REDUNDANCY payments made as part of the merger of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole councils “will be higher” than the £1.5 million budgeted for this year, a senior officer has said.

Councillors were told at Wednesday’s meeting of the shadow authority scrutiny committee that only the most senior departures would be included in the figure with most redundancies not made until after the new council’s formation in April.

The shadow authority, which is overseeing the transition into the new council has a budget of £1.5 million for redundancies, however this is only for the period up to the end of March.

Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole council corporate services director, Julian Osgathorpe, said that that figure would be exceeded with most redundancy decisions not planned to be made until the new council has been established.

“We will spend more than £1.5 million,” he said. “If we go right back to the initial business case, there was a much higher figure.

“It’s impossible to forecast how much that will be but it will be much higher than the £1.5 million.”

He added that all redundancies made as part of the formation of the new council will be made by the end of September.

Earlier this week, the planned redundancy of Bournemouth council’s managing director, Jane Portman, was revealed – with the process costing almost half a million pounds.

Ms Portman is entitled to a £117,000 pay-out while a £355,000 ‘pension strain’ payment will also have to be made due to her departure prior to reaching retirement age.

She had worked for the council for 12 years, being promoted from the head of its children’s and adults’ services work to the top job in 2017.

Dorset County Council’s chief executive, Debbie Ward, has already left her role, along with a £170,000 redundancy payment and £300,000 pension contribution.

Other positions which are expected to be made redundant in the months leading up to the formation of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole council include the chief executives of Poole and Christchurch councils.