Almost 300 North Ayrshire Council staff have left through voluntary early release (VER) since 2017/18, at a cost of nearly £6m to the authority.

A Freedom of Information request to the council revealed the cost of the scheme had increased 10-fold, with a total bill of £5,787,633.16.

Through VER, 30 left in 2017-18 at a cost of £324,276.57 and in 2018-19, the figures were 114 and £1,616,799.10.

In 2019-20, 12 left at a cost of £373,234.06. The figures for 2020-21 were 10, at a cost of £309,796,96.

In 2021-22, a total of 27 left, costing 678,691.58. The figures for 2022-23 were 12 at £244,489.53 and for 2023-24, 87 at a cost of £2,330,345.36.

Employing a former employee of North Ayrshire Council who has left based on VER is normally only permitted in exceptional circumstances.

In all, 19 have been re-employed by the council though nine of them have subsequently left again.

Of those 19, five were on a full-time basis, six on a part-time basis, and eight to a casual post.