Hundreds of care workers were told they were losing their jobs - in a letter sent out by mistake.

Cumbria County Council has now retracted the letter, but staff remain concerned.

The authority's care service, Cumbria Care, is currently under review as part of wider changes.

A new reablement service is instead being set up, shifting the focus from home care to helping people get back on their feet after an illness, fall or stay in hospital.

Staff and unions were told the changes were coming, and were anticipating letters to explain the process.

But on Friday about 360 staff received emails saying they did not qualify to move over to the new service, and were therefore at risk of redundancy. 

It said: "Unfortunately your current post does not meet the criteria for direct assimilation to any of the roles in the new structure. As a result of this you are now at risk of redundancy. 

"The council will provide support for you in securing alternative employment and in considering any other alternative options available to you."

Soon after, the letter was withdrawn, with the council blaming a "clerical error".

A new email was sent out, with a more general invitation to apply for other posts in the council ahead of the "assimilation process" - to determine who qualifies to move across to the new service.

However one of the affected workers said that regardless of whether it was sent out by mistake, the first letter suggests they are the ones who will likely lose their jobs.

"As far as I am concerned there are more than 1,000 care workers across the county, and we think we got these letters because we are the ones going to get the chop," they said.

"We knew there were going to be changes. The new reablement service is there, but we automatically thought they were going to be transferred over. 

"But even though we have been doing reablement work for months, and every single one of the Cumbria Care workers went on reablement training, that appears not to be the case," the worker said.

However a county council spokesman insisted this was not the case.

He added: “A regrettable clerical error [on Friday] morning led to staff within Cumbria Care’s reablement service, which is currently involved in a restructure process, receiving a letter with incorrect information about that process. 

"This was quickly realised and a replacement letter was issued with the correct information. We fully appreciate that this can be a difficult time for staff and we apologise for any upset caused.”