´óÏó´«Ã½

Norfolk County Council has doubled the number of redundancies it expected to make in an effort to save more than £14m this year.

In July it had backed plans to axe 90 jobs but now it has announced a total of 190 posts are to go, including 44 senior managers.

It is also proposing halving redundancy payouts from a maximum of 60 weeks of earnings to a maximum of 30 weeks.

It has begun a period of consultation with trade unions and staff.

Norfolk County Council leader Daniel Cox said that given the unprecedented squeeze on budgets due to the coalition government's plans to cut public spending by 25%, reconsideration of the redundancy terms offered to staff was unavoidable.

As well as the 44 senior managers who will be leaving, 60 staff from the youth careers service Connexions could lose their jobs.

Mr Cox said: "The current arrangements can't continue because the likely costs of future redundancies might threaten budgets and services.

"Above all else, we need to protect essential services as far as possible."