A SENIOR manager who sparked a massive security breach at a Devon council is understood to have been recently made redundant, the Echo can reveal.

The personal details — including addresses and bank account details — of almost 2,000 employees and councillors at East Devon District Council were leaked after the member of staff sent them to a private email address.

As revealed in the Echo, fraud experts were drafted in after it was discovered a spreadsheet containing the sensitive data was sent to a home email address before the staff member left the authority's employment.

But the Echo has now learnt that the manager connected to the incident had recently been made redundant.

Councillors described the situation as "disturbing" and trade union bosses said they were looking into whether the council had appropriate safeguards in place.

A helpline has been set up for concerned workers, who have also been seeking advice from union representatives.

The council says the incident was "unauthorised" and affects 1,891 staff, councillors, employees of Leisure East Devon and pensioners formerly employed at the council.

It stressed that no details belonging to council tax or business rate payers were included in the breach.

A councillor on East Devon District Council, who did not wish to be named, said: "I understand the member of staff concerned had been made redundant. If they received redundancy pay, they are surely disqualified from the right to receive that payment."

Councillor for Exmouth, Eileen Wragg, said: "It is very disturbing. There has to be trust between officers, staff and councillors."

The council reported the incident, which happened around Monday, August 16, to the Information Commissioner, who launched an investigation.