Anger grows as axe hangs over hundreds in Sheffield

The council said this week it was freezing staff wage rises for the third year running and unions - Unite, Unison, GMB and Ucatt - are discussing the new terms and conditions with members.

The authority has already shed 1,300 jobs over the last two years and its budget has been hammered to the tune of £280 for every resident since the coalition came to power.

Unison said to cut costs, the authority froze annual 1 per cent increases for staff for two years from 2011, it now plans to extend the freeze until 2014.

Council officials reckoned the proposals could save around £5 million.

The union warned that staff would be "annoyed" by the plan and already faced financial difficulties due to the existing freeze.

Sheffield branch chairman John Mordecai said: "We're really annoyed about it. People are saying they are finding it increasingly difficult to make ends meet.

"Inflation hasn't frozen. The cost of living has gone up in a variety of ways and that is putting pressure on our members who have families."

But the council said it had to save £50m from its 2013-2014 budget - £10m more than initially expected.

Unions feared job losses could be in the "high hundreds" with chief executive John Mothersole saying that problems faced by the authority were probably the toughest since end of the second world war.

He warned things could get worse: "This time next year we will be cutting into the bone of services in this city.

"It's not a political statement, it's a logical one."

Council leader Julie Dore hit out at the government and said: "I'm extremely angry at a government that does not have a clue about the lives of the decent working people in Sheffield.

"This is not the way to run financial services in this country. Now we're into the realms of serious changes to services and job cuts."