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Hundreds more local authority jobs are to be axed, as council bosses struggle to cope with the downturn. Swansea CC has met with unions to discuss cutting 500 full-time posts over three years, in a bid to address a £14m budget deficit. Leader of the council, Chris Holly, said the cuts were being made because of this year's low budget settlement. He said: ‘It seems the Welsh Assembly Government does not want to invest in local government. I feel very depressed about having to cut so many jobs.' More than 80 jobs are to go at Worcester City Council after it approved a budget to cut spending. Councillors voted for the cuts in an effort to save £3.1m in 2009/10, rising to £4.3m by 2014. The council said some posts were currently vacant and might not involve redundancies. Council leader, Simon Geraghty, said: ‘This has been an extremely difficult budget.' Wolverhampton City Council has revealed it was looking at further job cuts on top of the 200 announced, in order to plug a £5m gap in its budget. Elsewhere, up to 15 jobs are set to go at Hinckley and Bosworth BC as it tries to make up a predicted £2m shortfall. The council said it faced a cash crisis because the economic downturn had hit investments. It has responded by freezing current vacancies and not renewing temporary contracts, but admitted some permanent positions would have to be cut. Council director of finance, Sanjiv Kohli, said: ‘Continuing at existing levels of service would result in shortfalls of more than £1m in each of the next two years.'

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WHITEHALL

More jobs face axe as slump hits budgets

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