PANIC is spreading among Haringey Council staff as bosses announce that a thousand jobs are in the firing line.

Employees across all council departments opened letters from chief executive Kevin Crompton yesterday warning them that a statutory consultation of the job cull was now underway.

A loss of 1,000 jobs equates to more than a fifth, or 22 per cent, of its workforce.

In the letter, Mr Crompton urged the staff to consider taking voluntary redundancy.

The letter reads: "The council's annual general budget is approximately £245 million. Of this about 60 per cent funds staff. We have all taken measures to reduce our non-staffing spend as far as possible. However, the size and timing of the cuts leave me with no other alternative than to consider wholesale job reductions."

Haringey Council must make £50million savings following cuts to its budget revealed in the Government's spending review who claim drastic action must be taken now to curb public spending and lift Britain out of debt.

Final figures won't be revealed until next month when the budget settlement for local authorities nationwide are announced.

"The prospects do not look good and may be even worse than our predictions", Mr Crompton told staff.

Agency workers and staff on temporary contracts will be cut and the council is also reducing the use of consultants, cutting overtime and freezing recruitment to further save money.