Twenty-seven council housing staff will find out the future of their employment today.

Brighton and Hove City Council will be announcing to the administrative staff how it plans to handle restructuring for a new ten-year contract with maintenance firm Mears.

The GMB trade union which represents the workers yesterday said it had been told there were 35 jobs being created to replace the existing 27.

It added that some of the position were not directly equivalent, meaning that around 12 of the staff could find their jobs at risk.

GMB branch secretary Mark Turner said: "There will be a 28 day consultation period and at the end of that we will know where we stand and whether any of those members face redundancy. As a union we are not prepared to accept any redundancies."

The announcement does not affect the tradesmen employed by Mears and Kier, who currently share the council's housing maintenance contract. They are all expected to keep their jobs when the new contract with Mears starts in April.

When asked about the announcement yesterday a council spokesman said: "Staff in the housing repairs service and trade unions are being consulted on proposed improvements to the council’s housing repairs service ahead of the start of the new ten-year repairs contract with Mears Limited that will improve residents homes. Every effort will be made to minimize the risk of redundancies.”