EVERY public service in Bolton faces cuts in the council’s “worst ever” budget, as the Government tries to plug the national deficit.

Town hall bosses need to save more than £50 million over the next five years, which means that up to 500 posts will be cut and every major building project in the borough will be reviewed to see what can be put on hold. Council leader Cllr Cliff Morris said: “This is the worst I’ve ever seen. It will impinge on people’s lives — there’s no two ways about it.”

And before the tough decisions are made, the council has been ordered to save £3 million before next March.

This year’s tight budget is based on a forecast reduction in the amount of cash given to the council by the Government.

Public finances have been hit by the global recession and the banking crisis and Whitehall says it must save £6 billion this year, £1.16 billion of which will come from local government.

Due to Government policy, council tax will not increase next year, which means the gap in the budget must be made up from savings.

The council’s annual budget is about £410 million, but large sections of that, such as the schools grant, are fixed and bosses will effectively have to find savings from about £150 million of the budget.

The cuts will start with £3 million this year, followed by £14.5 million next year, then £12.9 million, £8.5 million, £8.6 million and £6.7 million in successive years up to 2015/2016.

Details of how much cash the Government will give to the council will not be available until the emergency budget on June 22.

Cllr Morris blamed the speed and severity of the necessary cuts on the coalition government.

He said: “We’re arguing that they’re doing it too quickly. It would’ve been hard anyway, but it’s been made harder because it has been brought forward by three months.

“What we’re trying to say to people is that this is the scale of the problem and we will be working to resolve it as fairly as we possibly can — but things are going to happen.

“People will say ‘it’s about time cuts were made’ until it’s a service that affects them, and these are services that are going to affect everyone. We’re under no illusions that we’re in for a rough ride.”

The biggest proportion of Bolton Council’s expenditure is on wages, and between 300 and 500 posts will be cut next year, but the process will start this summer. Council bosses say 150 of these posts are already vacant. Where possible, the cuts will be dealt with by redeploying staff to other areas and encouraging people to take voluntary early retirement.

Capital expenditure is also under close scrutiny, with improvements to the borough’s roads and primary schools among the building projects likely to be postponed.

Cllr Morris said child protection services would also be immune from the axe.

Council chief executive Sean Harriss is writing to every council employee to explain what is happening. The unions have also been consulted.

A report on the proposed cuts will go before the council’s Executive on Monday. Town hall bosses must identify the savings before the next meeting on June 28.