Lambeth Council has rejected claims the number of senior council staff earning more than £50k has increased by 377 over the past decade, and says the number has “virtually stayed the same.”

The latest research from the People’s Audit shows from 2006/2007 to 2016/2017 show the number of senior managers – those earning £50,000 or more – increased by 377, while the council made close to 2,200 employees redundant.

The report also shows the number of senior managers at the council increased by 110 during this period of redundancy.

But a Lambeth Council spokesperson said the figures were “completely inaccurate” as they include pay increases for teachers employed in Lambeth schools “for whom the council provides the payroll administration.”

A statement from Lambeth Council read: “The number of Lambeth Council staff earning over £50,000 since 2016 has stayed virtually the same, going from 212 in 2007 to around 220 today.”

The council has asked People’s Audit to correct the figures, according to the statement.

The January report from the People’s Audit also outlined the redundancy packages which senior managers took home.

“In 2016/2017 just four employees shared out £485,620 in redundancy payments. Another employee received a payment of £238,081,” the report said.

Redundancy packages between 2010/2011 and 2016/2017 cost the council over £33 million, according to the report.

The report also condemned the council’s use of management consultants to restructure the council.

“In 2016/2017 Lambeth paid management consultants PWC £275,000 to write the business case for this. This is in addition to the more than £460,000 that PWC were paid by Lambeth for carrying out internal audits and various other reviews, such as the £18,500 they were paid for a review of hardware asset management,” according to the report.

The report said the council were increasingly reliant on agency staff, which had increased by 25 per cent between 2012/2013 and 2016/2017.