Job loss fears at the DWP. - Shields Gazette (South Shields, England)

FEARS of potential South Tyneside job losses have emerged after the Government"s biggest department announced plans to slash 12,000 posts nationwide.

The axe is to fall on jobs within the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP).

A DWP spokesman said it was too early to say how the job reductions would affect different regions.

But he stressed the cutbacks would be achieved "without any significant compulsory redundancies".

Union leaders and MPs have reacted with alarm to the revelation, which comes in the wake of the Northern Rock crisis.

Five thousand people are employed at Jobcentre Plus outlets in the region, including offices in Jarrow and South Shields.

A further 5,000 work locally for the Pensions Service and the Child Support Agency.

And a significant number of borough workers are among the 2,000 employed at the Longbenton civil service complex in North Tyneside.

TUC regional secretary Kevin Rowan said unions continued to been concerned at Prime Minister Gordon Brown"s ongoing drive to reduce public sector workers.

He added: "The strategy to cut more jobs is one that clearly brings some anxiety with the Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) in order to minimise the impact of any job losses."

The borough"s jobcentres have been the centre of industrial action over recent years, in a series of disputes over redundancies and pay and conditions.

In the past three years 30,000 dwp jobs have been shed nationally and over 600 offices closed as the Government attempted to "streamline" the department.

A DWP spokesman said: "We are confident that, in the great majority of cases, the further reductions will no mean anyone leaving the department who wants to stay."