SCORES of jobs could be lost if two councils forge ahead with proposals to share senior staff, a union has warned.

Next month, Cherwell District Council and Towcester-based South Northants District Council are due to decide whether to share a chief executive and other senior managers.

The councils reckon they will jointly save more than £1m — Cherwell saving £686,000 a year, and South Northants £360,000 — by sharing 15 key staff instead of employing a total of 31 people. At the moment, each local authority has its own chief executive, heads of service and directors.

A report says a further 62 posts have also been identified that could be merged — 40 at Cherwell and 22 at South Northants, which could save up to a further £769,000.

Cherwell says it cannot rule out further redundancies, but any decision will take place after the Government’s spending review later this month.

But union Unison is concerned the move to shared management could be the tip of the iceberg for jobs losses and may ultimately lead to cuts in services.

Regional representative Steve Waite said: “The problem is the proposals seem quite simple on the surface that they will save on senior managers.

“But once that tier of management has been reduced, they will look at the next tier and so on because that’s the logical next step.

“I think staff are feeling fairly low.

“In terms of the impact, there is also the potential impact on funding from central Government so this is coming at them from both ends. There is great apprehension it will mean cuts in services and loss of jobs.”

Cherwell’s executive is due to look at the business case on Monday and if approved, the proposals will go before both full councils on November 3.

If the scheme is given the green light, one chief executive could be running both councils by December, followed by directors in January and senior managers by March.

James Macnamara, Cherwell’s executive member for resources and communications and vice- chairman of the shared management working group, said: “It is impossible at this stage to rule out further redundancies but sharing management with South Northamptonshire Council will certainly go a long way towards protecting front-line jobs and services.

“We must now wait and see what the Government's comprehensive spending review announcement brings on October 20.”

The move is expected to cost the councils up to almost £1.7m in redundancy and recruitment expenses — of which Cherwell would pick up 60 per cent of the cost and South Northants 40 per cent. Costs for the joint management team would be split 50/50 between the councils.

Both councils say the move would not be a merger, but would ease some of the pressure from expected cuts in the annual Government grant.