MORE than £18m was spent allowing Liverpool Council staff to take redundancy payoffs as part of money-saving cutbacks.

The authority then went on to pay agency professionals up to £900 a day to stand in for departed employees.

The council has let 1,230 staff go since the coalition Government demanded savings after coming to power in May 2010.

But information obtained by the Daily Post showed a number of senior directors given handsome pay-offs will be replaced, while officers who are “acting up” to fill empty roles are being paid significant sums to fill in.

When Cath Green quit her role as executive director for the environment, she left with a £102,000 “compensation package” – but for six months afterwards, an agency employee was paid to stand in for her three days a week on a daily rate of £890.

The council is now trying to recruit full-time replacements for the executive directors who left after Labour took power last year.

Opposition figures last night questioned why so many senior, experienced staff were allowed to leave with handsome pay-offs if their jobs still needed doing.

They said they believed the reason people left was because the administration wanted “yes men”.

Labour said it had already achieved around £6m of savings from slashing bonuses and high salaries awarded under the Lib-Dems and had cut spending on consultants, which ran into millions under the previous administration.

But their claim they were tackling the bonus culture was under the spotlight after it emerged that after cutting the £25,000 bonus enjoyed by former chief executive Colin Hilton, the council awarded his replacement Ged Fitzgerald a £25,000 as a “golden hello” when he took the job.

Mr Hilton himself left with a £350,000 payoff, including pensions and pay in lieu of notice.

Labour leader Cllr Joe Anderson said by not appointing a new chief executive straightaway, the council had already saved costs equivalent to Mr Hilton’s salary.

He added the council was streamlined because “the job could be done better”.

He added: “We have saved millions and will continue to save millions.

“When I was elected, I promised I would streamline the council and ensure it was efficient and fit for purpose. That is what I have done. We are better able to deal with the demands of a modern city.

“I have not given anyone anything (in terms of pay-offs) other than what they were entitled to. I did not draw up the contracts they were on.”