NEARLY 1,200 local authority jobs could be axed in the next five months as Somerset Council tries to stave off ‘bankruptcy’.

More than a quarter of the 4,586 full-time equivalent County Hall jobs are under threat of redundancy – staff in schools are excluded from the cuts.

The council is expected to start a formal voluntary redundancy process with trade unions on Friday (February 9) with the majority of affected staff leaving by July 31 and the remainder by November 30.

Executive councillors who meet on Wednesday (February 7) to decide whether to authorise the job cuts have been told the redundancies would save £40 million a year from 2025-26.

The council, which declared a financial emergency in November, is facing a £100 million budget shortfall which could force it to issue a Section 114 notice, the local government equivalent of going bankrupt.

Councillors have already said they need a ‘whole council transformation’ leading to a smaller, leaner authority delivering fewer services to help them out of the financial black hole.

Strategy and performance director Sara Cretney said in a report the council needed a ‘clear and robust plan’ to support long-term financial stability.

She said: “The financial emergency facing the council requires a change in thinking around the pace, scale, and the structure of transformation to deliver a radically different way of working as a council, operating with fewer staff, while increasing our influence and impact.”

Ms Cretney said the council would try to minimise the number of compulsory redundancies by looking at measures such removing budgeted vacancies, reducing the number of agency workers and consultants, and voluntarily cutting contract hours, as well as reviewing fixed-term contracts.

She said if the executive approved the proposals, a 45-day consultation would start on Friday with trade unions.

Ms Cretney said the approach was key to closing the budget gap in 2024-25, while in the following year it would be the ‘single largest financial benefit’ and an ‘essential element toward future financial stability’.

She said if the Government refused the council’s request to be allowed to ‘capitalise’ borrowings and income from selling assets to use instead on day-to-day spending, then the voluntary redundancy scheme would be terminated during the consultation period.

The consultation would otherwise close on March 25, which was also the deadline for receipt of voluntary redundancy applications.

On Tuesday (February 6), the council heard it would receive £38.2 million in the Government’s local government finance settlement for the coming year, representing 7.2 per cent of its core budget.

The news came after the Government refused the council’s request to be allowed to increase council tax bills by 10 per cent, double the amount permitted by legislation, which would have raised an extra £17 million.