A Welsh council has spent £800,000 of taxpayers' money on non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) last year, adding to more than £2.7million spent in the last five years.
In what has been called "a complete waste of taxpayers' money", Caerphilly Council signed as many NDAs with staff leaving its employment in 2024/25 as the other four neighbouring councils combined.
Between 2023/24, the council signed 41 NDAs for £784,000, but between 2024/25, it spent £832,000 on 32 NDAs.
The council reportedly challenged these claims and described the use of NDAs as "common practice".
Councillor George Etheridge, who is also a mayor of one of the neighbouring areas, described the excessive purchases of NDAs "concerning and costly", suggesting that it is "taking money away from front-line services".
Cllr Etheridge told GB News: "I strongly believe that the use of NDA's/gagging orders should be made illegal.
"The Council is a public body and should be fully open and transparent, yet these secret deals have now become the norm, and it does beg the question of what is being hidden.
"This is a complete waste of taxpayers' money in my view, as the money would be better spent elsewhere, rather than making cuts - the money could be used to help alleviate pressures on other services."
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The council spent over £800,000 on NDAs in 2024/25
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Councillor Nigel Dix, who leads Caerphilly Council's independent group, called the use of NDAs "absolutely wrong" and proposed for their "ban in the public sector".
He said: "Somebody leaves their employment and they are gagged, it smacks of a cover-up, and that is unacceptable."
Cllr Dix accused the council of "throwing money around like it's confetti" as he pushed for it to "explain in detail" its use of NDAs.
He added: "The widespread use of the so-called gagging orders worries me. What type of information is so confidential that former staff have to be gagged from speaking about them?"
Cllr Etheridge explained to GB News how the money could have been better spent.
He said: "The money from the NDA agreements could have been used to help the lesson centres and Libraries.
"The money could also contribute to public toilets, better facilities, and have kept the six community safety wardens."
The councillor explained that the council removed the wardens because it did not want to front the £280,000 wage bill, which he believes has led to an "increase in anti-social behaviour".
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Caerphilly council said the NDAs are not "gagging orders" and that their high spending is due to the size of the council.
A spokesman said: "These types of settlements are not 'gagging orders', they are agreements that are common practice and are used by many employers to facilitate a mutual termination between an employer and employee.
"Caerphilly is one of the largest councils in Wales. Therefore, you would expect these figures to be higher than other smaller local authorities."
The spokesman explained that the NDAs "are only used when a robust business case has been completed to demonstrate their requirement and are, by their nature, designed to minimise the financial impact on the council."
He added: "We will continue to carefully monitor the use of such agreements going forward."
GB News has approached Caerphilly Council for further comment.