Birmingham City Council announcement to axe 1291 jobs is devastating for the city, as it plans to make huge savings of 27.7 million. The council's plans are to make cuts in children's services which will affect mainly community day nurseries and youth services across the city

Many parent's around the city now have to work, and rely on these day nurseries to look after their children, so these cuts will not only affect the staff but also affect these parents that will have to find alternatives if these nursery where to close.

It will also have a huge affect on all the vulnerable youth across the city that relies on social care staff, who need proper support. Some of these vulnerable youth may have to deal with family bereavements, family breakdowns and bullying etc and need guidance and support. There has been so much on the news recently regarding anti-social behaviour, Birmingham City Council are going to make the situation worse by making cuts to the services it offers to people most in need.

Birmingham City Council and GMB have now started its 90 day consultation period on all proposals which is expected to conclude around the end of March. The first of the consultation meetings will be on the 4 Feb 09. GMB will be consulting with its members and will be urging BCC to re-consider and find an alternative. We will do everything we can to reduce the number of employees that will be affected, to try and reduce the impact on these services.

Roger Jenkins, GMB Birmingham & West Midlands Region Officer said, "We will do everything in its power to protect our members jobs, and the prevision of frontline services to the people of Birmingham. We may have some sympathy with the authority if they were attempting to improve efficiency; however this is simply about saving money by cutting frontline services"