Plans to move Hammersmith and Fulham Council's call centre to Rochdale have been slated because of job losses.

The ruling Conservative group expect to save around £150,000 annually by using Rochdale Council's call centre.
 But Labour leader Steve Cowan said: "This will mean local people with local knowledge will lose their jobs. I am sorry the Tories have decided to do this."

The council claims the service will be improved. Member for residents's services Paul Bristow said: "Residents expect us to deliver top quality value for money services and the reality is that contact centres can be run from any location.

"By moving to a larger contact centre in Rochdale we will gain some significant economic and technical advantages.

"This will mean we can deal more efficiently with peaks in demand, as well as saving taxpayers £150,000 a year in operating costs." 

A spokesman said current staff can transfer to Rochdale, but added: "Given the future location they can opt for redeployment or redundancy instead.  We have already had two meetings with staff and one with staff representatives with another two meetings with staff representatives arranged."

The move is planned for early next year and there will be 15 full-time posts lost.