Council 'could shed 1,000 jobs'

The council is trying to make millions of pounds of savings

Aberdeen City Council has been told it needs to make significant redundancies if it is to meet its target for budget cuts, BBC Scotland can reveal.

A report from the experts brought in to advise the council on its finances said job losses may be "unavoidable".

Tommy Campbell, of the T&G Unite union, claimed it could mean as many as 1,000 workers losing their jobs.

Aberdeen City Council, trying to save £27m, said no figure had been put on the number of posts affected.

The authority, run by a Liberal Democrat-SNP coalition, needs to make the savings to balance its books.

Senior managers have been told to raise the prospect of job losses with staff as soon as possible.

The expert group said the reduction in headcount would have to be significant, but no exact figure for redundancies has emerged.

Labour called on the administration to reveal possible job loss numbers and say whether there would be compulsory redundancies.

'Coming months'

Gordon Graham, who speaks for Labour on human resources, said: "This news will come as a big shock to our staff."

Aberdeen City Council deputy leader Kevin Stewart said: "The city council has been stating its policy publicly for more than a year that we need to move towards having a smaller, better paid and better motivated workforce.

"Most Scottish local authorities are putting out a similar message.

"The External Support Group of chief executives from other councils, who are currently advising the council, agree that that is the way to go."

He added: "No figure has been put on the number of posts which will be shed and no particular sections of the workforce have been identified for job losses.

"This is something which the city council will be working through with the trade unions over the coming months."

A report from the Accounts Commission earlier this year said the council faced "extremely serious" challenges.