Council leader

need to apply for settled status to continue working after the transition period. These figures, it should be noted, include only staff employed directly by the council and exclude staff employed through third party contracted service providers.”

Council leader Scott Farmer, who described Brexit as an“ongoing shambles”, added:“It is important we are risk aware in terms of potential consequences because I can certainly see significant changes and fear that as we go on we could find ourselves in a position where we have potential risks.

“We have a lot of European Union employees involved in social care throughout the country and a lot face a great deal of trepidation of what is before them after this process. This is something I have been discussing with the chief executive and the resource team in order to provide reassurance and I want to reenforce that these employees provide a valuable contribution to our social and economic infrastructure.”

Labour councillor Danny Gibson said the reduction in non-UK EU employees was“massive”and highlighted that COSLA (Convention of Scottish Local Authorities) had asked for figures from councils.

“The figures across all public services in Scotland will probably be frightening to read,”he added.

Tory group leader Councillor Neil Benny said:“We have to reassure our employees that we will support them through any status issues they have. We have a duty as an employer to give them support.”