Confidence: Dagenham Civic Centre in Wood Lane employs staff but confidence in the employer has fallen

Confidence in Barking and Dagenham Council as an employer took a knock this year, new figures reveal.

A survey showed 44.5 per cent would recommend the London council “as a good employer” in February this year, compared to 53 per cent in December.

Meanwhile, official statistics revealed the number of disciplinary cases at the Labour council soared by nearly a third in the last financial year.

Barking and Dagenham Council has linked the drop in confidence to the state of the economy.

A council spokesman told the Post: “The figures will vary from reporting period to reporting period. The decline appears to relate to the current financial climate and is not unexpected.

“Focus groups have been held with staff to discuss where there are low or declining satisfaction rates.

“We take our responsibility as an employer very seriously and seek to make sure our employees have every opportunity to engage and give their views.”

The figures are drawn from a council cabinet report including performance indicators dated July 24.

The report quotes statistics showing that disciplinary action among the council workforce had surged to 68 cases in the last financial year, up from 53 in the previous year.

The local authority could not explain the figures but stressed it did not necessarily show there were underlying patterns.

The cabinet report states: “Although there has been an increase of 15 new disciplinaries in one year, a review of the cases does not indicate that there are any underlying trends - either in specific departments, or for particular misconduct reasons. The employee relations’ team will however continue to monitor this.”