12,000 job losses announced by councils

Almost 12,000 job losses have already been announced by local authorities to meet budget cuts for next year, a new study has shown.

Local authorities including those in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Falkirk, Walsall, Dudley, East Sussex, Merthyr Tydfil, Worcestershire, Cambridgeshire and Carlisle are planning to axe jobs, according to research by the GMB union.

The union monitored budgets being fixed for 2016/17 by 29 councils and found that 17 had identified job losses.

%VIRTUAL-ArticleSidebar-council-stories%The GMB warned that local authorities were having to decide which services to cut, or how many jobs will be lost, because of reductions in their budgets.

National officer Justin Bowden said: "These 11,766 job losses are just the tip of the iceberg of the cuts yet to be revealed as councils fix budgets for 2016/17.

"They are in advance of the announcement that four government departments – Treasury, transport, local government and environment - have agreed to cut their spending by an average of another 30% over the next four years.

"Spending in some parts of the public sector like local councils will be half that in 2010. These same councils have to cope with increased pressures from the care sector and other upward cost pressures.

"The last round of local government job losses were described as cutting council services to the bone. The further 30% cut will mean amputations as councils and other public services are forced to decide which services they stop providing altogether.

"With the cuts to come people will have more chance of winning the lottery than seeing police patrolling their streets."