Aberdeen City Council job losses 'will not exceed 370'

The co-leader of Aberdeen City Council has insisted there will not be more than 370 job cuts at the local authority after a union consultation got under way.

The local authority said in February that up to 370 jobs could go as it looked to save more than £10m.

A consultation with unions got under way on Tuesday.

Douglas Lumsden, Conservative co-leader of the council, said there was "no remit" to top the initial figure.

He told BBC Scotland: "The 370 was the maximum figure that was approved by the strategic transformation committee, that was made up of full-time roles and also vacancies that were not going to be filled.

"What happens now is the formal consultation with the trade unions, and we'll be looking to work with them to see if there's any ways to bring that number down as much as we can.

"Obviously we've got a £10m saving we had to make within our budget and that's the reason we're going through the consultation."

Mr Lumsden added: "The administration has a no compulsory redundancy policy and that's something that we're sticking to.

"There is no remit to go above that 370 figure."

Unison welcomed the commitment that the council would not reduce more than 370 jobs in total.

The union said it looked forward to engaging in discussions with the council about how to keep the number of job losses down.

The union consultations will run until the end of the month.

The council employs about 8,500 staff.