The ABC has asked staff to volunteer for redundancies, but jobs cuts should be on the way.

Reports say the public broadcaster will have to cut over 200 positions to meet the Federal Government's $84 million budget cut.

Former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull froze the ABC’s budget for three years in 2018, effectively an $84 million cut.

The broadcaster had plans to address the looming shortfall, but the COVID-19 crisis postponed the plans.

“The budget challenge presented to us by the indexation pause remains and we will also need to finalise savings initiatives to meet this challenge,” managing director David Anderson said in an email to staff this week.

“The budget gap of $41 million per annum means that despite our best efforts some of our services will be affected and, regrettably, there will be redundancies.”

Mr Anderson said expressions of interest for redundancies have been opened to employees in some divisions already.

“As we finalise those change proposals, we have decided to provide employees in divisions where it is anticipated that more than 10 redundancies will be required with an opportunity to express an interest in redundancy,” he said.

He thanked staff for their work.

“This has been an arduous year already for all of us and I'm conscious of how many of you must be feeling right now given the uncertainty across our industry and the broader economy,” he said.

“The work of all of you throughout the challenges we have faced together this year has been outstanding and your patience and professionalism are, as always, greatly appreciated.”