Jobs-at-risk list tops 160,000
Latest in Home News
Related articles
On Facebook
From the blogs
A Jubilee letter from a republican to royalists
With the Jubilee weekend edging ever nearer Rob Williams offers some help for those Royalists who ju...
GCSEs are a pointless waste of time
A few facts. Last year almost 70% of 16 year olds achieved at least 5 GCSE passes with grades A*-C. ...
Asylum seekers: When the questions tell us so much more than the answers
For the last four years I've been paying my karmic dues (I would say "contributing to the big societ...
Thanks to The Sun, for enriching each of our lives
Those at the super-soaraway Sun are, yet again, making outlandish claims that they’ve changed the wo...
The number of jobs cut or threatened with the axe at local authorities has passed the 160,000 mark, with more councils set to announce redundancies in the coming weeks.
The GMB union, which has been tracking council announcements as a result of the Government's spending cuts, said 162,000 jobs were now under threat at 290 authorities.
In nearly all of the councils, a 90-day statutory consultation period is under way on how to deal with the redundancies.
Most councils have given notice that they plan to cut vacant posts and seek volunteers for early retirements and redundancy, said the GMB.
Paul Kenny, general secretary of the GMB, said today: "The Government is deliberately creating unemployment on a scale that we have not seen before.
"The Government spending plans not only threaten these 162,718 council posts and job losses in the rest of the public sector, but there are additional job losses in the voluntary Big Society sector and in the outsourced private sector.
"Many workers have already taken voluntary redundancy and frozen posts have not been filled, which is why unemployment will carry on rising.
"Frontline services for the most vulnerable people in our society are being affected by the cuts. The impact for those who depend on these services will be devastating. Some services, like meals on wheels in some authorities, are now only available to those at death's door."
The GMB said it did not believe the private sector would create enough new jobs to make up for the cuts in local authorities and other public sector organisations such as the police and fire service, accusing the Government of taking an "almighty gamble" with the economy.
The union said the regional total of job losses under threat because of the council cuts were:
North East, 9,488; North West, 29,812; Yorkshire and the Humber, 21,233; East Midlands, 11,909; West Midlands, 21,504; Eastern, 10,176; London, 15,390; South East, 13,596; South West, 11,802; Wales, 2,446; Scotland, 15,362.
The report follows a study by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development warning that redundancies were set to increase "sharply" in the next few months, with most public sector employers planning to cut jobs.
Two-thirds of public sector organisations will axe jobs in the first three months of the year, rising to three out of four in local government, it was predicted.
- 1 Brazil rocked by abortion for 9-year-old rape victim
- 2 News in pictures
- 3 Four Britons face death by firing squad after 'smuggling cocaine into Bali'
- 4 The 'suburban smuggler' facing death penalty in Indonesia
- 5 Vatileaks: Hunt is on to find Vatican moles
- 6 In pictures: The bewildering face of China
- 7 Help me decide future of press, Leveson asks Blair
- 8 Osborne's got it wrong on the economy, warns public
- 9 British housewife could face death penalty over Bali cocaine smuggling
- 10 Hague sent packing by Russia as Annan peace plan crumbles
- 1 Robert Fisk: Clinton's $33m raid on Pakistan shows that, in the end, hypocrisy will win
- 2 Brazil rocked by abortion for 9-year-old rape victim
- 3 Robert Fisk: The West is horrified by children's slaughter now. Soon we'll forget
- 4 Richard Benyon: The bird-brained minister
- 5 Sex in dressing rooms and Play School presenters 'stoned out of their minds' - inside BBC Television Centre
- 6 Fat? Really? Olympic hope laughs off official’s jibe – but others aren’t amused
- 7 'Hello mum, this is going to be hard for you to read ...'
- 8 Alien: The monster returns?
- 9 Coke reveals its secret: It may need to carry a cancer warning
- 10 French in uproar over oral sex anti-smoking posters
Experience the Heineken Hub
Get free wi-fi and exclusive i content while you enjoy a tasty pint of Heineken at participating pubs.
Can you imagine a career in teaching?
Be inspired to teach - let real teachers show you how rewarding the job can be.
Playing a game-changing role during the Games
Cisco is providing the solutions for London 2012's complex IT needs.
Enter the latest Independent competitions
Win anything from gadgets to five-star holidays on our competitions and offers page.
Business videos from commercial thought leaders
Watch the best in the business world give their insights into the world of business.
Career Services
Day In a Page
'I may be deaf, but you can still talk to me'



Comments