Thousands of pounds have been paid to Southend Council staff on suspension, some of whom were accused of sexual and racial bullying.

The findings, revealed through a freedom of information request, show a total of 23 staff members have been suspended since 2015 and they received a combined total of £196,654 while they were waiting for the outcome of investigations.

Of the 23, seven were accused of “sexual, racial or any other harassment, including bullying” and between them were paid £63,804.

Six of these cases were resolved when the staff members either chose to resign or were dismissed and one, paid £3,142, received a final written warning and returned to work.

John Lamb, leader of Southend Council, said: “We are a large organisation employing 1,800 people, so it is inevitable that there will be times that we have to invoke our disciplinary processes.

“When we do, it is our policy that regardless of the alleged reason, if a member of staff is suspended, it is done so without prejudice and they receive full contractual pay until the matter has been investigated and an outcome or decision reached.

“This practice is in line with national employment legislation and the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (ACAS) code.

“In some instances investigations and processes take longer due to the circumstances of the case and if a potential criminal offence has been committed, we refer cases to the police for further investigation.

“Over the last four years there have been 23 cases resulting in suspension, seven of which related to harassment or bullying.

"Whilst we cannot discuss individual cases, the figures show we take any allegations extremely seriously and, where proven, such behaviours will not be tolerated.”

In 2015/16, the first year the council was asked to provide figures for, £27,267 was paid to five employees who faced accusations such as failing to observe equalities policies, failing to report matters of concern, harassment or bullying and theft. There were no dismissals that year. but one was deemed to have “unsatisfactory probation”, two others received written warnings.

The following year payments shot up to £90,039 paid to nine staff members, including one who received £26,866 after being accused of “improper, disorderly or unacceptable conduct at, during or when arriving at work”.

Almost all of these staff members were dismissed or resigned.

In 2017/18, another seven members of staff were placed on paid suspension at a cost of £75,114. More than half of this was paid to four people accused of harassment.

In total, six were eventually dismissed and another resigned.

Last year, the payments dropped to just £4,234, paid to two staff members. One resigned and one returned to work with no formal action against them.