A training scheme which has set hundreds of unskilled youngsters up in jobs over the last 20 years could be lost as South Lakeland District Council tries to balance its books.

Job Link - which provides job placements and training for up to 45 young people every year - could be cut as part of a budget-trimming exercise.

A team of senior council figures has identified Job Link as a "discretionary service" which the council is not obliged to provide.

But some councillors fear young people are in danger of being "written off" by SLDC and a Job Link trainee described the proposals as "appalling".

If the service is cut the council could save around £64,000 direct costs, but three full-time administration jobs could go.

No decisions will be made until September, but current options include handing Job Link over to another organisation, such as a local college, or stopping the service from July 2002.

At a full council meeting, members mounted an emotional defence of Job Link, which is open to 16 to 18 year olds, arguing that SLDC had a duty to provide for young people.

Coun Jim Blamire said: "As an employer of 658 employees the council should have a responsibility to the youth of the town, not just write them off."

He added that Job Link, which pays between £40 and £45 a week to trainees, appealed to young people who had become disaffected by the school system because it was a real job.

Coun Malcolm Alston added: "Many Job Link trainees have been rejected by school and rejected by employers but this dedicated team picks them up and gets them jobs."

However, council chief executive Philip Cunliffe said savings had to be found somewhere.

"Unfortunately this is exactly the sort of service that the fundamental review is all about," he told members.

"We are not a training provider, we are not a college of further education.

It is not a fundamental core service of this council."

After the meeting, Job Link officer John Garnett told the Gazette he had seen hundreds of success stories over the years.

"All we are ever concerned about is getting young people jobs.

We manage to get a lot of trainees into real employment with a vocational qualification." he said.

"A lot of our trainees do not know what they want to do.

Unfortunately if Job Link was to go I do not think some of them would do well in society.

They do not have the confidence to go and get themselves a real job, something permanent."

Trainee Richard Bargh, 17, of Over Kellet, has been on the scheme for 13 months, working at SLDC's Canal Head Garage.

"I always wanted to be a mechanic and I enjoy my job.

Job Link helps me out with travel costs because it is hard for me to find work where I live."

Fellow trainee Steven Williams, 17, of Kendal, said: "I was referred to Job Link by Kendal careers.

I didn't know what I wanted to do, I didn't even know the area.

Now I work for a garage and I am going to college one day a week in Lancaster.

It isn't the council's fault if they haven't got the money but I think it is appalling that they are thinking of handing Job Link over."

l Job Link grew out of the Youth Opportunities Programme, established in 1982.

The majority of trainees are referred to Job Link from school career services having left full-time education at 16 without a career direction and with few qualifications.

Some trainees have recognised learning difficulties.

Trainees receive supervised job "tasters" in different council departments or with local companies and the service aims to put as many young people in permanent employment as possible.

Job Link trainees also complete NVQ courses at local colleges and work on council projects, such as gardening for elderly or disabled council tenants, landscaping, path maintenance and restoration work.