Soldiers may need to be called upon if floods hit again, an Environment Agency whistle-blower has claimed in the wake of 1,000 job losses.

While 'front-line' staff were protected in a round of cuts last year, a worker from East Anglia has claimed pressure has been put on the emergency rota.

While the Department for Food, Environment and Rural Affairs was adamant a cut in staff numbers at the Environment Agency would not affect its ability to deliver key services, including better protection of 300,000 homes, the Environment Agency worker, who spoke to the EDP on condition of anonymity, said there would be a knock-on impact if the floods of 2013 and 2014 were to be repeated.

The warning comes as George Osborne has fired the starting gun on a spending review, which could see up to 40pc of the Department for Food, Environment and Rural affairs budget chopped.

The staff member said: 'You might say front-line roles have been protected, but a finance office is a front-line person out of normal hours.'

He said since the cuts last year the ability to fill the agency's standby rota has been diminished. In 2013 and 2014 in some areas in the Somerset Levels the army was brought in to backfill.

'That didn't happen in Anglia, although we were not far away from that situation. If you reduce the staff numbers and backfilled rosters, there is going to be a greater demand for assistance from the army. Obviously the army are good at some things, but they don't have local knowledge.'

An Environment Agency spokesman confirmed just over 1,000 jobs had been cut.

'We have reduced our organisational head count to just over 10,000 through a voluntary early release scheme, removing vacant posts, and reducing temporary staff,' she said.

'We removed a regional tier of the organisation. This helped streamline the way we do business at a local and national level. We protected the impact on front-line services and our ability to manage environmental and flooding incidents.'

A Defra spokesman said: 'We can be clear that any reduction in staff numbers will not affect Defra's capabilities to deliver on key services including better protection of 300,000 homes through the £2.3bn flood defence scheme announced in the Autumn Statement 2014.'

But GMB union representative for the Environment Agency Justin Bowden said: 'Obviously there are jobs in which people are adjusting sluices and out in the field, but for them to do that they require at least a minimum level of back office function.

'It's a misnomer to talk about protecting front-line jobs and just get rid of a whole lot of back office jobs. Quite a lot of the front-line stuff is done from offices and remotely. Quite a lot of the flood defences are controlled in an office way. They need people on the ground as well.'

Mr Bowden added: 'In my view as the national officer responsible for the Environment Agency, do I think they would be able to cope with a similar winter of flooding as was the case 12 to 18 months ago? No I don't think they would.'

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