More than 400 council workers have applied for redundancy in Walsall – over eight times the number of jobs due to be axed.

The employees now face an anxious wait until next month to find out if their applications will be accepted by the local authority, which is expected to cut about 50 posts.

Walsall Council leader Councillor John O’Hare today confirmed more than 400 applications had been received and added: “It is quite a large number.”

Union bosses today said they were in the unusual position of having hundreds of members set to be disappointed at not being made redundant.

Paul McManomy, Walsall’s Unison representative, said: “It’s not something we normally come across as a union.

“Clearly the council has had more volunteers than it was banking on.”

He said that despite the number of volunteers, a small number of compulsory redundancies had still not been ruled out.

The council announced at the start of the year that it would be forced to shed jobs in a host of measures designed to save £10million. It has also had to cut some services to save money, including axing the annual illuminations at the Arboretum for the next three years.

Paul Smith, Walsall Council head of human resources and development, said: “Applications are still being assessed against agreed criteria. Employees should know if their applications are successful in early to mid-May. We are consulting with unions.”