A shake-up of Bradford Council’s volunteering unit has sparked concerns over the future management of almost 200 volunteers.

The Council will lose one managerial role and three volunteer manager positions at the unit as part of cost cutting measures which will see services transferred to the “voluntary and community sector”, a Council spokesman said.

The volunteers support and befriend older people, children and families, young people, children and adults with disabilities.

Volunteers also help with the Council’s Sport and Leisure Service, the Museums Service and the Youth Service, Bradford Community Accord and Parks and Landscapes.

The Council has stressed the volunteers currently in position and the people they support will not be affected, and paid staff at the unit are being redeployed.

David Preston, service manager at Bradford Council’s Adult Services said: “The services provided by the Council’s volunteering unit are being transferred to the voluntary and community sector but this won’t affect either the number of volunteers currently in place nor the service users to whom they provide support.

“The changes being made are only in relation to the management of the volunteers and will be in place by the new year.

“This is part of the efficiency savings being made by Bradford Council as a result of this year’s budget reductions and all volunteers were recently invited to meetings with Council managers to ask questions about the changes.

“The staff who worked in the volunteering unit have in the main already been redeployed into other jobs with the others expected to do so in the next few weeks.”

Nora Kilcoyne has been volunteering with the unit for 14 years. She said: “My main concern is for the people we’re visiting, a lot of these needy people rely on volunteers."