UNISON has warned that services will suffer under county council plans to save money by cutting 300 jobs.

County Hall’s ruling Conservative administration says the job losses, to be spread over three years, will not hit key front line services.

However, Kent Unison branch secretary David Buss has flatly rejected that claim and said staff affected could take some form of industrial action.

He has also warned that the loss of jobs in certain departments such as personnel could expose the county council to “unnecessary risks.” He said: “There is no doubt that these job losses will have an impact on services. The county council will still have to do the work which these staff are doing.

“Many of the jobs affected are integrated with direct services and relate to child protection, client registration and police checking. Removing these staff creates areas of risk for the council."

Unison officials are due to hold talks with affected members next Tuesday

It is thought that about 115 of the 300 jobs will go this year. The redundancies are part of a package of measures designed to save KCC £30million in 2003-04.