Highland Council expects to spend £13.4m on redundancy payments to staff.

A total of 340 employees have taken voluntary redundancy since it was offered to them by the local authority in December.

The bill is about £1m more than expected but the council says the move will help save £11m a year from 2017/18. It predicts a smaller saving of nearly £9.6m in 2016/17.

Highland Council has made a series of cuts budget cuts in an attempt to save money this year, including slashing its grant to performing arts venue Eden Court in Inverness by around £100,000 in March.