Union bosses believe an estimated 500 jobs are to be lost at Bradford Council as letters have been sent to employees warning of further cutbacks.

They also say £30 million is to be stripped from the authority’s operating budget for next year, following the £44m cuts finance chiefs are working towards this year.

Council leader Ian Greenwood has already written to employees warning of tough times ahead.

He told the Telegraph & Argus last night he could not guarantee that there would not be compulsory redundancies because the scale of the cuts handed down from Government was too large.

He said: “I made it clear in my letter that I value people’s contributions and I think they are doing a fantastic job in very difficult circumstances. But it is frankly beyond our control and is a result of massive Government cutbacks that we think are too far and too fast.”

He said they were at an early stage in the budget process for 2012/13, but that millions would need to be saved on top of an already difficult year of cuts.

The Government plans to reduce the financial support it gives the Council in the form of the main formula grant by £45m over the next three years. There might also be reductions in other grants that Bradford receives separately.

The Council is issuing a legal notice to the unions which triggers a 90-day period of consultation over potential job losses.

At this stage City Hall bosses were unable to say how many positions were likely to go.

Just over 1,000 job cuts have been made in the last two years.

A total of 425 positions have gone through voluntary redundancy, 308 through vacancy control, 142 through other means such as retirement due to ill health or normal retirement, 123 through early retirement, and there have been 11 compulsory redundancies.

The Council’s chief executive, Tony Reeves, said: “We have already reduced the number of staff the Council employs through vacancy control, offering opportunities for redeployment, staff turnover, voluntary redundancy and other options, but we may have to further reduce the number of people we currently employ.

“We are doing, and will continue to do, everything we can to avoid the need for compulsory redundancies. Compulsory redundancies are a last resort when all other options have been explored fully.”

Public services union Unison has urged the Council to fight the Government over the budget cuts as they fear the destruction of vital front-line services and the demise of voluntary and community services which protect the most vulnerable people in the district.

Regional organiser Marion Perrett said: “Bradford will be hit harder than the majority of cities in the rest of the country by massive cuts to public spending.

“The whole economy of the district is heavily dependent on public services.”

Councillor Glen Miller, leader of the Conservative group, said it was unlikely that the Council would be able to reduce its costs to work within the new budget framework without compulsory redundancies.

“We are hopeful that the Council can indeed be remodelled without any compulsory job losses, but we doubt that it will be possible, particularly when the Council’s mid-year budget position is millions adrift of where it should be and looking potentially overly optimistic.”

Councillor Riaz Ahmed, deputy leader of the Liberal Democrat group, said the legal notices which triggered the 90-day consultation were a statutory obligation of the authority.

He said: “I hope the Labour administration has a meaningful consultation and avoids compulsory redundancies, however everybody in the district understands what a mess, through maladministration, the last Labour government left the country in which the coalition has to deal with.”

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