Exclusive by political editor Paul Francis

Kent County Council says it could be forced to find up to £22m savings from its budget this year as a result of the government's £6billion spending squeeze.

County Hall finance chiefs have begun an urgent audit of all its spending after Chancellor George Osborne announced councils would bear the brunt of a far-reaching programme of cuts, with nearly £1.2billion being stripped from their budgets this year as part of their contribution to tackling the national deficit.

KCC has been taken aback, saying it had not prepared to cut spending this year and had not budgeted for further savings.

Finance chiefs have described the prospect of cutting spending as "a nasty surprise", but remained optimistic vital frontline services could be spared from the axe. While efforts will be made to protect key jobs, there are likely to be redundancies elsewhere.

Cllr John Simmonds, KCC's Conservative cabinet member for finance, warned: "If we measure what is likely to be our share of the cuts, it works out at between £20m and £22m, which we had not budgeted for this year at all. It will be decidedly uncomfortable. We did expect next year to be pretty draconian but having to find this money this year is a nasty surprise."

The authority has instructed all directorates to examine ways to save the cash, with firm proposals for cuts drawn up within weeks.

Cllr Simmonds said the focus was on finding ways of saving money from "non-essential and discretionary services."

"We are going through all the directorates to see where money is already committed beyond the point of no return and where there may be some flexibility," he said.

Asked how he would characterise the challenge, he said: "There will be discomfort rather than pain."

One small piece of good news for councils is that the government is to lift restrictions on how some government grants can be spent, giving town halls greater freedom to manage their budgets.

But Cllr Simmonds said KCC was not as generously funded when it came to government grants compared to other authorities.

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Kent County Council had already forecast that it faced a £200m shortfall in its finances over the next three years and that between 600-700 jobs would go. However, it had not expected to have to cut into its spending plans this financial year.

The extent of savings needed has cast doubt on a promise to deliver a council tax freeze next year.