ONE in four council jobs have been axed or outsourced in the past decade as a result of austerity, a study by Unison suggests.

Staff numbers have halved in some local authorities, according to information obtained by the union.

Employment among 230 councils fell by 240,000 between 2010 and this year — a 25 per cent drop — according to data from freedom of information requests.

Of those jobs lost, more than 108,000 were redundancies and around 124,000 were transferred to private contractors, Unison said.

The biggest drop was said to be among education staff as many schools became academies, while environmental services and social care both experienced drops in headcount of 25 per cent.

Unison general secretary Dave Prentis said: “Losing a quarter of staff in the space of nine years is a stark illustration of the havoc created by austerity.

“These are workers delivering vital services, so there is a huge impact on the local area and vulnerable people are often the hardest hit.

“Remaining staff face even greater pressures to make up the shortfall caused by job losses, and outsourcing puts decisions in the hands of private contractors, who put profit before quality, rather than councils, which are always best-placed to know what their communities need.

“There must be a fundamental review of how local government is financed and the billions of pounds cut from budgets must be restored before councils are damaged beyond repair.”

The number of people councils employ has declined consistently since 2010 while central government staffing increased, he pointed out.

He attributed the job cuts and privatisation to councils having lost 60p out of every £1 in funding from central government over the past nine years.

Mr Prentis continued: “Both as a significant employer in their local area providing good careers and a boost to the local economy, and in order to deliver services that local people rely on, it is vital that councils are able to recruit and retain the staff they need.

“Rising demand for local services, and the supply of high-quality staff essential for the delivery of critical services such as social care, street cleaning and education, means the government needs to act fast.

“Councils in England face an overall funding gap of £8 billion by 2025. As part of the forthcoming spending review the government needs to ensure councils receive sustainable, long-term funding to continue to deliver vital services to meet local needs.”