An umbrella group for unions has warned that Council services could fall into the hands of big private companies.

Government changes encouraging voluntary organisations to bid to run local council services will open the door to privatisation, according to the Bradford Trades Union Council.

President Paul Meszaros said if voluntary organisations challenged local councils to run services, big companies could swoop in and undercut them both by running them at a loss, before hiking up prices at a later date.

He said: “The only way that outsourcing saves money is by reducing the wages of the workers providing the service.

“That means that local people employed as public service workers get a smaller wage and work longer hours.”