More than 3,000 Jobcentre advisors hired for Britain’s “biggest ever Jobs Army” will lose their jobs in DWP cuts.
Ministers boasted they were doubling the number of Work Coaches from 13,500 to 27,000 during Covid as Universal Credit claims surged.
But 12,000 of them were told to reapply for their own jobs as the pandemic recedes.
Now Mirror has learned 11,080 applied, but only 8,100 will be made permanent when fixed-term contracts end in June.
A furious union boss said the workers - some of whom will now have to claim Universal Credit themselves - have been “thrown on the scrapheap”.
A workplace insider said of the 1,000 who did not apply, some looked for other jobs to save themselves the uncertainty, while others were disillusioned with the job itself.
Even for the 8,100 who were successful, it is thought some will have longer commutes - and some are set to be moved to back-office jobs.
It comes despite a new target to move 500,000 Universal Credit claimants into work by June, with claimants facing sanctions quicker if they refuse a job outside their specialist area.
A furious Work Coach told the Mirror staff had been assured 90% of them would be able to stay, only to learn of huge cutbacks.
They said: “Despite a government ‘way to work’ initiative they are making their own staff unemployed and closing several offices.
“I will now have to sign on to Universal Credit myself.
“Their thanks for moving people into work during the pandemic? Unemployment for work coaches.”
An internal union briefing for staff, seen by the Mirror, blasted the “badly handled fiasco” with “no rationale” to explain why certain jobs were kept in certain places.
The Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union had argued all the staff be kept on to deal with “ever-increasing workloads”.
General secretary Mark Serwotka said: "This is devastating news for the 4,000 DWP staff who have not been offered permanent jobs.
“These staff, who were recruited to deal with an unemployment crisis at the beginning of the pandemic, now face having to use the same Jobcentre services in June that they have successfully delivered over the last two years.
“PCS members in Jobcentres have been reporting high levels of stress due to excessive workloads for months.
“At a time of economic uncertainty, it is madness to throw them on the scrapheap when society is likely to need their support the most."
A DWP spokesperson said: “The majority of people who joined us on fixed-term contacts during the pandemic will be staying with us permanently as we step up our efforts to maximise employment and help people to progress in work.
“Our jobs market has recovered and unemployment is back to pre-pandemic levels but we want to go further and these changes will mean we have work coaches in the right places to continue delivering our multi-billion pound Plan for Jobs.
“Our colleagues on fixed-term contracts have played an incredibly important role getting unemployment back down following the pandemic and we are supporting the minority we haven’t yet been able to offer a permanent role to find other suitable opportunities within DWP or elsewhere.”
