CUMBRIAN Conservatives say the county council has “wasted hundreds of thousands of pounds propping up unions”.

The Tories have hit out at the council for slashing services while allowing staff to take time off for trade union duties at a cost of more than £800,000 over four years.

The finding comes after a Freedom of Information request which has revealed that from 2010 to 14, 12 members of staff are accredited from their taxpayer funded jobs to assist unions with their duties.

The cost to the council of the union officials, who have spent most of their time on union work is £827,855.

Care supervisors, support workers, child and family workers and teaching assistants are among the positions held by those accredited.

Local authorities have the power to allow staff to become trade union representatives working on union duties in the organisation, while keeping their original job role, hours and benefits.

Councillor James Airey, Conservative group leader on Cumbria County Council, said: “The county council has slashed frontline services mercilessly over the last four years, yet is unwilling to take on the union barons who cost the taxpayers of Cumbria a small fortune.

“The hundreds of thousands wasted on propping up these unions could and should have been spent on the services that our residents depend on.”

But Stewart Young, leader of Cumbria County Council, said that until 2013 the council was run as a Tory/Lib Dem coalition.

“If they were that bothered by this why didn’t they do something about it then?” said Coun Young.

“They are trying to link it to the cuts that the government is making.

“Union reps do a very important job. In schools they represent teachers and teaching assistants. As a council we are currently having to downsize and reduce our staff numbers from about 10,000 to 5,000. Not all of these are redundancies. Some are voluntary redundancies and some are staff who are retiring or leaving and not being replaced.

“If we didn’t have union reps then we would have to meet with everyone individually and this would cost a lot of money as we would have to employ people to do this role.

“I totally defend the decision to have union reps.”