A voluntary redundancy programme has been launched for non-teaching staff at Shropshire Council.

The unitary authority says it is one of the ways it plans to address the funding gap as it faces a budget shortfall of almost £60 million over the next five years.

There are currently no plans for compulsory redundancies, however they may follow if savings cannot be achieved.

Clive Wright, Shropshire Council’s chief executive, said it is the result of continued Government funding cuts, increasing costs and an ever-increasing demand for essential services such as adult social care and children’s services.

He continued: “It goes without saying that it would always be preferable to release staff that want to leave.

“As the organisation modernises and takes advantage of new digital technology and our investment in broadband across the county, the way we deliver work will change.

“Many of our back-office processes will become automated and our frontline services will be able to operate mostly out of centralised buildings. This will make us more efficient and most jobs will change. Overall there will unfortunately be some job losses.

“As we’ve said, allowing volunteers for redundancy has been our preference, rather than drawn out compulsory redundancies. We have found that volunteers for redundancy often go on to flourish outside of the council.

“Each application will be considered individually. We do however need to ensure that statutory services can continue to be delivered effectively, therefore not all of those staff who request to leave via voluntary redundancy will be able to do so.”

Any payments to those who leave as part of the process will be based on the existing redundancy policy.

The council plans to save £1 million before March 31, 2018, and then £9 million over the next two years through its voluntary redundancy process.