FOUR out of five council workers have no confidence in the future of local services because of Tory spending cuts, damning research published today by Unison shows.

A survey of 21,000 workers also found that two thirds of local-authority employees believe residents do not receive the help and support they need, and half are thinking of leaving their jobs for less-stressful work.

Workers shared stories of families living in mouldy and overcrowded properties, rising rodent populations, residents’ cars damaged by huge potholes and vulnerable children, young people and adults not getting the help and support they need.

Reporting its worrying findings, Unison said that “austerity is failing local communities” and pushing councils and their staff to “breaking point,” adding that “in one of the richest countries in the world, it is shocking that councils can be so starved of funds.”

Warning of the human cost of cuts to local councils, Unison called on the government to “fund councils properly to reverse the crisis in local government outlined in this report.”

A National Audit Office report in March found that government funding for local authorities in England had fallen by an estimated 49 per cent in real terms between 2010-11 and 2017-18.

Unison revealed that an overwhelming 83 per cent of those surveyed said cuts have had a negative effect on their ability to do their job and 53 per cent say their workload is unmanageable.

One environmental services worker said cuts meant that “there is just not enough money to provide basic services to a standard required by the statutory responsibilities of the council.”

A library worker said they had seen a “massive increase” in people coming to their library in winter just for shelter from the cold.

They added that the local Citizens Advice Bureau had also been cut, “so there are people who are desperate for help and we don’t have any way of helping them. It’s depressing.”

Unison general secretary Dave Prentis said the disturbing findings should “ring alarm bells in Whitehall” and called for an urgent increase in local-government funding.

“Now is the time to reverse these cuts and invest in local government once more — or the very fabric of our society will come unstuck,” he warned.