Published at 13:11, Friday, 22 February 2013

EIGHTY-FIVE jobs could be axed by Cumbria County Council, mainly in the highways department.

But council leader Eddie Martin said he believed that most would be the result of voluntary redundancies.

He said the council was going through a consultation process with workers.

He added: “We can make the savings in this department because we brought in staff doing work that had previously been outsourced. Capita, for instance, did our design work and some of the jobs contracted out on the highways has been brought back in-house.

“That means we have been able to identify some jobs that are no longer necessary.”

This would bring the total number of county council job losses to 804 as the council works to shave £88 million of next year’s budget, and between £48 and £50 million over the next two years. The county council employs 8,000 staff and has a budget of £56 million.

Published by http://www.timesandstar.co.uk