THE NUMBER of compulsory job losses at Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council is set to be far smaller than forecast.

In February, bosses announced 1,000 job losses, of which 500 were set to be forced redundancies, as part of £33million spending cuts.

Almost half of the 3,500 non-teaching workforce was put ‘at risk’.

But now it has emerged final figures will show just over 100 staff have been made compulsorily redundant, although the size of the workforce has reduced by around 1,000.

The council’s Labour leadership hailed the figures as a successful voluntary redundancy and early retirement programme.

But opponents accused them of ‘playing politics with jobs’ as part of an attack on Government spending cuts.

Coun Colin Rigby, the Conservatives’ resources spokesman, said: “They were playing silly beggars wiith numbers.

“They put 1,700 people at risk when they knew it was a load of old garbage.”

Coun Rigby said staff agreeing to work shorter hours had also distorted the figures, and the Tory-Lib Dem coalition that ran the council until September had reduced staff numbers by 450.

He added: “There was a lot of unnecessary fear and worry.

"We knew it was never going to be that sort of number.”

There were bitter exchanges between Conservative ministers and Labour-controlled councils last year when the extent of grant cuts to councils was revealed.

The Government accused some councils of cutting too far in order to make political points, while the councils said the most deprived areas were being penalised.

Coun Andy Kay, the council’s Labour resources chief, said the numbers cited related to total posts, not actual staff, many of whom work part-time.

He added: “People have managed their hours, agreed to share jobs, and taken early retirement or voluntary redundancy.

“I don’t see why he’s unhappy about it, I would think it’s good that we’ve been able to manage it down to lower numbers.”