London councils have cut 5,000 jobs in response to the government's Spending Review a year ago. Central government grants are being squeezed by 26% over the next four years - but the cuts are being front loaded (i.e., the biggest reductions are coming now, rather than being evenly spread out), leading to councils having to make people redundant.
The figures vary across the city, with Harrow losing 43 posts and Wandsworth 46, but Haringey has axed a whopping 484 jobs this year. The north London council has to find £84m worth of cuts in the next four years, but £41m of that has to come in the current financial year. And it's clearly hurting. A spokesman for the council told the BBC that:
"We've tried where we can to limit the impact of job losses to the back office but the sheer scale and speed of the government cuts has inevitably impacted on other areas."
In addition to Harrow and Wandsworth, councils losing 100 jobs or fewer are: Enfield, Kensington and Chelsea, Kingston upon Thames, Redbridge, Richmond upon Thames and Sutton. Councils losing more than 200 positions are: Camden, City of Westminster, Croydon, Greenwich, Hackney, Islington and Newham.
Photo of Islington Town Hall by Matt From London, from the Londonist Flickr pool
