A NORTH-East business support service that claims to have helped create more than 5,000 jobs in the region may be forced to axe about a third of its 416 workers.

The boss of Business and Enterprise North East (BE-NE) which has worked with more than 33,000 businesses and individual customers through the Business Link service said it was "still very much open for business" despite the impending cuts to its operation.

BE-NE is an independent private sector company which operates the Regional International Trade Office, North-East England Investment Centre as well as Business Link which is commissioned through Regional Development Agency One North East, and contracted until March 2012.

With One North East among the bodies earmarked for closure under Government spending cuts BE-NE is attempting to reduce cots in its own organisation to guarantee its long-term future. Alastair MacColl, chief executive of BE-NE said the organisation is about to begin consultation with its staff which may result in the loss of up to 135 jobs by April. He said: "We expect to see some profound changes in business support and enterprise over the course of the next 18 months.

"We are taking the opportunity to restructure our capacity to help us exploit the considerable opportunities that we think some of these changes will create for an ambitious young business like BE-NE.

"This kind of change is always difficult for all those involved and we will do everything possible to reduce the impact it has on a very talented and committed team. But we are confident that these changes will help us to turn our ambitions into results and generate the kind of growth that we know we are capable of in the future."