About 60 firefighters and staff jobs are to go at Staffordshire Fire and Rescue Service over the next four years. The service needs to find savings of £4 million on its budget by 2015.

Chief Fire Officer Peter Dartford said: “Over the next four years we need to make savings of £4 million and have said already that we expect to be a smaller organisation by 2015.

“We are in the process of reviewing our management structures and have identified areas where we can continue to deliver the level of service that the people of Staffordshire would expect but in a more efficient and effective way.

“We are committed to protecting as many livelihoods as possible and hope to make a proportion of these savings through the retirement profile and natural wastage, rather than compulsory redundancies, to achieve a reduction of around 60 posts.”

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