UP to 100 staff at Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council are facing compulsory redundancy as the authority struggles to balance its books.

The council is looking to reduce numbers by 150, but is struggling to find volunteers in the latest round as spending cuts continue to bite into its budget.

Union bosses have said the decision to reduce the workforce further, after the council made 600 people redundant in the last few years, will have an impact on frontline services.

Speaking at today’s (Tuesday, December 17) cabinet meeting, council leader George Dunning confirmed that the authority would not be in the position to fill all the job losses with volunteers.

He said: “We are looking at 150 jobs going, but I think we are looking in the region of the high 90s for compulsory redundancy and that is too high.

"When we lost 600 jobs in the past, the number of compulsory redundancies was kept down in single figures.”

The authority, along with others across the region, has had its grant from central government slashed in recent years.

Council chiefs have calculated they need to cut £19.4m from its budget over the next three years, and £33.8m by 2020. It is proposed that £10.1m be cut from the 2014-15 budget.

Councillor Norman Pickthall, cabinet member for corporate resources, said councillors and officers had reviewed every single department in an attempt to reduce the number of job losses.

“It’s a heartbreaking time to be making staff redundant,” he said. “This round of cuts we are looking at around 100 compulsory redundancies, which we don’t want to do.”

Several union officials attended cabinet.

Speaking after the meeting, Duncan Rothwell, regional organiser at Unison, said: “The removal of 150 posts from Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council will seriously impact on services provided by the Council to local residents and businesses.

“We continue to work tirelessly to save as many jobs as possible, and in the teeth of the cuts demanded by Central Govt, that work is increasingly getting harder.

"After Christmas, there will be 150 fewer pay packets being spent in local businesses and local shops."