The new measures agreed with unions include removing the proposed six days a year of compulsory unpaid leave, initially put forward as 12 days a year, and instead promoting voluntary unpaid leave to staff.

Other alterations include some changes to unsocial hours payments, withdrawal of the subsidised lease car scheme and a reduction in the salary protection period for redeployed staff from three years to eighteen months.

If the changes on the lease car scheme and unsocial hours and lease car proposals are agreed the committee also agreed to maintain the 1.75 redundancy multiplier until the end of next year and ensure no other whole authority changes to terms and conditions during that period.

Angus Campbell, leader of the council and chairman of the staffing committee, said: “We are working closely with trade union colleagues to try to get a collective agreement as a basis for moving forward.”

Dorset branch secretary for the union Unison Pamela Jefferies welcomed the decision by the staffing committee.

She said: “It’s a step forward because they have come a long way from their original proposals and have listened.

“I still think it’s wrong that staff are having to pay for the mistakes of bankers.”

Mrs Jefferies said she was particularly pleased to see the council had reconsidered its stance on compulsory unpaid leave.

She said: “People were very upset about that and it was just impracticable to impose or manage.”

Gary Pattison, Dorset branch secretary for the GMB union, added: “It’s a step in the right direction.

“It’s not perfect because some of our members will still be losing from this and unfortunately it’s some of the lower paid members.”

The new proposals are expected to result in the council losing out on £3million in savings.

Mr Pattison said: “I hope they will go back to looking at where revenue savings can be made elsewhere rather than making the amount of savings that has been scheduled through job losses.”

Trade unions will need to confirm their agreement to ballot their members by June 28, with a ballot of union members taking place in July and August.

The new proposals would come in to force January 1 next year.