The announcement could embarrass the Prime Minister David Cameron who is keen to avoid more job losses.

An announcement confirming the move is expected to be made in early next year, but the number of redundancies is thought to be nearly 3000, reported The Times.

Under plans set out in 2010 the size of the Army will be cut by 20,000 to 82,000 before 2020.

An Army source told the newspaper that Cameron is keen to avoid the bad publicity that would accompany the announcement of more job losses.

The armed forces redundancy steering group has said the latest round of cuts will see between 2,500 and 2,900 soldiers losing their jobs.

Armed forces documents seen by The Times reveal that the Army is concerned that the Government could intervene to prevent further job losses.

Downing Street would prefer to see troop numbers fall through people retiring or leaving of their own accord but military chiefs want to be able to choose themselves how many redundancies to make.

Colonel Ian Brazier, a former Army officer, told The Times: "The ruthless cutting continues but the reserves supposed to be plugging the gap have not yet been recruited."

An MoD spokeswoman said: "These redundancies are not new and were announced in the strategic defense security review in October 2010 and again in July 2012.

NJF/NJF