More than £28,000 in hush money was paid to council staff in the past three years.

A Messenger Freedom of Information request revealed Medway Council had entered into non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) with 12 staff between the 2015/16 and 2017/18 financial years.

The exact reasons for the gagging orders were not disclosed but five staff received £1, while the rest of the payments ranged between £2,000 and £5,000.

In total £28,090 was paid out.

Three payments at the top end of the scale were made in July 2015 and in November and December 2016.

The first of those was made to a female service manager, while a lower ranked man and woman were paid £1 and £2,000 respectively on the same date.

Two other service managers, men who both received £1, and a senior teacher, who was paid £3,720, were among the other recipients.

NDAs, which ban staff from discussing certain information, have been in the spotlight lately following their misuse.

Earlier this month, Rochester and Strood MP and business minister Kelly Tolhurst announced new laws would be brought in to stop NDAs being used to prevent reporting crimes, harassment or discrimination to the police.

The council said it would not comment on the payments due to confidentiality.

Meanwhile, in neighbouring Gravesham NDAs were used four times in the same period.

Again, the exact reasons for their use was not disclosed but £25,255 was forked out.

In June 2017 the highest payment was awarded — £8,755 to a man earning between £30,000 and £34,000 a year.

In February 2016, £8,500 was paid to a man earning between £19,000 and £26,000, while the following February a man earning between £27,000 and £31,000 got £5,000 and in January 2018 a woman earning £17,000 to £23,000 was paid £3,000.

The council also declined to comment.

Neither council would say if any of the payments were the result of a misconduct allegation, while Dartford council refused to answer the request altogether, citing data protection laws.

Speaking previously, Miss Tolhurst said: “What is completely unacceptable is the misuse of these agreements to silence victims, and there is increasing evidence that this is becoming more widespread.”

She did not respond to further requests for comment.