Councils have splashed out nearly £7 million in payoffs to public servants.

Hundreds of town hall workers in Sussex have received redundancy, early termination and other contract-related payments since 2007/8.

This includes dozens of senior managers who received individual “golden handshakes” worth thousands of pounds.

The “huge figure”, uncovered by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism through Freedom of Information requests, was calculated without the two biggest councils in the county - West and East Sussex County Councils - which did not provide the information.

Brighton and Hove City Council, which employs more than 8,000 people, shelled out nearly £4 million with 1,987 contract-related payments to its staff.

This included 126 people being made redundant at a cost of £1.5 million and early termination payments to 146 members of staff totalling £1.8 million.

Labour councillor Pat Hawkes said: “Not only does this signify there have been a number of jobs already lost even before the coalition government’s cuts hit us hard, but it would seem a vast waste of money.

“This huge sum could have been better spent on protecting our frontline services.”

A spokesman for Brighton and Hove City Council said: “We are aware of public concerns over costs of things like redundancies, pay-offs and so on, which rightly receive a great deal of publicity. “But against that you have to set the far larger sums which are being saved in council efficiencies. “We’re looking to save at least £45m over three years and these payouts should be read in that context.”