The Ministry of Justice will slash £2bn from its £9bn budget in order to meet government spending targets, the Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) has claimed.

Citing a letter understood to have been circulated to MoJ senior staff today, the PCS estimated that around 15,000 of the MoJ’s 80,000 staff risk losing their jobs as a result of the cuts.

The MoJ’s director-general of finance Ann Beasley is reported to have sent the letter to senior civil servants outlining the scale of the cuts.

Justice secretary Ken Clarke submitted proposals to the Treasury in mid-July, outlining how the department will reduce its overall budget in line with the government’s target of 25-40% reductions.

It was reported in July that the £2.1bn legal aid budget would be cut by £500m as part of the proposals, although the MoJ dismissed the figure as ‘speculation’.

An MoJ spokesman said today: ‘We are discussing options with [the] Treasury and will not provide a running commentary on the process. No decisions have been made. The outcome of the spending review will be announced on 20 October.’

The PCS said that ‘cuts on this scale cannot be delivered without closing prisons and bringing courts to a standstill.’

General secretary Mark Serwotka said: ‘This is the first indication of the true scale of the cuts being imposed upon departments by this coalition government, and it paints a devastating picture. It is clear that the civil service will simply not be able to cope. We will take every opportunity to remind the government and the public that there is an alternative and these politically motivated cuts are entirely avoidable.’