Bristol City Council's deputy search cost £10,000

The council said it abandoned the recruitment process after learning how much it needed to cut

Bristol City Council has admitted it spent £10,000 searching for a new deputy chief executive - a role which was never filled.

The authority abandoned the recruitment process after learning it needed to make a further £6m of savings as a result of government cuts.

The council spent between £9,500 and £10,000 on a consultant while advertising cost a further £250.

It said it had decided to make savings in senior management.

The information about the recruitment process was released under the Freedom of Information Act.

"When we set out the recruitment process for a temporary deputy chief executive for two years, we did not know the full implications of the government's financial settlement for local government," the authority said in a statement.

"The frontloading of savings meant that the council had to find a further £6m savings (on top of £22m planned).

"It was therefore felt that the recruitment process should be halted and the opportunity taken to make these further savings at senior management level."

The Liberal Democrat-controlled authority has to make £28m of savings - about 7% of its budget - in the next financial year.

About 340 posts, from a total of about 18,000, will go and council tax will be frozen.