A SENIOR official could receive a pay-out of tens of thousands of pounds if she is made redundant as part of a proposed council shake-up.

Janet Barker, the director of community services at Hartlepool Borough Council, could lose her job as part of plans to make the authority more efficient.

Surrey-based consultants Cornwell Management has been paid £29,000 to draw up the re-structuring proposals.

It has been revealed that a total of £79,399, currently part of her salary, would be shared among the other four council directors, who would take on more responsibility.

If the proposals are accepted by the council it would make a "very slight" saving in running costs, according to mayor Stuart Drummond.

It would also result in the responsibilities of the community services department being split among other departments.

Mrs Barker, who has worked at the council for 37 years, would receive pension, lump sum and redundancy costs.

The overall figure of what she would receive has not been revealed by the council.

The council has already been told by the Government it must create a post for a Children's Services director by the end of the next year. The lowest salary being advertised for similar posts across the country is £95,000.

Mr Drummond, told the council's scrutiny co-ordinating committee that chief executive Paul Walker's £140,000 salary would not increase to maintain wage differential with the directors.

He added that, if the restructuring was accepted by the council, it would be completed quickly because the procedure had had a negative effect on morale.

He confirmed that the council was projecting a £1.5m deficit in its budget next year.

He said: "A lot of people are worried about their jobs and what they would be doing. Morale is very low with staff and there are people looking for other jobs. We need to get this settled as soon as possible. The restructuring was never about saving the council money but was about increasing efficiency."

Mr Drummond added that he expected next year's increase in council tax to be below six per cent and any higher increase could be capped by the Government.