LIVERPOOL council has offered voluntary redundancy to its top 80 managers who earn more than £60,000, the Daily Post can reveal.

It is not clear exactly how many managers the council wants to get rid of, but it is understood the target is to shave between £5m and £6m off the wage bill.

The request for volunteers is initially limited to those earning more than £60,000 but could be extended to those earning less if there is not enough uptake. Volunteers have until the end of the month to express an interest – the local authority has also launched a review of its management structures.

The council said applications will only be approved when it is in the best financial interests of the council and deliver “real savings”. Last night council leader Joe Anderson said the move was in response to the “huge financial challenges” facing the organisation and was designed to protect front-line jobs.

But deputy leader of the Liberal Democrat opposition Flo Clucas said the redundancy programme was “bizarre”.

She said when her party was in power, prior to the May election, it had identified that 1,000 jobs could be shed over three years by natural wastage.

The news follows Friday’s revelation that bonuses for the top level of management at the council are to be scrapped in a bid to rein in the city’s spiralling pay bill.

The city’s seven-strong executive management team have voluntarily agreed to completely give up the huge bonuses after coming under pressure from Cllr Anderson.

The measure will save £150,000 a year.

Earlier this month the council introduced a recruitment freeze to help deal with the “biggest financial crisis to hit the city for decades”.

Days later it emerged the council is facing an £11m blackhole in its social services budget.

It has also had £9.28m of grant funding removed in this financial year by the new coalition.