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Adult services staff in Wiltshire are being placed under huge stress by the council’s cuts to services, Unison has claimed.

Janet Dapson, secretary of the union’s Wiltshire Council branch, said frontline staff were “taking all the flack” for officials’ decisions because they were having to pass on “unpalatable” news of cuts to service users.

“There’s no morale,” she said. “Terms like gut-wrenching are over-used but this has got to be one of the most gut-wrenching experiences that members are going through.”

She was speaking after Wiltshire’s cabinet voted in favour of further cuts to services for older people and those with learning difficulties

The council has also come under fire from disabled people’s groups for ending direct payments for leisure opportunities.

Wiltshire is making the cuts to tackle a £7 million funding shortfall in adult services caused by increased demand and cost shunting from the NHS.

Dapson said integrated work with health had been “very successful in itself” but said there had been “a flaw somewhere with regard to the finances”.

She added: “A lot of staff really devoted themselves and worked over, above and beyond the call of duty to make it successful.”