Auckland Council is cutting up to 1100 jobs immediately for staff it has been employing as temps, or on contracts, as it prepares for an unprecedented budget hit due to Covid-19.

"It's a hard decision, and my heart goes out to them," said the mayor Phil Goff, who confirmed the scale of the cuts to Stuff.

Not all of the 1100 'contingent' workforce - those who aren't permanent council employees - will go, as an undetermined number work in essential services.

Goff said the number is spread roughly evenly across temps, contractors, and consultants working on projects that will probably not begin.

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Auckland Council itself employs around 10,000 staff, including part-timers.

As one example, Auckland Council had employed contractors and external staff to help in building compliance and consenting, but expected that area to shrink to within what the council's own staff could handle.

Goff said that temps whose employers were agencies, would be able to apply to the government for wage subsidies, and hundreds were on just 24 hours notice.

In addition, all permanent staff recruitment is on hold until further notice, and under-utilised permanent staff will be redeployed into roles currently filled by 'contingent' workers," said the chief executive Stephen Town, in a statement.

"Examples of the types of work we’ve been able to pause are consultancy and project management services for capital works projects, event operations, non-essential asset maintenance, fleet servicing, and internal business improvement projects."

“We know this will be distressing news for some of our external contractors and contingent workers during what is an already challenging time," he said.

"It’s not a decision that has been made lightly. These are valued partnerships and hard-working individuals who have been committed to serving Aucklanders and to making our city a great place to live," said Town.

Earlier in the day, the mayor Phil Goff said he was prepared to take a pay cut, to his own salary of $296,000.

Goff told Stuff the issue had been discussed with other mayors, for at least a pay freeze or perhaps cuts.

"I'm talking to government about it and it may be prepared to consider a uniform policy (nationwide)," he said.

The mayor described the jobs cuts and possible salary cuts as necessary, "with a recession looming perhaps as big as the 1930s".