Staffordshire Fire and Rescue plans 30 jobs cuts

Up to 30 jobs are expected to be cut at Staffordshire Fire and Rescue Service over the next financial year as part of £1.5m budget savings.

Chief Fire Officer Peter Dartford said he hoped the cuts could be made through voluntary redundancies with those staff not being replaced.

Staffordshire Fire and Rescue has faced £4m budget savings over the last four years.

The Fire Brigades' Union said 70 full time jobs had already gone since 2009.

The current budget stands at about £45m a year.

"The challenge for me and my colleagues across the service is to see how we ensure we've got the capacity to deal with what we need to deal with, from small fires in a bin through to major disasters," Mr Dartford said.

"We need to be far more efficient to meet those challenges."

Local FBU chairman Richard Williams said the union was working with the fire service to find budget savings.

He said the union had called for a 1.95% rise in the fire service's portion of the council tax to counter cuts in central government grants.

It would mean a rise of two and a half pence per week for the average household, Mr Williams said.