A CONTROVERSIAL Copeland Council shake-up has seen 20 people leave their jobs at a cost of more than £175,000.

The council's review of support staff has now been completed without any compulsory redundancies – but union officials say departing workers felt they had "no option" but to go.

Angry staff, led by the Unison union, held two half-day strikes earlier this year to protest against mayor Mike Starkie's cuts.

And, although the council avoided the 28 redundancies originally outlined, the union still believes the changes will hit Copeland's "most vulnerable".

The total cost for redundancy payments was £176,000, with other employees moved to new roles or promoted to higher roles in the restructure.

Jenny Martin, regional organiser for Unison North West, said: "Unison welcomes the fact that there are fewer redundancies than the 28 originally declared in the council's notification to the government.

"However, many staff felt that they had no option but to accept voluntary redundancy due to the council's restructure. Outstanding issues remain and Unison still believes that the cuts to the service will be detrimental to the most vulnerable in Copeland.

"Unison remains disappointed at the council's refusal to meet with the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (an independent organisation which resolves disputes between companies and workers) to settle ‎the unresolved matters."

Benefits, revenues and customer services staff held strikes to highlight the falling quality of services caused by the cuts.

They said stressed workers were dealing with a massive backlog of benefit claims and enquiries regarding council tax and debt recovery.

However, Mr Starkie said: "Contrary to what Unison are claiming there will be no impact on the quality of service provided. There is significant investment into IT to help the council run like a modern 21st century business.

"Following my election we carried out a root and branch review of finances and we found there was £13m less than had been stated in the council accounts. The council was living beyond its means.

"The fact we have streamlined the business without a single forced redundancy, I would have thought would have been welcomed by the Unison."