Warning over careers service cuts

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Union leaders stepped up their opposition to cuts in the careers service today, warning that 8,000 jobs are threatened with the axe because of the Government's austerity measures.

Unison staged an event in Parliament to warn of the "damaging impact" of cuts and changes to the service, saying that more than half the staff faced being laid off in the next year.

General secretary Dave Prentis said: "Cutting such a vital service when there are nearly a million young people unemployed makes no sense. We owe it to the next generation to offer them the help and support they so desperately need.

"Cutting skilled staff in the face of record unemployment and education fee hikes will result in a lost generation, with nowhere to turn.

"How can the quality of the service be maintained when half of all skilled staff will be axed by the time the Government's all-age service launches?

"There is a deafening silence from the Government on how the new service will work - the transition, the resources and funding.

"Careers advice is not an optional extra - it changes people's lives.

"Those who have lost or are losing their jobs and are struggling to retrain, and all the young people hoping to get their first step on the job ladder, deserve a fair chance of a decent future."