DORSET County Council has revealed a shortfall of more than £6million in its ambitious bid to save £55million over the next three years.

The authority will now have to find new savings on top of those already identified after receiving a ‘reality check’ on the progress of its savings.

There was some good news for council workers though in the latest update given to the authority’s cabinet, as it was revealed that the number of redundancies were expected to be less than half the 500 posts initially threatened.

The council had set a savings target of £31million for the 2011/12 financial year and a total of £55million over three years following massive cuts in Government funding.

Director for corporate resources Elaine Taylor told cabinet members that the council currently had around 160 ‘projects’ in progress in a bid to achieve the savings targets.

She said: “A good number of projects are already regarded as delivered and closed.”

However, Mrs Taylor said that there had already been a number of savings that had been highlighted as being unlikely to be achieved across the next two financial years.

The total value of these projects amounted to around £3.3million in 2011/12 and a further £3million in 2012/13.

Areas where the savings were not expected to be achieved in the next year include the reorganisation of the county’s libraries and the reduction of subsidies for transport for people with learning disabilities and older people.

Proposed changes to staffing were also identified as delivering £2.1million less than previously anticipated after the council back tracked on a plan to require staff to take 12 days of unpaid leave in each of the next two years and reduced it to six days in each of the 2012 and 2013 calendar years.

Chief executive David Jenkins said the additional savings required to make up the £3.3million that will not be delivered this year must be identified by July.

Cabinet member for corporate resources Spencer Flower said: “We will have to find new initiatives to overcome the shortfall.

“It is going to be a difficult task but we have got to achieve it, we haven’t got a choice.”

Council leader Angus Campbell added: “We know and we said on a number of occasions that this is not going to be a smooth ride.”

Cabinet members were also told that, following initial fears that up to 500 posts would be lost this year, the number of redundancies expected was now around 200.