Staffordshire Fire Service facing £1.4m cuts
Staffordshire's fire service has announced it will have to save £1.43million in the next financial year.
It has come as a direct result of cuts to its annual grant from the Government which will fall to £8.04million in 2016/2017 from £9.47million this year.
Despite the reduction Peter Dartford, chief officer at Staffordshire Fire and Rescue Service, assured public safety would not be compromised.
He said: "As the Government continues with its austerity measures, in Staffordshire we are continuing to balance the books in a careful and considered manner, while ensuring that our firefighters and residents are protected.
"We anticipated cuts and have planned our finances accordingly to ensure that we can meet the needs of our communities, both in terms of frontline firefighting and vital prevention work which has played an important role in helping to reduce incidents, and ultimately, save lives.
"However, the Government's announcement will see reductions implemented on a faster scale than we had envisaged. This means that the transformation of our Service will continue to remain a key priority in the coming years to enable us to deliver the significant savings required as part of the austerity agenda."
Last year the service axed more than 40 posts which saw reductions to cover at Cannock and Rugeley stations.
