Cheshire East Council has paid more than £19m in redundancy deals to 1,170 council workers – but is now in talks with unions to reduce future pay-offs.

The authority ran up the bill over the past three years, paying off staff who had lost their jobs.

Two of those employees were re-hired two months later on a short contract by CEC when the proposed closure of a social care premise did not happen on the expected date.

One of these employees had received a payment of £20,144 and returned for eight days and the other had received a payment of £30,000 and returned for another 11 months. CEC says it now has a policy not to re-hire staff who have been made redundant. A spokesman said: "The cost of re-employing these two individuals on this basis was significantly lower than that which would have been incurred by using agency workers and therefore represented the best use of public sector resources."

The figures, obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, show the council has spent £19,104,023.72 on redundancy packages for staff between April 2009 and April8, 2012. The authority aims to make savings of £21m over the next two years.

A breakdown of the figures reveals: the highest redundancy payout received was £71,496.08 closely followed by one of £71,495.88; five other redundant workers who received the highest payout in their department got £68,633.67, £66,428.00, £53,302.33, £44,316.06, and £36,117.00; six redundancies were compulsory, 1,050 voluntary and 114 workers took early retirement.

CEC said the scale of the pay-outs reflected the size of the authority. "CEC needed to merge four legacy local authorities, with four separate sets of employees. This was a huge challenge and led to structural reorganisation and the shedding of surplus posts. Secondly, there was a drive to deliver further efficiencies arising from the reduction in government funding to local authorities."

On re-employing staff members the spokesman said: "It is truly unfortunate that the needs of the public using our social care premises changed after the employees had just left the authority. Two private care homes in Crewe informed us in June 2010 that they were to close that November, leaving 70 vulnerable elderly people, many of them mentally infirm. A third home closed subsequently, leaving a further 11 adults needing new accommodation.Our policy is not to re-employ people who have been made redundant except in exceptional circumstances and this was one.

It was more cost-effective and efficient to allow two trained and experienced people to return than to use agency staff or undertake costly recruitment."

CEC, which plans up to 100 more job cuts in this financial year, wants to cut what it pays from twice the statutory redundancy amount to 1.8 times. It also wants to cap the maximum number of weeks’ pay eligible at 50 weeks instead of 60. Unison Cheshire East has been consulted. The proposals will go before full council tomorrow.

Council's redundancy payouts:

Schools

Total Payments Amount = £1,333,313.03

Highest Single Payment = £66,428

Organisational capacity

Total Payments Amount = £5,809,405.50

Highest Single Payment = £68,633.67

People and places

Total Payments Amount = £7,242,097.94

Highest Single Payment = £71,496.08

Children and Families

Total Payments Amount = £2,312,350.37

Highest Single Payment = £71,495.88

HR and Organisational Improvement

Total Payments Amount = £288,038.91

Highest Single Payment = £44,316.06

Treasury and Assets

Total Payments Amount = £1,905,026.55

Highest Single Payment = £53,302.33

Borough Solicitors

Total Payments Amount = £213,791.42

Highest Single Payment = £36,117