Fears of threatened Birmingham City Council staff

By Daniel Thomas
BBC News, Birmingham

The protest took place as councillors discussed job cuts

About 100 threatened staff braved freezing wind and sleet to protest against proposed job cuts by Birmingham City Council.

It comes against a backdrop of swingeing council job losses, as local authorities seek to balance their books ahead of expected cash cuts.

Local authority bodies say they are already in a "perfect storm" since the recession hit.

Their incomes have been reduced as tax income and service charges drop, but demand for services increases.

And government money is soon expected to dwindle, whoever wins the next election.

'Not wanted anymore'

A government spending review in 2011 is widely predicted to slash local authority cash as huge government debts mean health, education and defence take priority.

Politically, cash for councils does not translate into votes, say local authority bodies.

In Birmingham City Centre on Tuesday, protester Aileen Voake, 52, said she has been told her job in the council's records management office will go.

"It's demoralising. We thought we were doing something useful and now we're not wanted anymore," she said.

Alistair Wingate says he has a wife and two young children to think of

Ms Voake works in the city's central library as part of a team of five.

She added: "We have been told we will be given our notice at the end of the 90 day [consultation] period.

"It's just dotting the I's and crossing the T's."

Piano teacher Alistair Wingate, 41, works for the council's Children, Young People and Families department, which is thought to be most at risk.

He said: "I have a wife and two children, so I have got to make sure these jobs stick around.

"They've got plenty of money around for the banks.

"Without decent public services, this city will become a much harder place to live in."

Birmingham is the largest local authority in the UK employing 52,000 people.

Council job cuts 2010

Nottinghamshire, 1,500

Leeds, 650

Leicestershire, 650

Cornwall, 600

North Tyneside, 350

Cambridgeshire, 300

Essex, 275

Barnsley, 100

Luton, 90

Bath and North East Somerset, 76

Gravesham, 66

Bracknell Forest, 66

Norfolk, 65

Worcestershire, 55

The council said it needs to make savings of up to £69m by April 2011 and up to 2,000 jobs are at risk.

It is run by a Conservative and Liberal Democrat coalition, with the Tories the largest partner.

The Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) said Birmingham will receive £768m for 2010/11, which is £18m more than last year.

Communities Secretary John Denham told the BBC: "This is not caused by a shortage of government funding.

"It [Birmingham] is a local authority that couldn't get its accounts in on time last year.

"We have maintained our commitment to a real terms increase in finance for local authorities."

Those authorities will receive £76.3bn from central government for 2010/11, but are expected to make efficiency savings year-on-year.

The Institute for Fiscal Studies said without welfare cuts, government departments will have almost 11% less to spend by 2014.

Accounting firm KPMG's head of Public Sector, Alan Downey, told the BBC: "If there are approaching six million public sector employees, it only takes a small reduction in jobs for it to be in the hundreds of thousands."