Exclusive by political editor Paul Francis

Seven former directors of Kent County Council have between them received nearly £1million in pay-offs over the last five years.

The county council says that over the period, it has paid more than £1.7million to 54 former employees in so-called "exit agreements."

Of the £1.7million, some £955,267 was paid to seven senior directors, representing an average of a lump sum of £136,467 for each.

In some cases, pay-offs – which KCC describes as "compromise agreements" - are made to avoid possible claims against unfair dismissal. The lump sums are agreed on top of any pension or other payments staff might have been entitled to when they leave.

The individual amounts paid to the 54 individual employees, which average £31,500 each, have not been disclosed as KCC says that they are covered by confidentiality agreements.

But the disclosure has triggered a political row.

Opposition Liberal Democrat Cllr Tim Prater said it raised questions about how the authority managed the departure of former staff.

"To have to pay top members of staff a total of almost £1million seems to me to indicate some kind of failing in management," he said. "There are questions to be asked of any business that had contracts with people and those people were then paid off nearly £1million to get rid of them with the minimum of fuss."

He said KCC needed to ensure that its policy on such pay-offs was "clear and consistent and that people were not being paid money to go away and not sue the council."

Cllr Roger Gough (Con), cabinet member for corporate support services, said he was satisfied the authority had acted appropriately and downplayed the sums involved.

"These cover a range of different circumstances and in a lot of these cases, there is little or no difference to what would actually have in any case been paid out under the terms of the employees’ contract. This is the best way of ensuring the best interests both of the employee and the council in terms of sorting out their departure in reasonably quick and sensible way."

It was not a way of avoiding the embarrassment of tribunals, he added and any agreements were referred to the Audit Commission - the public spending watchdog - to ensure agreements were value for money.