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Up to a further 100 jobs face the axe at Middlesbrough Council as the authority aims to save more than £10m next year.

The council is facing a £12.8m gap in its budget for 2019/20 and has lined up £5.7m of extra cuts alongside £4.5m of planned savings.

Of those additional savings, £4.1m has to be found from “initiatives that are considered to have minimal or no effect on front-line services”.

But despite the minimal effect on the front-line, it does not rule out impacts on council jobs.

Among the roles under review are the pest control service and a “transfer of management arrangements” to save £65,000.

A “ceasing of building project work” and “removal of associated posts” alongside “procuring work more efficiently” has been lined up to save £124,000 this year.

Removing seasonal workers from the council’s Area Care services is another move lined up to help save £134,000 this year.

A “review and restructure of street warden and neighbourhood safety services” will also be done as part of measures to find £191,000 in 2019/20.

These changes, alongside about 50 others, were agreed by the council in December.

It is understood consultations on a number of job roles have been launched this week.

Trade union Unison has blamed Conservative Government cuts for the Labour-run council having to “remove another 100 jobs from the local economy”.

(Image: Peter Reimann)

Duncan Rothwell, North East regional organiser at Unison, said: “This is another 100 fewer pay packets spent in shops and businesses in Middlesbrough.

“Whilst money is directed into the coffers of Tory councils in the affluent south, it is the working people of Middlesbrough who are made to pay the price of this Tory government’s obsession with austerity and funding emergency lorry parks in Kent.

“Unison is working hard with Middlesbrough’s Labour councillors to ensure that the impact on workers’ jobs and on public services is minimised and that compulsory redundancies can be avoided.”

The council has also outlined how it aims to find another £12m in savings by 2022 with fresh cuts coming on top of £10.9m already approved in March last year.

Council papers have pointed to £13.5m of spending pressures for 2019/20 due to inflation, increasing demand on children’s and social care services as well as wage increases.

Another cut in central Government funding of £3.3m has added to the authority’s burden in April.

A Middlesbrough Council spokesman said compulsory redundancies were being kept “to an absolute minimum” adding they were “always a last resort”.

(Image: Ian Cooper)

Middlesbrough Mayor Dave Budd said: “The impact of Government cuts to this council and the increased costs of providing statutory services to our vulnerable children and adults are considerable, requiring further significant savings to be made over the three-year period from 2019 to 2022.

“Our strategic planning is strong and as a result I am confident that although there will be a significant reduction in posts, this will be managed with a minimal requirement for compulsory redundancies.

“Inevitably however, services to the public will suffer as a result of continuing Government austerity.”

Middlesbrough Council has been no stranger to cutbacks and job losses in recent years.

Last year, council chief executive, Tony Parkinson, said the authority had already made £90m worth of savings since 2010 - and added that more than £40m extra would have to be saved by 2022.

At least 700 jobs have been lost since the start of austerity measures in 2010.

Council leaders also heard last year how the authority faced a £26.9m gap in its finances up to 2021/22.

That black hole has come down since, but not by much and now stands at £25.4m in the authority’s medium term financial plan.