Guardian
Ben Dowell

The Times is cutting its editorial budget by 10% and implementing a round of voluntary redundancies that could lead to up to 50 departures.

James Harding, the Times editor, and the paper s managing editor Anoushka Healy briefed staff at a lunchtime meeting today. Mediaguardian.co.uk revealed earlier today that its News International sister title the Sunday Times is also cutting its editorial budget by about 10%, putting another 20 to 30 journalist s  jobs at risk.

At the briefing Harding said that all News International titles – including the Sun and the News of the World – will be looking to make savings for the start of the company s new financial year on 1 July, but that the Times would be the only paper offering voluntary redundancies.

This was taken by insiders to suggest that the Times was hoping to shed more posts than the other News International titles.

Staff at the Times have two weeks to apply for voluntary redundancy. The offer is understood to be four weeks salary for every year worked plus a four-month notice period.

In a question and answer session with staff at today s meeting, Harding said that the number of posts was not determined; it was likely to be around 50, but this depended on the salaries of those applying. He declined to reveal the paper s editorial budget or total staff, figures he said was "commercially sensitive".

Sunday Times staff are also due to hear this week about the paper s cost savings plans, which are understood to include cutting £4.5m from the current editorial budget of £42.5m a year, with redundancies almost certain.

The Sunday Times s Scottish operation is expected to bear the brunt of these job cuts. Staff in Scotland were briefed yesterday to expect the office to be cut from 15 to 20 journalists to as few as four. The Sunday Times editorial staff as a whole is around 400.

Pre-tax losses for both papers widened to £87.7m for the year to 28 June 2009, from £50.2m in the previous 12 months.

Turnover at Times Newspapers, the News International subsidiary that publishes the Times and Sunday Times, was down 13.4% year on year to £385.5m.

The company blamed the widening losses at Times Newspapers on declining advertising revenues.

News Group Newspapers, the News International subsidiary that publishes the Sun and the News of the World, reported a fall in profits to £40.3m, down from £44.7m, during the same 12-month period. News Group Newspapers turnover was down 1.4% year on year to £617.9m.

A spokeswoman for the Times said: "We confirm that we have opened a programme of voluntary redundancy for editorial staff."