Authority to cut up to 300 jobs

Up to 300 jobs will go at Wolverhampton City Council by the end of next year.

The planned cuts have come as part of a drive to make net savings of £60m over 10 years.

Most cuts would be made from customer services, finance, human resources, information technology and procurement posts.

In a letter to staff, chief executive Richard Carr warned that further job cuts may be necessary to meet spending targets and improve efficiency.

Advertising internally

Mr Carr said trade unions would be consulted on ways to reduce redundancies and it remained council policy that compulsory job losses would be a last resort.

In the letter to more than 9,000 workers, Mr Carr said staff most directly affected would be kept fully informed and be supported throughout the coming months.

But he added: "We have to make a further cut of around £15m in our annual expenditure by the end of March 2011.

"These additional savings could mean further cuts to posts."

The council said it was already trying to avoid redundancies by either advertising most vacancies internally only or by not filling them at all.

The authority said it was experiencing inflation in costs of more than 5% while receiving year-on-year funding increases of about 2%.

"Proposals on additional savings will go to Cabinet by the end of the year and staff will be told about the likely impact on jobs once there is a clear picture," Mr Carr added.