

A spokesman for the council added: "The council has written to the firm - which holds data on staff from numerous large private companies and public sector organisations - to terminate the contract with immediate effect following this unacceptable data breach.

"We have also informed all staff affected as well as unions and the Information Commissioner’s Office."

It is thought the leak came to light after an employee at Basildon council, which also had a contract with DHS, spotted the data while using Google to search their own name.

The website on which the information appeared has now been shut down.