Taxpayers have dished out millions of pounds in early retirement and redundancy payments to former council workers in Sussex during the last five years.

The settlement sums, which total at least £12 million, have come to light as councils revealed their total number of employees had risen by more than 2,000 during the same period, though many of these extra posts were paid for by Government grants or other agencies.

Early retirement and redundancy payments are awarded according to statutory schemes set out by Government and the District Audit Office but council chiefs have the power to boost packages on a discretionary basis, usually for senior staff.

But any money paid out has to come out of the council's own budget because the central pensions fund only kicks in when people reach statutory retirement age, which is 60 for women and 65 for men.

Council leaders today said the money paid out was easily recouped in subsequent years in salary savings and that early retirement and severance packages were only granted when it made financial sense.

But some opposition leaders have criticised the payments, claiming getting rid of senior posts created more work for other employees and did not actually save money in the long term. There were also calls for an investigation into the issue.

Councils in Sussex declared a total of £11,441,583 million had been paid out in lump sums, redundancy payments and pension contributions between March 2000 and March 2005, with the cash coming from each council department's respective budget.

The real figure is likely to be much higher as Lewes District Council and East Sussex County Council, one of the biggest public authorities in Sussex, were unable to supply figures.

Other councils only had partial records available or had not included teachers in their totals.

The bulk of the money is for pension payments to staff who wanted to retire early.

Mid Sussex District Council had paid the most to the least amount of people.

It forked out £879,763 in early retirement payments and £312,362 in redundancy payments, a total of £1.2 million, to 17 employees from 2000 to 2005 - which works out at about £70,000 each.

But a council spokesman said the authority had previously been "top heavy" and a restructuring had got rid of numerous senior posts, which meant large payments at first but massive savings in the long term.

He said: "By deleting these posts, the council has become more efficient and effective.

"Salary savings and other savings made in service budgets in five years easily cover the redundancy and early retirement costs."

Horsham District Council was another high payer, giving £692,471 to 21 employees, while staffing levels rose from 475 to 478.

Opposition leader David Holmes said: "Most of that money went to three people.

"We challenged it at the time because we did not believe it would save money.

"No one else will do the work without extra pay being offered.

"We asked for this issue to be investigated but it was fudged. I will be calling for an inquiry."

Council leader Elizabeth Kitchen was not available for comment.

About 16,000 council staff in Sussex are currently being balloted on industrial action about plans to change retirement rules which could force staff to carry on working for up to five years longer than they planned.

Unison leader Andy Richards said that sometimes, to get rid of a certain person, they would be given a little bit extra to smooth the way.

He added: "It does happen. But that's senior posts. Most ordinary council staff just get the statutory amount."

The figures, released to The Argus under the Freedom of Information Act, revealed that West Sussex County Council had paid out £4.6 million to 442 employees and its overall staffing levels had gone up by 334 from 14,407 to 14,741.

However, the majority of the new positions were in education and early years care, which were needed to comply with Government policies. Government grants paid for many of them. More than 700 staff are now paid for by other agencies.

Worthing Borough Council had paid £180,163 to 11 employees. Its staffing levels had gone down by 12 from 525 to 513.

Rother District Council had not made any payments and had 254 full-time employees in 2005, 31 more than it had in 2000.

Chichester District Council paid £504,699 to six members of staff and its staffing levels had gone up from 609 to 610.

Adur District Council had paid £326,049 to 20 employees and its staffing levels had gone down nine from 430 to 421.

Arun District Council had paid £1,520,791 to 53 employees and its staffing levels had gone down 44 from 537 to 493.

Hastings Borough Council had paid £375,494 to 17 employees and its staffing levels had gone up 95 from 406 to 501.

Wealden District Council had paid £148,766 to three employees and its staffing levels had gone down 92 from 618 to 526.

Crawley Borough Council had paid £866,705 to 31 people and its staffing levels had gone down by 27 from 841 to 814.

Brighton and Hove City Council did not give information for 2000 and 2001 and did not include teachers in its figures. Between 2002 and 2005 it paid £798,798 to 79 employees. Its overall staff numbers had gone up from 1,576 in 2001 to 8,372 in 2005. But this was because services previously outsourced had been brought in-house. Also the 2001 figure did not include agency staff.

Council leader Simon Burgess said staff levels had actually dropped considerably.

Mid-Sussex District Council had paid £1.2 million to 17 employees and its staffing levels had gone up 53 from 449 to 502.