Council leaders have warned that animal health teams face significant funding cuts after a budgeting error by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

While £8.5m was actually available in funding, Defra failed to keep track of the budgets it had agreed with individual councils and allocated them a total of £9.77m.

Geoffrey Theobald, chairman of Local Authorities Co-ordinators of Regulatory Services (LACORS), said: "It is simply unacceptable that at a time when resources are being stretched to breaking point by the twin challenges of foot and mouth disease and bluetongue, government should force local councils to pick up the pieces caused by its own financial mismanagement."

It is thought that councils claiming up to £11,000 will be paid in full, while those claiming from £11,000 to £20,000 will have to make cuts of eight per cent.

Local authorities receiving from £20,000 to £95,000 have to reduce spending by 10 per cent, and those in receipt of more than £95,000 will have to make cuts of 12 per cent.

LACORS said that large rural councils with the biggest animal health budgets would have to make the biggest cuts at a time when they are grappling with a range of animal health issues.

"This decision will result in animal health officers across the country losing their jobs at a time when the government is expecting strict enforcement of disease control measures whilst we try to eradicate foot and mouth and bluetongue," said Theobald.

"Councils are looking at ways of minimising the impact of these cuts at this critical stage, but this is a situation that they simply should not have to deal with."