TWO redundancies payouts of more than £100,000 are set to be approved.

The new Somerset West and Taunton Council is being recommended to approve the severance costs, which have already been accounted for in the 'transformation' figures.

The council will meet during a 'special meeting' on June 19 at 6.15pm, where the redundancy costs is just one of the agenda items.

Much of the detail regarding the fees are considered 'confidential', so cannot be viewed by the public.

But the report does state the payouts are for the principal planning officer and the digital services manager, who will leave their posts in September later this year.

A spokesman said: "This report is requesting the council to approve the redundancies of the principal planning officer and digital services manager.

"The necessary financial approvals are already in place via the business case for transformation and these costs are already included within reported figures.

"This request for full council approval is a separate requirement of the council’s HR policies where severance costs exceed £100,000 per case.

"It is recommended that the council approve the redundancies of both posts with effective end dates of September 20 2019 in accordance with the financial details set out in confidential appendices A and B."

The report comes as it was revealed the council has spent more than £5million on redundancy packages.

The former Taunton Deane Borough Council's bill for laying off 191 workers last year hit £5.6 million - and could possibly rise by another £600,000.

Chief executive Penny James, who also headed up West Somerset Council under a joint working agreement, pocketed £343,000, while five other staff picked up more than £100,000.

READ MORE: Former chief executive pocketed £343,000 as former council spent £5.6 MILLION on redundancies

The sums were calculated under a policy adopted by the council and are way above the statutory national minimum.

James Hassett, chief executive of the new authority, said the redundancy payments are dependent on salary, terms and conditions and age

He said issues have been created because more employees than expected took redundancy, adding no-one who had left had been re-appointed or was likely to be and that none of them had been paid for consultancy work.

The job losses were part of a package of measures aimed at saving £3.6million a year.

He added that the authority has "healthy reserves" and allocations of cash have been put aside "for growth projects to help stimulate development locally".