25,000 jobs could be axed due to council spending cuts, warns GMB

By The Press Association1st February 2016News EnglandCuts, Jobs, Local Authorities, News England

More than 25,000 jobs are under threat because of cuts to council spending across the country, new research has revealed.

Local authorities in many areas are proposing job losses, ranging from tens to thousands.

The GMB union, which compiled the data, said it was now involved in daily meetings with councils in a bid to scale back the cuts and loss of services.

National officer Justin Bowden said: “Councils are now making cuts to services they offer the general public like bin collections every three weeks or ending cleaning gulleys, as well as severe cuts to services for the elderly and for children.

“Regular home helps and hot meals on wheels are from a bygone era. So much for David Cameron’s claim that front-line services would not be cut.”

A Department for Communities and Local Government spokesman said: “This Government is providing a long-term funding settlement for the first time allowing local authorities to plan with certainty. Councils will have almost £200 billion to spend on local services, including a £3.5 billion social care package, over the lifetime of this parliament.”

Proposed job losses which the GMB said it is dealing with, amount to over 25,000, including:

3,000 Glasgow City Council
2,000 Edinburgh City Council
1,800 Cumbria Council
1,200 Birmingham City Council
1,000 Coventry City Council
1,000 Kirklees Council
1,000 North Lanarkshire Council
900 Fife Council
700 Falkirk Council
700 Derbyshire County Council
640 Bradford Council
640 Swansea
600 South Tyneside Council*
540 Brighton & Hove City Council
500 Leicestershire County Council
500 Rotherham Council
500 Lambeth
454 Hampshire County Council
450 Croydon Council
400 Durham Councty Council
400 Plymouth City Council
400 South Lanarkshire Council
400 Stockton Council
400 Wandsworth and Richmond Councils
400 Sheffield
367 Lancashire County Council
350 Walsall Council
343 Northamptonshire County Council
306 Argyll and Bute
300 Blackpool Council
275 Dudley Council
250 East Sussex County Council
250 Newcastle City Council
200 Merthyr Tydfil Council
186 Salford Council
180 Nottinghamshire County Council
180 Southampton City Council
150 Stirling
150 Kent County Council
120 Warrington Borough Council
100 Portsmouth City Council
100 Worcestershire County Council
85 Wirral
84 Western Isles
59 Southend Council
51 Manchester City Council
50 Cambridgeshire County Council
46 Westminster
45 Carlisle City Council
45 Dundee City Council
39 Rochdale Borough Council.

*South Tyneside said its predicted job losses cover four years, not just the next financial year.

The figure of 600 reflects the maximum number of potential job losses anticipated over this four-year period, said the council, adding it will do everything it can to reduce the number and wherever possible avoid compulsory redundancies.