Cumbria County Council set to cut 1,800 jobs in next three years

Cumbria County Council could cut up to 1,800 jobs over the next three years as it looks to make further savings of £83 million, according to the BBC.

The council has proposed a 2% rise in the share of council tax which it receives and intends to cut grants to organisations such as the Lake District National Park and Cumbria Tourism.

If the proposed 1,800 jobs are lost, the council said staffing, excluding school employees, would be down to 5,200.

It has already identified savings of £130 million per year after its funding from central Government was reduced.

The consultation will run until 20 January with the budget finalised the following month.

Deputy leader Patricia Bell said: “Losing another 1,800 staff will impact on lives, families and our local economy.

“It will be very painful but there is no alternative.

“It has taken a massive effort to identify the £130 million of savings a year that we’ve already found, but the next three years of cutting a further £83 million is going to be incredibly tough.”

Unison’s Dave Armstong said: “People are working tremendously hard trying to keep the council services going for the vulnerable people in Cumbria and these type of cuts will mean that it will become just about impossible to provide those services.

“Certainly we weren’t aware of this scale of job cuts and it is quite horrific.”