Up to 300 job losses at Rotherham Council

Up to 300 jobs are to go at Rotherham Council.

About 180 of the jobs are to go from adult social care, 30 from children's departments and 90 others from across the council, the BBC understands.

The council has cut budgets by £117m since 2011/12 with a further £41m savings due to be made by 2019.

The authority issued a legal notification of the redundancies last week to the unions, which are yet to comment on the move.

It is thought there is to be about 130 voluntary redundancies but it is not known which specific posts are to disappear.

Five commissioners have run the council since February after it was declared "not fit for purpose" in the wake of the child exploitation scandal.

They took control following the Casey Report's criticism of the council's response to child exploitation.

The town was the centre of an abuse ring and last year the Jay Report found 1,400 children had been subjected to abuse.

The commissioners are due to remain in control of Rotherham Council until the end of March 2019.