IMMEDIATE steps towards strikes at the BBC were averted yesterday after the corporation's management said it would discuss planned cuts with union leaders.

Three unions representing BBC employees - the National Union of Journalists (NUJ), Bectu and Unite - threatened to start mailing strike ballots to members at noon yesterday unless plans to begin voluntary layoffs were abandoned.

The unions issued the warning after Mark Thompson, BBC's Director General, announced this week 2500 jobs would be cut to make up for a £2bn funding shortfall.

In Scotland, the BBC is planning to cut around 230 jobs over the next five years. Union leaders warned that starting to cut jobs without negotiating would be considered a hostile act.

Yesterday, the BBC released a statement which said: "The BBC is committed to working closely with the unions in the best interest of staff. We have written to the unions today to invite them to continue dialogue we opened yesterday."

The BBC said it wanted to minimise uncertainty for staff and will write to selected workers on November 5 about voluntary layoffs.

Paul Holleran, Scottish organiser of the NUJ, said the move put the BBC management in London in line with BBC Scotland, whose controller, Ken MacQuarrie, had already signalled willingness to enter negotiations.

"It is still very difficult to see where the cuts are going to come from," he said. "Ken MacQuarrie talks about challenging times, but that is going to be a real challenge."

Stephen Low, father of the NUJ chapel at BBC Scotland, said the true redundancy figure at Pacific Quay, the BBC's Glasgow base, is nearer 262 jobs as 32 jobs have still to be cut from the last cost-cutting exercise which has still to be completed. "People are very angry, and no one here seriously thinks all these cuts can be taken without it seriously affecting the quality of what we produce here," he said.

Jeremy Dear, general secretary of the NUJ, said: "We are pleased the BBC have stepped back from the brink and agreed to union calls for meaningful talks to take place at a national level.

"Such a framework will provide the unions with the opportunity to make clear our ongoing concern at the implications for quality broadcasting of the BBC's plans to cut jobs, and for proper negotiations over Mark Thompson's proposals to take place."

Gerry Morrissey, general secretary of Bectu, said: "We are pleased Mark Thompson and the board have seen sense and are honouring the joint unions' existing national agreement to consult the unions." The unions said earlier that they were confident their members would back industrial action, which would take live shows off the air and affect news, sports and other programmes.

The result of any strike vote would likely not be known for four weeks, the broadcasting union said, and it would take about three weeks for the vote to take place. If members vote to strike, the unions must also give the BBC one week's notice. The last strike at the BBC was in 2005.

Ian Small, head of policy for BBC Scotland, said the net number of jobs losses in Scotland would eventually be smaller as 130 posts were also being created.

He said: "We expect there will be a sizeable number of redundancies in Scotland. However, I think it's important to remember the other side of that equation is 130 new posts will be created, so in net terms the business is really looking at 80 job losses over five years.

"For any major organisation, that's the level of efficiency that probably should be expected of us. That doesn't in any way serve to suggest that the impact on staff will not in some ways be quite severe."