Trade union officials say they are shocked at the sudden announcement of 27 job losses at the Oxford offices of media group Reed Elsevier.

The staff at Harcourt Education, of Jordan Hill, north Oxford, have been told that they will be made redundant on December 31, despite the fact that the division is making a profit.

Maggi Bremner, of the Graphical Paper and Media Union, said she and fellow union officials would be fighting the "unnecessary cuts".

But Catherine May, director of corporate relations for Reed Elsevier, said the "difficult" decision had been taken following a drop in spending in the UK education market.

She said: "We hope that it is for the good of the business in the long term. We do go through as much consultation as we can.

"Sometimes these things happen in profitable businesses. Obviously we would not do this unless it was necessary."

Ms Bremner said: "Among those affected are single mothers and pregnant women who will now face a very grim and worrying Christmas.

"We are talking about a company which makes huge profits -- one division last year saw profits up 11.5 per cent to £30m -- telling these workers just before Christmas that they might not have a job."

Anna Wagstaffe, of the National Union of Journalists, said: "They say that they value their staff, but it makes us wonder if they are going to have to expect redundancies at the end of every year."