Jobs threat at council homes firm

Up to 200 people could be made redundant by the company which manages council housing in Sheffield.

Sheffield Homes said it might have to lose a sixth of its workforce because of "growing financial pressures" in the current economic climate.

It said if it could not reduce costs or increase income there would be about 100 redundancies by March 2009 and up to 100 more by March 2010.

Company representatives are due to discuss the plans with staff next week.

Consultations with trade unions began on Monday.

Kevin Osborne, regional officer for Unison, said the news had come out of the blue but the union would try to secure as many jobs as possible.

He said: "There was no suggestion given to us that they were in the sort of trouble that would lead to the redundancy situation that they are now announcing."

'Worrying' news

One employee told BBC News that most of the workforce had heard about the potential job losses through the company's intranet website.

He said staff were worried and waiting to hear who would be affected by the redundancies.

A Sheffield Homes spokesman said: "We need to change the way Sheffield Homes delivers its services in order to respond to growing financial pressures and to build a sustainable business that continues to deliver excellent services for future generations.

"These financial pressures have arisen from a combination of factors including the complex way that we are funded and the current economic climate."

The spokesman said the company would do "everything we can" to reduce the number of redundancies and would ensure that it met the government's Decent Homes target by 2010.

He said: "We understand this news will be worrying to our employees and will be doing everything we can to support them through the process."