JOBS are expected to be axed at Notts County Council – and union leaders fear the number of posts cut could reach hundreds or even thousands.

It comes as bosses at County Hall were today set to announce that they are looking to make changes to staff redundancy packages.

A letter was being sent about proposals to change employees' terms and conditions – which included redundancy payments being cut from 66 weeks' pay to 45.

Tim Gregory, director of corporate services, said the changes were to help save jobs as the council is looking to find savings of £83m during the next three years.

Mr Gregory refused to put any number on the amount of jobs to be cut but added that figure would be revealed by December.

Ravi Subramanian, Unison's regional head of local government, said: "We fear it could be hundreds, if not thousands, of jobs."

Lib Dem leader Coun Jason Zadrozny said the news of potential job cuts would be "devastating" to employees.

He said: "Look at the time scale – this is Christmas cuts. This is a Christmas card goodbye.

"It comes after they are looking to change everybody's terms and conditions. It appears underhand.

''We have lots of frontline staff who are dedicated. The staff that will get hit with this are working families."

Mr Gregory said the council, which is reputedly the biggest employer in Notts with 16,000 staff, was looking to make cuts because of budgetary pres-

sures. These pressures included rising costs of adult social care and the added costs of safeguarding children in light of the Baby P case.

"Both those are very significant cost factors," he said. "We are facing some significant challenges.

"Inevitably there will be some impact on staff numbers. We realise that our staff will not welcome this news.

"This has been a difficult decision. We must weigh the money in the budget up. Our duty is to preserve services for the public."

The letter, which was signed by chief executive Mick Burrows, who is believed to be on holiday in Egypt, stated the proposals to change terms and conditions had been shared with trade unions.

But Mr Subramanian said he was angered because no letter had been sent to him and council leader Coun Kay Cutts had still not accepted any of the repeated requests to meet with the union.

Mr Subramanian said: "Our members are going to be furious.

"It looks like we were part of it. We are hopping mad. There has been no discussion. Kay Cutts has not even met with us despite requests from Unison."

The authority, which has an annual budget of up to £500m, will enter a formal consultation with trade unions on October 22.

Findings will be presented to the November 10 personnel committee.

Coun Cutts said: "This is not a decision we have taken lightly. Our employees know that we are going to have to make some difficult choices to balance the budget.

"We are a business-like council providing value for money and we're doing our bit to keep council tax down.

"The changes we've put forward will bring employees' benefits into line with other local authorities."

The changes to staff terms and conditions will save £2.9m. They are:

Annual leave – removing three days' additional annual leave for employees with ten years of service.

Mileage rates will be streamlined to 40p per mile, saving £773,000 each year.

Essential car users' lump sum allowance of up to £905 will be withdrawn, saving £815,000 each year.

Changing the redundancy policy to bring it into line with other councils to offer a maximum of 45 weeks' redundancy pay. The minimum allowed is 30 weeks.

Subsistence payments for expenses such as food and drink will only be paid in exceptional circumstances.

Disturbance allowance – an additional mileage rate available if staff move offices – will only be paid for two years.

Pay protection for staff who are redeployed to a lower graded post will be reduced to two years from the existing three to five-year period.