Edinburgh Council to cut 3,000 jobs says Unison

Edinburgh City Council insisted there would be no compulsory redundancies

A union has warned more than 3,000 jobs could be lost at City of Edinburgh Council as it attempts to cut tens of millions of pounds from its budget.

Unison said one in every six Edinburgh council staff could be cut over the next four years, almost three times as many as first thought.

The union's Amanda Kerr said the effect would be "devastating".

The council said they would be outlining its "proposed next steps" in the next few days.

In January, the council - run by a Labour/SNP coalition, announced that 1,200 roles were set to go.

It set out proposals to plug a £67m funding gap but insisted there would be no compulsory redundancies.

Responding to Unison's latest claims, finance convener Alasdair Rankin said: "The council has been clear about the scale of the financial challenge facing us for years. The city's population is growing and demand for council services is higher than ever.

"We need to make very substantial savings over the next four years and we have already put in place a number of key measures to achieve the required efficiencies."

Mr Rankin, from the council's SNP group, added: "No-one ever said this was going to be easy or straightforward but we want to safeguard those services as much as possible.

"Realistically, to make the necessary savings, we have little option but to consider reducing the number of people who work for the council.

"Bearing in mind we are keenly aware that this is about people we will work closely with our staff and the trade unions during this difficult time."

Lead Unison negotiator Tom Connolly said: "Every job lost is a service lost, a school closed, a care home closed, young and old put at risk.

"Unison will defend these services and any compulsory redundancies will trigger our longstanding policy to ballot members on action."

He said the union would lobby the council's finance and resources committee on 24 September.