Workers at the crisis-hit University of East Anglia have threatened to strike over its ongoing financial turmoil and looming redundancies.

The Universities and Colleges Union (UCU) has announced its UEA members are set to vote on whether to take industrial action as bosses consider whether to make redundancies.

The university currently needs to find £45m of savings in the next three years after it emerged a financial black hole in its budget was even deeper than first feared.

It has warned its staff that redundancies may be unavoidable - and has already shaved £6m from its budget in voluntary severances.

However, its UCU branch has confirmed it will now be running a ballot on taking to the picket line to fight any potential job cuts.

A spokesman said: "As UEA progresses plans for massive job cuts to repair fiscal mismanagement damage, our members have resoundingly indicated their willingness to take industrial action.

"We will now be running a statutory ballot - the toll on all staff and students is immeasurable.

"We have repeatedly requested information to work our possible mitigations to protect jobs including salary caps on the highest earners.

"But instead, they chose to remove the living wage for the lowest earners."

Previously, the UEA has said that its 67 six-figure salaries had been set by market forces and capping it would limit its ability to attract people into these well-paid roles.

A UEA spokesman said: "We are aware of plans for a local dispute and we are in discussions with UEA UCU to try and resolve concerns and move forward constructively.

"We completely recognise that this is a difficult and concerning time for our staff, students and the whole UEA community. 

"We are committed to keeping our staff and students updated.”

It would come less than a year after previous strikes held by the same union over a pay dispute last November.