It is too soon to put a number on how many jobs will be lost at Norfolk County Council as part of a £17m strategic review, County Hall leaders have said.
But leaders at Norfolk County Council have said they hope to avoid compulsory redundancies where possible.
As part of the council's plans to close a £60m budget gap, consultants were brought in to carry out a strategic review of the authority.
The first phase of that review will see £17m saved, which Tom McCabe, the council's head of paid service, has previously said will lead to "significant" job losses.
At a meeting of the county council's Conservative-controlled cabinet this week, where the review was discussed as part of the budget planning process, members of Unison and the campaign group Disabled People Against Cuts Norfolk protested.
And councillors asked council leaders what the impact of the strategic review will have on staff.
Alison Birmingham, Labour county councillor, asked how many posts were potentially at risk.
Andrew Jamieson, the council's cabinet member for finance, said: "The strategic review savings planned for 2023-24 are anticipated to be made through a range of measures, and will be delivered over the course of 2023-24, with further phases of savings anticipated for future years as set out in the response to the earlier question.
"The final reconciliation of organisational structures is currently underway and we will confirm the exact number of posts anticipated for this stage when the initial consultation is launched.
"The number of planned posts may ultimately be different to the eventual number of people who are made redundant subject to the success of mitigation measures such as redeployment or disestablishing posts that are currently vacant.
"The final structures may also change in response to the consultation."
Liberal Democrat county councillor Rob Colwell asked leader Andrew Proctor what message he had for staff worried about their jobs.
He said: "We understand that change of this nature does cause anxiety for staff.
"As with all changes that could lead to job losses, and not just for the strategic
review, we will be consulting in line with our established policies and best practice.
"This means we will look to avoid compulsory redundancy wherever possible, for
example through enabling redeployment and also in how we manage the application
process for changed posts in the new models."
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