Bradford Council has admitted it is “preparing for change” ahead of the new coalition Government’s plans to drastically reduce the country’s deficit.

There are some warnings that grant settlements from the Government are expected to be cut by a fifth, leading to a tightening of belts at City Hall.

The Council’s chief executive, Tony Reeves, today said savings had already been identified and any reduction in its 20,000 employees was expected to be through staff turnover rather than redundancies at this stage.

He said: “We only know the generality and not the detail of the new Government’s public spending priorities at present.

“We are preparing for change, and an organisational review is under way. Savings have already been identified, with the aim of protecting frontline services, and this work will continue.

“The Council is looking to manage any reductions in employees as far as possible through turnover of staff and controlling vacancies. This process of vacancy control has been under way for a number of months.”

Mr Reeves’s warning follows the news late last week that Kirklees Council staff have been warned of 140 compulsory redundancies this year. It follows an announcement by the authority in September of an efficiency programme to cut 1,500 jobs over the next three years due to Government spending cuts.

Kirklees expects the grant it receives from the Government to be cut by 20 per cent and is making major changes in how the authority is run.

Hundreds of workers have already taken early retirement and more are expected to leave in the next few months. But it is still expected that there will need to be compulsory redundancies to hit the figure of 1,100 posts to be shed this year.

In 2007 Bradford Council announced that it wanted to cut 400 jobs in a move to save more than £13 million. The plan to trim 408 middle-management and administration posts was part of a streamlining process to provide greater efficiency.

e-mail: jo.winrow@telegraphandargus.co.uk