A quarter of chief executives and senior managers in Britain’s town halls expect a headcount reduction of 15% or more by 2014, according to a new survey.

The survey in the Local Government Chronicle also revealed that 56% of respondents believed they would employ at least 10% fewer staff by 2014. This would represent a loss of 1800,00 jobs in England alone, raising fears that public sector recruiters will be hit. 

However, Graeme McAllen, head of health at public sector recruiter Core Connexions, shrugged off the results of the survey.

McAllen told Recruiter: “As far as front line staff such as teachers, social workers and nurses, these are professionals who are interwoven into the infrastructure of British life, and things would have to get really bad before this was affected.

“Our business has grown steadily, and we think ourselves fortunate to be doing business in this sector. We haven’t seen any evidence that our business has been affected yet.”

McAllen says one area of concern is that with clients increasingly focusing on value for money margin could come under pressure.