A TOTAL of 400 jobs are under threat at Hounslow Council, a union has warned.
A spokesman for the GMB union today said it had received an 'HR1' notice, informing it of plans for the huge job cuts. He said the form marked the beginning of a 90-day consultation process.
He also said all council staff had been sent letters telling them their jobs were at risk.
He added that it was not known at this stage which departments would be worst affected by the proposed job cuts.
The union says the proposed cuts are part of planned redundancies totalling nearly 60,000 at councils across the country.
Cllr Jagdish Sharma, leader of the council, said: "Cuts to government grant funding are having a significant impact on local councils. In Hounslow, we assume our budget will have to be reduced by more than a quarter over the next four years, putting immense pressure on the organisation. We are waiting for the announcement of the Government’s revenue support grant in the next few weeks, but for the next year alone, we are likely to have to make savings of as much as ten per cent of our budget.
"A range of proposals are currently being put together, and these will be going to the Executive in the coming months. Unfortunately, while we are trying to find savings options that could help to reduce the need for redundancies, we know that it will be impossible to avoid job losses in order to make the necessary savings. Therefore, in order to meet legal requirements, letters have been sent to all staff warning them that they could be vulnerable to redundancy.
"Whilst this is a deeply painful action to have to take, we have been left with little choice. Other local authorities are taking the same action, and most primary care trusts have also sent out similar letters to their staff. We are in no doubt that compulsory redundancies are bad for services and bad for staff, which is why we want to do what we can to avoid them."
