There will not be much Christmas cheer for thousands of public sector workers. This is because warning letters have begun to hit doormats around the UK as councils and other services serve legal notice of cuts. Nearly all local authorities have until March 31 next year to start making savings and by law have to give staff 90 days' notice. The GMB union estimates 87,374 posts are under threat so far at 107 UK councils, where budgets have had to be cut as a result of central government initiating measures to tackle the national deficit.