As the government seeks to make further cuts in public spending to help reduce the budget deficit, union bosses are warning that large numbers of public sector jobs will be lost. In fact the GMB trade union has estimated that 200,000 jobs will be cut by councils in England this year.

The union fears the cuts will be hurried through before the end of the financial year in March, claiming that the speed and size of the cuts will be unprecedented. However, Grant Shapps, the local government minister dismissed the union’s claims as reckless scaremongering.

Reduced budgets mean that councils are being forced to make difficult decisions on spending and Mr Shapps has urged them to save money whilst protecting front line services. He suggests that they do this by cutting executive pay and pooling services. In fact several councils have already stated they will be sharing services with neighbouring local authorities.

Streamlining of public sector workers has been on the cards since the general election given the Conservatives pledge to cut waste. Now the effects are being felt by council workers with thousands of notices already issued saying their positions are at risk.

GMB national officer Brian Strutton claimed that half the councils in England had yet to announce how they will deal with the cuts. However, he believes that when they do announce their decisions, they will want to get staff off the payroll as soon as possible.

The Local Government Association has estimated that 140,000 jobs will go from councils in England and Wales this year. However, this was dismissed as nonsense by the Communities Secretary Eric Pickles. Questioning how the association calculated their numbers Pickles said: “I have seen better figures put together on the back of a fag packet.”