The regional head of campaigns and policy for Unison East Midlands, Lilian Greenwood, discusses the issues surrounding job losses in the public sector

AS Unison members at Notts County Council prepare to lobby the authority over the attacks on their jobs and what we fear will be savage cuts to services it is important to set the scene in a wider context.

Over the past year more than 1,000 jobs have been lost at councils in the East Midlands, with thousands more lost nationally.

It now looks like 1,000 more council jobs could be lost in the next year in Nottinghamshire alone.

This isn't union scaremongering. The Chartered Institute for Personnel Development have estimated nationally there will be 30,000 job cuts in councils in the next year.

The cuts will go further than efficiency measures and natural wastage and they will have an impact on levels of service.

Those with a political axe to grind claim money could be saved by deleting "non jobs", but when asked to identify such jobs they can't.

The reality is the workforce is engaged in delivering vital services to our communities, caring for the most vulnerable; keeping our public buildings clean and safe; and providing services that befit a civilised society.

Public sector workers are members of the local community too. If they are made jobless, aside from then needing to claim state benefits, they have less money to spend in the local economy which has a knock-on effect in the community.

As Kay Cutts prepares to wield the knife on the very services that are keeping our communities together in these difficult times, people need to understand what council workers really do. Some little-known facts about the local government workforce are more than 70% are women. About half of these women are in low-paid, part-time jobs, such as catering, care work and cleaning. The hourly pay rate for those in caring roles is similar to a supermarket worker

Admin posts are an easy target to take pot shots at, but these jobs are necessary. For example, having admin workers means skilled social workers can best use their time and skills to work with families and children.

The same applies across a range of professions such as planning, environmental health, engineering and law.

The recession has meant a fall in demand for some council services, such as planning and building control.

But in other, more labour-intensive areas, demand has increased. In a recession there are more people claiming housing benefit, more needing welfare rights advice, more free school meals are needed and there is an increased demand on social services.

Over the past four years councils have been required to make four per cent year-on-year efficiency savings, whilst having to provide increasing levels of service.

Rather than make savage service cuts, Unison wants councils to reduce their unnecessary expenditure on agency workers and consultants.

Notts County Council spent more than £19m on agency workers last year – more than any other council in the East Midlands. Unison believes they could easily save 10 per cent if they implemented proper control measures and that would save nearly £2m that could be better used to protect frontline services.

In tough times the public sector is even more important as the most vulnerable in our communities need extra support.

Hard-pressed council workers are now expected to deal with greater demand with fewer resources.

That's why Unison has launched its "Million Voices for Change" campaign for a fairer society and decent public services for all. To add your voice to our campaign visit www.unison.org.uk/million.