The council is facing tough decisions

The local authority said it was facing a �6m shortfall in next year's budget, and said it had been forced to protect its services.

It warned that other "knock-on" job losses were expected as a result of its budget constraints.

The council has not revealed which of its department heads are affected.

However it said councillors had voted to make the redundancies.

The council had announced last month that it intended to make six people redundant.

It confirmed nearly a quarter of its senior management of three executive directors and 25 heads of service had been under scrutiny.

'Stark choices'

Last month, it said it hoped the structural changes would save about �1m.

Reacting to the news, chairman of the council's board, Councillor Michael Jones, said: "Despite identifying more than �4m in efficiencies measures, a process that has been very difficult, the council has had to bridge a very serious funding gap.

"We were facing stark choices, significant cuts or closures in frontline services, a large increase in council tax or cutting costs, and in an organisation like Powys, that meant cutting staffing numbers.

"The council agreed to cut seven posts from the most senior management tier, which includes executive directors and heads of service.

"It is likely that there will also be other knock-on job losses as a result of the changes and budget reductions."

Mr Jones said he could not rule out "compulsory redundancies in the future".