DOZENS of jobs in the probation service are set to be axed, putting the public at risk from offenders, a union has warned.

Staff at Essex’s probation service say they have been told 100 jobs must go this summer, equal to a third of the workforce.

People based at all five of its offices in the county, where there are up to 70 employees each, could be affected.

Offices are based in Hoffmans Way, Chelmsford; Victoria Avenue, Southend; West Street, Grays; St Peter’s Street, Colchester and Durham Street, Basildon.

Elisa Vasquez-Walters, branch chairman of Unison Eastern Region Probation, said: “We have been advised, due to Government privatisation plans and the takeover by Sodexo, probation services across Essex will see a third of the workforce slashed by the end of the summer.

“We are not only devastated about the scale of the job losses, but also deeply concerned as to what this means for public safety and the supervision of offenders.

“Offenders are not going to receive the level of supervision they have received before.

“We are to be supervising more people with far fewer staff.”

Sodexo is the main stakeholder in Essex’s probation service after it won the contract for the east region. Mrs Vasquez-Walters said since then, staff had been waiting to hear what changes could be in store.

She added: “We are likely to see the job losses between June and September.

“People in existing offices will also be relocated. They’ve been told they won’t be in the buildings they are in now, but don’t know yet, where they will go.”

Mrs Vasquez-Walters said the job cuts affected roles across the board, including finance, human resources, middle management and administration.

The job cuts would be distributed equally among the county’s offices, she said.

Mrs Vasquez-Walters said staff were initially told the move was to save cash, but the Government’s Ministry of Justice had spent “millions and millions” on new IT systems at the service.

She said: “We are really concerned the terms we negotiated for members, in terms of voluntary redundancies, look like they aren’t going to be honoured.

“This is a conscientious workforce and people care about other’s safety.”

A Sodexo Justice Services spokesperson said: “We are in the process of sharing our plans with employees across the six community rehabilitation companies that we operate, including Essex.

“Given we will be formally consulting on these plans, it would be inappropriate to comment further at this stage.”