THIRTY jobs have been axed from a council childcare service in a bid to save £1.2m.

Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council’s “Early Help” scheme has been under review for the past three months to plug a seven-figure hole in its budget for this year.

Now the authority has revealed 30 staff took “voluntary redundancy” from their roles on the back of the review – and 13 of the 30 took early retirement. But it added there were “no compulsory redundancies” as part of the changes.

The Early Help team carries out appointments with parents and young people for children from newborns to five-year-olds and focusses on helping vulnerable youngsters.

Staff also support families with breastfeeding, mental health support and child protection – as well as offering guidance to parents and support to vulnerable youngsters in the area.

Last year, the council said it would retain the service in some form to help the borough’s most vulnerable young people.

In the wake of the job cuts, a council spokesman said the review was “underpinned” by increasing demand for social care services and government funding cuts.

The spokesman added: “We have reviewed our resources to ensure services are targeted to those that have the greatest need.”

Central government funding has been cut by more than £75m over the past eight years in the Redcar and Cleveland borough.

Councillor Craig Hannaway, cabinet member for children’s services, said the cuts had come alongside rising demand – pointing to figures showing one in every 100 children in the borough in care.

Cllr Hannaway said: “The extent of the cuts has affected everything in the council – and it even affects things like children’s services.

“Three-quarters of the council’s budget is spent on children and adult services so you’ve only got the bit that’s left for everything else.”

Clare Williams, UNISON’s northern region secretary, said the union was seeing an increase in North-East councils struggling to provide their remit of services due to sweeping cuts.

She added: “We’re working with all northern councils and have a good relationship with Redcar and Cleveland and its Labour leadership.

“We’re working with them on on how they can keep providing services in the context of them not being given enough money from central government.

“We don’t want to see any jobs going – and I don’t think the Labour group want to see them go either.

"We work with councils through any proposed changes to services, or proposed job losses, and we represent our members’ interests.”