Plans by Devon CC to press ahead with up to 170 youth worker job losses were condemned today by trade union Unite.
Unite said its members were being made ‘scapegoats’ for a critical Ofsted report on the authority’s children’s social care service.
The union claimed the council was pressing ahead with proposals that could lead to all 34 of its youth centres closing.
Unite regional officer Mark Richards said: ‘Axing a value for money service, built up over the decades by loyal, hardworking staff is not the way to balance the books and will lead to greater social problems in the future.
‘The council undertook a consultation last September with hundreds of young people and voluntary organisations – and not one said that they wanted the youth centres shut.’
Last month, Unite warned that youth services that help more than 12,500 young people annually in Devon will become a ‘postcode lottery’ if the county council was allowed to slash the service’s budget.
