Large scale redundancies are not anticipated at Gateshead Council despite budget cuts, according to the council’s director of corporate services Jeff Dean.

Following on from a BBC survey showing that 10% of local government jobs could be cut, Dean told Recruiter: “We have to make significant budget savings, just as every other similar organisation does. But we believe that we can make most of these savings by restructuring and streamlining the way we do business so that there will be minimal impact on front-line services.

“There will inevitably be some changes to staffing as a result of the restructuring, mainly in back office functions, but these changes will be achieved through our workforce planning processes and through redeployment and retraining of staff.

“We do not anticipate any large scale redundancies and any changes to organisational structures and working practices will be carried out in full consultation with our trade unions and employees.”