Thousands of English council jobs are at risk in a shake-up of local government, the country’s biggest trade union has warned.
Christina McAnea, the general secretary of Unison, sounded the alarm as councils submit their final proposals for mergers and reorganisation by the end of this week.
She warned the changes “cannot be used as a convenient cover for job cuts” and that it would be a “travesty if crucial public services are shut down, outsourced or sold off”.
More than 10,000 public sector jobs are already at risk in the civil service, and the overhaul of NHS England could lead to about 9,500 job losses. With a worsening economic outlook and the Treasury looking for additional money to avoid missing its fiscal targets, unions are concerned that councils will be targeted for further cost savings even after years of austerity.
The plan to merge some county and district bodies into unitary authorities will affect six regions and abolish many lower-tier councils. It has already caused controversy as many of the areas affected are intending to defer local elections while the changes are put into place.
Several councils voted through changes this week, with Surrey council agreeing to split into two unitary authorities, losing 11 borough and district councils.
The government has proposed that most areas of England will switch to unitary councils to provide local services, including social care, housing, waste collections and planning.
McAnea called on ministers to promise no compulsory redundancies would be made and that wages, pensions and benefits, such as sick pay and leave, must be protected when workers were transferred to the new authorities. She said current arrangements that allowed unions to negotiate centrally with a national body over pay should also be preserved.
Councils are already facing uncertainty with the Treasury planning cuts for unprotected Whitehall departments in the spending review. The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) has calculated that unprotected departments such as the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government could have their budgets reduced by about 1.9% a year, or 7% over the rest of the parliament.
The Local Government Association warned in its submission to the review that councils faced a combined funding shortfall of £20bn over the four years of the spending review period.
Unison said job losses at district councils could run into thousands, with workers also left vulnerable to new pay deals if transferred or re-employed on different contracts.
No community would want their services reduced so these should be preserved after the transition, the union added.
McAnea said: “Thousands of council roles are at risk under these wide-ranging proposals. Local authorities are under severe financial strain following years of austerity. But communities mustn’t lose the expertise that ensures authorities can support their residents.
“It would be a travesty if crucial public services are shut down, outsourced or sold off in pursuit of further savings across a sector that’s already suffered savage cuts for many years.
“Councils are long overdue a multi-year funding settlement that stabilises local services, ensures residents can access the support they deserve and protects staff. A fair pay deal, including for care workers, must be part of the solution.”
The Office for Budget Responsibility will hand Rachel Reeves its final forecasts on Friday, including its assessment of how close the chancellor is to breaking her promises to have a balanced day-to-day budget by 2029-30 and to have debt falling by the same time.
Government sources have said Reeves will not announce any tax rises next week, despite Conservative claims that she is planning to introduce a stealth income tax raid by freezing the threshold where people start paying it.
Officials are not denying reports that they could seek to increase Whitehall budgets by an average of 1.1% a year after 2025-26, rather than the 1.3% announced last year.
Given that much of this money would be taken up by expected rises to budgets in areas such as the NHS, schools and defence, the IFS calculates this would mean other departments – such as justice, the Home Office and local government – falling by about 1.9% a year, or 7% over the rest of the parliament.
