Opposition groups on Glasgow City Council said previous rounds of redundancies had left some frontline services stretched to breaking point and moved to have approval for more job losses delayed until there was a full study on the impact of almost 3000 departures over three years.
They claimed the exit of scores of workers from the council's planning department meant numerous applications had to be scrapped and started again due to a breakdown in continuity.
Both the authority's SNP and Green groups also queried whether the council's various pots of financial reserves were buoyant enough to fund tens of millions in pay-offs. How-ever, the ruling administration claimed failure to move quickly on redundancies to help save almost £50 mil-lion would mean cuts elsewhere.
It was also claimed that, despite previous insider estimates that between 600 and 1000 jobs could go between now and April, the figure was now around 300, with sources claiming education and social work would largely be protected.
However, amid concerns around the scale of the redundancy packages paid out to senior officers since 2010 and how much savings their exits actually generated, applications to go from assistant directors and above will have to approved by a cross-party panel of councillors.
The SNP said this was an admission of past failings.
Under the agreed redundancy programme, 300 redundancies would cost around £21m which, it argues, would be paid back in savings after two years. It has routinely argued that failure to induce staff to leave with attractive packages would cost it more in the medium term.
Unlike Glasgow's last trawl for voluntary redundancies, employees of all ages will be invited to apply but it will be more targeted.
The council's leader, Gordon Matheson, also said there would be no com-pulsory job losses: "The numbers are in the early hundreds and will be more targeted than previously. Any suggestions to delay these proposals need to be met with how we find the money from elsewhere. That would have more of an impact elsewhere than this would. I'll also not have it said that we are putting at risk our statutory obligations to the public."
SNP group leader Graeme Hendry said: "I'm pleased the council now accepts that some of the packages paid to senior officers in the past should have been scrutinised more by accepting any future applications from senior staff above must go before committee for approval. It is a matter of shame for Labour that so many millions have been wasted and we believe a matter for investigation outside the council."
The Herald revealed last month that Glasgow is to try saving £48.8m between 2013 and 2015.
