UNION leaders claim Rochford District Council is facing a crisis in staff morale with workers wanting to quit.

The council has recently finished a staff consultation about a shake-up in working practices as a result of Government cuts.

The Echo understands job losses are expected and staff may have to reapply for jobs.

A survey of staff by public sector union Unison shows 85 per cent of members who responded said morale was much lower than a year ago.

The report concluded: “Morale is low, to such an extent Rochford District Council is experiencing a crisis in staff morale.

“Over three-quarters of staff are more likely to look to leave the authority than this time last year.

“This has obvious implications for staff retention and, moving forward, staff recruitment.

“No respondents thought the council would become a better place to work and a substantial majority felt it would become worse.”

Concerns were raised by staff about working beyond their job descriptions and 32.5 per cent said they regularly worked unpaid overtime.

Only 2.5 per cent of respondents thought the council would be a much better place to build a career should the redesign be implicated, with 62.5 per cent thinking it would be much worse.

Michelle Bradley, regional organiser for Unison, said: “The report has been sent to a number of people within the council and we await their response to it.

“Whenever job losses are mentioned it will be a worrying time for staff, people assume the worst. We have raised a number of concerns with the council and we will see if it takes them on board.”

The council expects Government grants to reduce by £1.2million in the next three years and said the redesign was proposed to build a healthy future for the district.

Results of the consultation are still being processed, but the council hopes their redesign will “future-proof” the organisation while creating a structure to meet the needs and expectations of residents.

A spokesman for the council said: “It is important this consultation is meaningful and therefore it would be inappropriate to comment at this time.”