A MERSEYSIDE council last night confirmed it is facing a potential £30m budget black hole in the next financial year.

Knowsley Council said the “unprecedented” level of cuts it will have to make represent almost one-fifth of its annual spending.

There are now fears hundreds of council staff may lose their jobs and residents will see a drop in services.

Leaders in the borough said they are looking at stopping whole areas of work, rather than making piecemeal cuts across the board.

They met with councillors and trade union officials to break the news to them yesterday.

The borough is already facing a strike ballot among staff after it scrapped an eight-month redundancy notice period earlier this year.

It was well known Knowsley Council needed to find £5.6m of savings this year. Finance chiefs also predicted another £26m would need to be shaved off budgets over the coming three years.

But the level of cuts needed – around 18% of the council’s total annual budget – is around three times the original prediction.