Capital's council jobs move north

Part of a London council's housing department is moving 250 miles to Manchester in an attempt to cut costs.

Islington Council will employ 12 housing benefit assessors in the North West after staff retention problems.

It says it trains staff only for them to leave and work for agencies that charge the council more money.

The council hopes the move will end the trend as its wages are more competitive in Manchester. But unions fear capital job losses if others follow suit.

There is a genuine shortage of staff in this area in London but this isn't the case in the rest of the country. Steve Hitchens Islington Council

Steve Hitchens, the leader of Islington Council, said the Manchester staff would not be dealing with the public and people living in the borough would not notice any difference in service.

He added: "They [agencies] pay a lot better and charge us a lot more. There is a genuine shortage of staff in this area in London but this isn't the case in the rest of the country.

"So we looked seriously at how we provide this service within budget and for a reasonable salary, so when we advertised 12 positions in the Manchester local newspapers we had over 250 applications for them."

But Vaughn West of the GMB union in Islington said: "There is certainly a worry among my members that over the years this will increase and that local jobs for local people in London will disappear.

"It will be interesting to see whether other London authorities follow. One of my concerns is all we will end up doing is transporting our problems to another region of the country."

The Manchester-based team begins work in December.