STAFF at South Oxfordshire and Vale of White Horse district councils face redundancy as the two authorities move to merge their management, the Herald can reveal.

Councillors were briefed about the plans three weeks ago and consultations with staff have begun.

Middle managers are those most likely to suffer.

About 750 staff are employed by the two councils, which have increasingly merged staffing since the appointment of David Buckle as chief executive of both local authorities in September last year.

In February, three strategic directors, each paid £96,000 a year, were picked to run services in both districts. Now every council department has been told to identify where savings can be made.

The councillors are expected to approve a package of cuts by the end of this year, which would be implemented by the end of financial year in April.

The Conservative leader of South Oxfordshire District Council, Ann Ducker, said the councils were reviewing both their ‘structures and processes’.

She said: “There will be some redundancies. At the end of the day, the decision has not been made yet because it depends if we accept the structures put forward by each department. We have not decided which structure we are going to have, but jobs will be made redundant.”

She estimated that about ten staff might be made redundant, but her Liberal Democrat counterpart at Vale of White Horse Tony de Vere said he could not yet predict numbers. Another source at the council said up to 30 staff could lose their jobs.

Mr de Vere said: “Planning income and investment income are going down each year.

“The budget pressures are very significant as the recession works its way through local authorities.

“Before we get to the stage of compulsory redundancies, staff will be offered chances of applying for voluntary redundancy.

“We are carefully looking at how we can deliver the same service but across two councils.”

Steve Waite, Unison Oxfordshire officer, said: “These are uncharted waters.

“We are not against change for change’s sake as the councils inevitably merge, but we are really concerned this could be used to just reduce staff numbers to diminish services across the board.

“We are monitoring the situation extremely closely.

“It does seem nationally that the bankers got us into this mess but local government staff are expected to pay with their jobs.”