COUNTY council clerical jobs could be done by workers overseas, as part of controversial plans to give more of the council’s work to outside firms.

County Hall has not ruled out giving the work to overseas companies as it looks at firms bidding for multibillion-pound contracts.

Council leader Lord Hanningfield held talks with Mumbai-based Tata Group when he visited India last year on a trade mission.

At the time, the firm was on a shortlist of companies bidding for the council contracts.

The list has since been whittled down, but New York based IBM is still in the running as are companies based in Liverpool and Surrey.

Labour leader Paul Kirkman said: “I don’t understand what Lord Hanningfield is playing at.

“We have policies to promote economic development in Essex, while this scheme seems designed to make sure we lose jobs to other areas.”

Kumar Sandy, regional officer for Unison, which has already threatened legal action on any outsourcing deal, echoed this view.

He said: “On the one hand, Lord Hanningfield is saying he wants to cushion Essex people who are losing their jobs in the recession, but his madness about privatisation is going to make more people unemployed.”

Lord Hanningfield returned on Sunday from another trade mission to India.

He recently announced a series of measure to encourage economic growth, in the county, including the possibility of setting up a Bank of Essex to channel EU loans to ailing businesses.

The council’s invitation to tender gave firms the chance to bid to take over all its services.

In extreme cases, it could mean headteachers and social workers could find themselves answerable to bosses based hundreds or even thousands of miles away.

One of the two consortiums still in the running includes New York-based computer giant IBM, London-based Trillium and Surrey-based civil engineering firm WS Atkins.

The other comprises t-systems from Milton Keynes, Vertex from Prescot near Liverpool and PA Consulting and Drivers Jonas, both based in London.

County council spokesman Eleri Roberts said it was too early to comment on the likelihood of jobs being moved abroad.

However, in an interview with Public Servant magazine, deputy chief executive Nick Bell has admitted the council was “not ruling out any options”.