The Government has come under fire for announcing 12,000 job cuts at its Work and Pensions Department (DWP) just hours after unveiling "radical" changes to the benefits system.
Work and Pensions Secretary James Purnell made no mention of the job losses among his own staff when he signalled a much bigger role for the private and voluntary sectors in helping people find work.
Mr Purnell described jobcentres as "world class" and revealed that productivity had increased by 11% even though the DWP has axed 30,000 jobs in the past three years.
The fresh job losses, published as part of the DWP's three-year business plan, were attacked by union leaders and politicians, amid accusations that the Government was privatising the welfare state.
The Public and Commercial Services union (PCS) condemned the job cuts and said the DWP would also be closing 200 offices, including jobcentres, in England and Wales.
General secretary Mark Serwotka said: "This announcement comes as yet another blow to a workforce who have battled to provide a service in the face of swingeing cuts and below inflation pay increases. These plans for job cuts and privatisation are purely about crude cost cutting and will do nothing to improve service delivery to some of the most disadvantaged in society."
The union warned that further job cuts combined with privatisation would amount to a "huge blow" to the morale of staff, who are involved in a long-running pay dispute.
DWP permanent secretary Leigh Lewis said the Government's spending review settlement had imposed greater demands on the department than ever before. "The financial resources available to us will have reduced substantially by 2011, while the demands for reform have increased. We will need to do much more with less as we respond to challenges such as an ageing society and the impact of globalisation on the labour market."
The department has to cut its spending by 5% in each of the next three years, delivering savings of more than £1.2 billion by 2011 and increase productivity by over 20%.
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A DWP spokesman said: "The Department has already reduced its staffing by 30,000 over the past three years without any significant compulsory redundancies. We are confident that, in the great majority of cases, the further reductions announced today will not mean anyone leaving the Department who wants to stay."
