SWITCHBOARD staff are the first victims of austerity cuts at the Town Hall. Seven full-time and one part-time job at Tower Hamlets council have been cut at a saving of �208,000. The council, which has to make one per cent savings in a �1bn budget, said:

SWITCHBOARD staff are the first victims of austerity cuts at the Town Hall.

Seven full-time and one part-time job at Tower Hamlets council have been cut at a saving of �208,000.

The council, which has to make one per cent savings in a �1bn budget, said: "The council's new voice-recognition telephony system has considerably reduced the volume of calls being manually handled by the switchboard team, as residents now have access to a quicker and more efficient service."

Staff had a four-week consultation before their jobs were made redundant. The council said that it was working over the next 12 weeks to find them other posts with the council.