HOUSING Minister Lord Falconer yesterday hailed a North-East council's housing stock transfer as exemplary.

But public service union Unison, which represented former council workers at an employment tribunal, said the assessment was far from accurate.

Lord Falconer made his comments about Sunderland Housing Group's (SHG) takeover of Sunderland City Council homes on a tour of housing regeneration in Wearside and Gateshead.

The transfer, which took place a year ago, was the largest of its kind in the UK, involving 36,000 properties.

As he launched SHG's headquarters, on Doxford International Business Park, Lord Falconer praised its success.

He said: "The Sunderland transfer epitomises what we want to see out of the modern transfer process."

But critics said Lord Falconer failed to mention the 1,400 former council staff affected by the change, of whom about 300 took the council and SHG to an industrial tribunal.

They object to being employed by the five companies that make up SHG and say they were not properly consulted on the transfer.

Lynne Robson, of Unison, said: "Lord Falconer's comments do not really reflect how our members feel.

"A lot of people who have transferred are very unhappy and we do not believe the transfer is in the interests of public housing for this region."