A TOTAL of 150 jobs are to be shed at a Tees council which has already lost more than 700 since 2010.

That figure in a Stockton Borough Council cabinet report seemed to represent an improvement on the 400 jobs the authority has previously announced will be lost by 2020.

However The Northern Echo has learned that the other 250 positions are still under threat pending an ongoing review.

Stockton council’s cabinet committee will consider the report which details the authority’s medium term financial plan. The idea of the plan is for the council to anticipate in detail how to deal with forthcoming financial issues on a longer term basis than just the annual budget.

The authority, in common with others across the North-East, has already had to make major cuts of up to 50 per cent of its central Government grant. Stockton council will have had a £72m to £73m cut from its budget from 2010 to 2020 and has already dealt with cuts of £52m.

The council officers’ report to be considered by the authority’s most powerful committee on Thursday in Stockton Baptist Tabernacle at 4.30pm, said: “We’ve had to adapt to funding reductions of £52m over the last five year and are still confronted with having to find further savings.

“At the same time demand for services, particularly adult social care and children’s services, continues to rise, so there aren’t going to be any easy decisions.

“What we can be sure of it that we are in as good a position as we can be. We have a strong track record of sound financial management and we have been dealing with these problems successfully for many years…We currently employ about 2,500 full time equivalent employees. This is a reduction of over 700 over the past four years and we expect to see a further reduction of 150 over the next three years.”

However a spokeswoman for the council explained that, despite the report, in fact other jobs are still under review.

Also contrary to the report, the savings in the annual budget must be made over the next four years, not three.

Previously the leader of the Labour-run council, Bob Cook, has vowed that the; “most vulnerable and the most needy” would be protected despite the cuts.

The report details some good news in children’s social care costs. The authority had anticipated that £2,659,000 would be need in the last financial year. In fact only £1,740,000 was spent, meaning the council may have to find less money in future. And in adult social care the council spent £577,000 less than expected.