TOWN hall morale has "plummeted" because of changes to council staff salaries, it was claimed tonight.

The controversial job evaluation shakeup, which will see cuts to more than 1,000 salaries, was debated by Blackburn with Darwen's ruling executive board.

Councils have been told by the Government to regrade all their jobs in a bid to end inequality between workers.

A series of meetings have been held this week in King George's Hall where workers - including litter pickers and school helpers - are being told about the cuts to their salaries.

At last night's meeting, in Blackburn town hall, Labour councillor Dave Harling claimed the "pay line", the benchmark against which revised salaries are set, should be raised.

He said the council could afford to invest more in the scheme as it had recently been given a larger-than-expected grant by the Government.

Council bosses have claimed 24 per cent of salaries will go down, 46 per cent are set to increase and the remaining 30 per cent will stay the same.

But Coun Harling said this was an under-estimation.

He said: "We have plummeting staff morale, and I think the number of losers is more than 25 per cent."

Labour leader Kate Hollern said: "I have been told about so-called winners whose salaries have gone up by £60 per year."

But Tory council leader Colin Rigby said increasing the pay line would cost the council £6 million.

He added: "Public discussion of staff salaries is not a good thing. It should be done in private."

Executive member for children's services Coun Chris Thayne was asked about the impact of the changes to staff in his department, where classroom assistants are reporting cuts to their wages.

He admitted the amount set to lose out, 31 per cent, was "a significant figure".

But resources portfolio holder Coun Michael Lee hit back at claims that the changes were financially-driven.

He said: "Lots of people say it's a cost-cutting exercise - but if it is, it's the worst cost-cutting exercise in the world. It's costing us £4.5million."

Other East Lancashire councils are due to go through the same process in the coming months.