DORSET'S councils should impose a £95,000 cap on redundancy pay-outs during the merger process, an MP says.

Christchurch MP Sir Christopher Chope, who is opposed to plans to combine his borough with Bournemouth and Poole under one new unitary authority, said applying the Government's approved cap could save taxpayers hundreds of thousands of pounds if the process goes ahead.

The Echo has been told that "no specific provision" has been made to set aside cash for redundancy packages.

However, the restructuring process was predicted to cost some £25 million county-wide, much of which is likely to cover the significant costs of cutting staff.

The Conservative Government has already passed legislation placing a £95k limit on 'public sector exit payments', although secondary legislation required to impose the proposal is still being debated, Sir Christopher said.

"I said to (Communities Secretary) Sajid Javid that it would be very helpful if he was to give some advice to local authorities on this," he said.

"He said he recognised there was an issue here.

"Government policy is that there should be a £95k cap, it just hasn't been implemented in practice.

"We need to make that stick, either with a law or with strong advice to local authorities."

He said he was "very disappointed" that councillors on the Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Joint Committee, "whose avowed purpose is to try to save money", were so "diffident" about the cap.

"It raises the question of who is in charge in all this. Are they under the thumb of their officers who might prefer there to be no limit?"

Bournemouth council's former chief executive Tony Williams departed his post in March last year with a pay-out of £390k. Six figure exit payments for senior public sector managers are common, which is what prompted the cap legislation two years ago.

The Echo contacted Joint Committee chairman Janet Walton for a response to Sir Christopher's comments but has not received a reply.

The local government reorganisation (LGR) process, if approved by the Government, will see the number of authorities in Dorset reduced from nine to two, and will likely see cash saved via a reduction in senior officers, leading to numerous redundancies.

Julian Osgathorpe, programme director for Bournemouth, Poole and Christchurch, said: "There has not been any specific provision set aside for the purposes of covering redundancy costs as a result of the LGR proposals while we are awaiting a final decision from the Secretary of State.

"In addition, it is too early to reliably forecast either the number of posts, or the actual costs related to those posts in the event that the final decision is positive."