One Barnet contractor Capita, which is set to take over millions of pounds worth of services from Barnet Council, has confirmed it needs to eliminate 100 posts nationwide.

An anonymous source inside Capita Secure Information Solutions (SIS) in Chippenham told Times Series sister paper, the Gazette and Herald, that staff had been informed the business would lose ten per cent of its workforce.

The source said: “Management have created a climate of fear and distrust by this action.

“They must have had a laugh calling it ‘Project Elvis’, as in Elvis has left the building.”

Capita was announced in January as the preferred bidder to take over Barnet Council's back office services, including IT and customer services, in a contract worth £320million over ten years.

The outsourcing programme, labelled One Barnet by the authority, was recently the subject of an unsuccessful judicial review, though an appeal is expected to be submitted imminently.

Capita SIS specialises in providing communications and back-up IT for the emergency services and local authorities.

A spokeswoman for Capita SIS confirmed there would have to be redundancies.

She said: “Following a thorough review of Capita’s secure information solutions business, a revised delivery model is necessary in order to improve operational efficiency.

“Unfortunately, as a result, around 100 roles at a number of sites have been identified as no longer required.

“A total of 45 roles across the UK are at risk of redundancy and are in a two-week period of consultation, which commenced on April 26.

“The remainder will be achieved through other arrangements to be agreed on an individual basis.”