FORTY-FIVE jobs will go at the organisation responsible for improving the low skill levels of North-East workers, it was announced yesterday.

The shake-up at the Learning and Skills Council (LSC) - part of 1,300 redundancies across England, saving £40m -will reduce staff to 229.

The Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) said the move made a mockery of the Government's pledge that tackling low skills was at the heart of its economic programme.

The LSC said it was not cost-cutting, but making changes to support skills providers at a more local level.

The shake-up would create 12 local partnership teams and two economic development teams to ensure most staff were working on "frontline delivery".

All staff at the four existing offices -in Middlesbrough, Durham, Gateshead and Cramlington, in Northumberland -will have to apply for the remaining posts.

They will be based in a regional centre in Gateshead, or in new offices in Durham, Middlesbrough or Stockton, or Morpeth, Northumberland.

The LSC spends about £8bn of taxpayers' money a year, funding further education in colleges and school sixth forms in England.

It is also responsible for modern apprenticeships, work-based training, adult learning, providing advice and guidance for adults, and creating business links.

The LSC's work has been seen as particularly vital in the North-East, where officials have long identified low skills as a barrier to economic revival. The LSC said the £40m in savings would benefit 80,000 adults or 12,000 young learners.