Up to 1,500 police officer posts could be cut in the West Midlands, a finance boss said today.

The force could lose up to £131m from its £538m-a-year budget by 2014 as a result of huge reductions in government spending.

Today the chairman of finance on the West Midlands Police Authority said it could mean 1,500 fewer officers recruited to tackle crime. This follows predicted cuts of £30m in the budget of Staffordshire Police in four years and a jobs warning from Chief Constable Mike Cunningham.

He said: “Significantly fewer people will work for us in future.”

And Councillor Bob Jones, finance chairman on the West Midlands Police Authority, said the cuts would mean 150 fewer officers for Wolverhampton alone.

He said chief constable Chris Sims was aware of the prediction.

The police have already sought to save £50m through efficiencies but Councillor Jones said: “Plans are being drawn up on an assumption of approximately double that amount, around £100m or approximately 18 per cent of the budget,” he said.

“Whilst every effort will be made to protect frontline policing, as well over 80 per cent of our budget is staffing related and we have already saved many millions…inevitably policing posts will have to go.

“The level of projected reduction equates to approximately 1,500 police officer posts and with Wolverhampton taking 10 per cent of the budget this equates to approximately 150 for the city.”

He added: “The higher level of reductions can only be achieved by a significant impairment of the police service’s capacity to protect the public.”

Andy Gilbert, chairman of West Midlands Police Federation, said: “This will require us to decide what is important, and the public has to have a say in that.

“The police cannot continue to deliver the same level of service if these cuts go ahead.”

West Midlands Police spokeswoman Sarah Astbury said: “Until the outcomes of the comprehensive spending review in October are known, it is not possible to go beyond speculation in terms of how policing across the West Midlands may be affected.”