A UNION has criticised Notts County Council's plan to cut its managerial team by a quarter in the next three years.

Yesterday, 378 managers in "middle and senior tiers" were told their jobs are at risk.

A quarter of posts are expected to go in the first round of a review of 800 management staff.

A spokesman for Unison criticised the move, which comes weeks after the council appointed a senior director on a £110,000 salary.

"The county council seems to be in a real mess over this," he said. It doesn't make any sense."

The council expects to cut posts at each managerial level.

There are currently four corporate directors, 22 service directors, and 340 heads of service and service managers.

Chief executive Mick Burrows said: "We face an unprecedented financial challenge. We have promised to make our services more efficient and reduce bureaucracy.

"Removing some tiers of management will bring our services closer to our service users and save the council money.

"We appreciate this is a difficult time for some of our people. Some of our employees who have been placed at risk will take voluntary redundancy or find alternative employment, but some compulsory redundancies will be unavoidable."

The move is the first phase of plans to cut 2,500 posts in the next three years. The council needs to save £150 million in that time, starting with £69 million next year.

It also signals the start of the council's restructuring programme, to reduce the duplication of roles and cut management layers.

Councillor Alan Rhodes, leader of the opposition Labour group, said: "It's an enormous number of jobs. It's clearly going to have a huge impact on the local economy and that's something the administration at County Hall don't seem to be taking into account.

"Managers these days in local government don't just sit behind desks shuffling paper, these are hands-on managers, managing extremely complicated services.

"I will be seeking assurances from Mick Burrows that the delivery of those services won't be detrimentally affected."

Mr Burrows claims the council will be one of the most streamlined in the country once the work is complete.

"The public will hopefully be less confused about who's doing what.

"We need to save money, but at the same time not lose focus on what is important to the people of Notts," he said.

The changes are set to be in place by April 2011.