More jobs could go over £1 million black hole in Telford & Wrekin Council budget

The council needs to cut more than £22 million over the next two years, on top of the £53 million it has already saved since 2009.

Finance chief Ken Clarke said the council was on course to make the required savings this year, despite overspending by more than £6 million on adult social care already since April and £500,000 across all service areas.

But he said on present estimations the authority would have a shortfall of £1.08 million by the end of March 2016 that would need to be met by further cuts.

Mr Clarke, assistant director for finance at the authority, said he did not envisage there being any problems meeting the target.

But he warned it would come at a price – and revealed his worries about the future if the Government, as expected, pushed on with its austerity drive beyond 2016.

"This £22 million is already on top of the £53 million we have already saved since 2009," Mr Clarke said.

"It is quite clearly difficult, and for some people it will have a price," he said.

"But we will deliver it. We have a stupendously good record in making these savings and we will continue to do so."

When asked about the prospect of more job losses, the finance chief admitted it was inevitable.

He said paying the 3,000 staff still working at the authority was the biggest expenditure on the balance sheet and the most obvious to cut.

The authority has already earmarked meeting half of the £22 million savings target by "restructuring" departments. Mr Clarke said he felt the austerity drive would continue irrespective of next year's General Election result.

"We could be looking at being asked to save between £10 million and £13 million per year from 2017 to 2019," he said. "That would make things very difficult for us.

"It is easy to cut at the start, but with every £1 million you add on it becomes more and more difficult to make the savings.

"It is hard to envisage where we will be down the line if the pressure continues to be put on us.

"You would have to think there would have to be an impact on the front-line services people rely on, which we have worked hard to protect up until now."

The authority has already chopped £53 million from its budget since 2009 by axing more than 1,100 posts, closing buildings and negotiating better deals with suppliers.

Councillors agreed to the latest plan to save £22 million in February.

At the time Councillor Bill McClements, cabinet member for resources, told members the borough's economy was bucking the national trend by growing faster than in most other areas.