A DEAL worth £37million which could see a third of all Burnley Council jobs privatised has reached an important milestone.

Several tenders are understood to have been received for a number of functions within the authority, equating to around 125 jobs.

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Now a public consultation exercise is under way before a successful candidate is identified, next January.

Amid the need to save a further £2 million from a £16 million budget, the future of positions within customer services, environmental health and licensing, payroll, IT, revenues and benefits and property management units has been thrown open.

A Burnley Council spokesman said: “Like many authorities throughout the country, we face big financial challenges.

“There have been large reductions in the amount of money coming to the council. Between 2010 and 2015, our core government funding shrank by a half, or £8 million.

“More reductions are coming. We need to save around £2 million over the next two years out of a total annual budget of approximately £16 million.”

And with the new Conservative government signalling more savings are in prospect, the council has vowed to act. The contract would run for 10 years.

An advert was placed with the European Journal and some of the applicants are under consideration with senior officers and executive councillors.

David Atkinson, Unison north-west regional organiser, said: “Government cuts to local authority budgets are hitting hard. Many of our councils are facing a financial crisis and will be unable to provide anything more than the most basic services if this goes on. We need fair funding for local government .”

Feedback can be given either through the council’s website – burnley.gov.uk – or by picking up a leaflet from Burnley Town Hall. The deadline for feedback is August 12.

Council bosses in Pendle and Rossendale signed up to the procurement contract, which couldbe worth £118 million overall.