Two thirds of NHS accounting and finance functions are to be outsourced, Peter Coates, deputy director of finance at the Department of Health, has said in a press conference in India.

According to Coates, the majority of these will go India.

‘I recently gave permission to outsource 60% of the work to India. It could go higher, but the constraint is that we cannot move jobs to India at the expense of shedding jobs in the UK. Politics will be an important factor,’ he said during the press conference.

Unison, the NHS staff union, described the news as ‘extraordinary’. Karen Jennings, head of health at Unison, said such major announcements should first be discussed with staff in the UK.

According to The Times other government departments are considering following suit to exploit India’s cheap, highly skilled, English-speaking labour force in a move that has angered trade unions.

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