Cash-strapped Tower Hamlets Council spent almost £16million making staff redundant in the past two years – more than any other London borough.

Figures obtained from a request under the Freedom of Information Act show the soaring cost of remuneration packages for redundant workers.

The council is currently trying to make savings of around £100million over a four year period.

Local authorities across London spent more than £200m on redundancies in 2011 and 2012. Tower Hamlets Council spent £15.8m in that period, while neighbouring Hackney paid out £10.5m.

A recent study by the Wise Owls employment support agency revealed around four in every 10 redundancies at Tower Hamlets town hall last year saw employees over the age of 50 lose their jobs.