Unions have warned a new round of job cuts in the county council's education department could pose a fresh risk to vulnerable children.

KCC is consulting on a fresh round of redundancies which unions say has placed 367 jobs at risk in its 1,000-strong education, learning and skills directorate.

The job cuts form part of a package of cost-cutting measures aimed at saving £13.7m.

Aspect, the union that represents many of those affected, says the scale of the cuts means dozens of staff who monitor standards in nurseries and schools will be lost.

Also under threat are school psychologists, staff who ensure there are enough places at Kent schools and those who improve the job prospects for 14 to 19-year-olds.

At the same time as it is consulting over the redundancies, KCC is recruiting three new senior directors, two of which have been advertised on six-figure salaries.

Clare Dent, from Aspect, said Kent would be left with few staff to identify problems early enough to prevent them becoming major crises.

She said: "These are the people who go into nurseries and schools and monitor standards. KCC is cutting it to such an extent this will not happen.

"This is particularly worrying in private nursery settings. Unless you can identify the problems, you can't work on them - these cuts will have a severely detrimental affect.

"We really feel these cuts are to meet a short term goal, which will only increase and store up problems in the future."

Mrs Dent added: "At a time when there are problems in the demand for places at primary schools and youth unemployment is rising, this is not the right thing to be doing."

In a statement, KCC said: "We are committed to supporting the young people of Kent, in particular vulnerable learners who may be at risk of disengaging from schools or colleges. A clear focus for the new Skills and Employability team will be providing targeted support for these young people."

It added: "There are a number of vacant posts within those identified as potentially deleted and wherever practical voluntary redundancy will be agreed to avoid compulsory redundancies."

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Kent County Council has defended the recruitment of a trio of senior directors at the same time as it is considering job cuts.

The council is preparing to appoint two new directors in its education department and a third in the directorate that looks after vlunerable children.

One post is that of a director of education quality and standards, which has been advertised on a salary of £106,000.

A second appointment is for a £120,000-a-year director of specialist children's services.

A third director of education planning and access is being recruited on a salary of £88,000.

Cllr Mike Whiting (Con), cabinet member for education, said: "We as a council have two main responsibilities, one of which is the quality of education that is provided and the adequacy of the provision of places.

"Taking those two things into account, it is very important we have these two senior posts to ensure that both of these agendas are delivered."

The appointments are being made as the authority confirmed at its budget that about 460 more jobs would be lost at County Hall this year as part of savings of £97m.