Jobs to go as Staffordshire Police make cuts of £22.8m

The county's police and crime commissioner Matthew Ellis said he was confident of making the savings - even basing his sums on not raising council tax for the next five years.

He said big savings had already been achieved by buying better with a focus on good housekeeping and value for money.

Now he has identified a further 11 areas where spending could be cut. He is looking to save £4 million through a review of buildings, £3.2 million in a shake-up of investigative services and £600,000 by a restructuring of senior management.

High on his list is replacing outdated technology which he claimed is costing Staffordshire Police millions of pounds a year.

New equipment would free up between 3,000 - 5,000 police hours every week, the equivalent of 18 per cent more police officers.

Mr Ellis said: "I'm confident there will be more frontline policing time in Staffordshire by the end of next year than there has been at any time in the last decade - even at the height of policing - for 25 per cent less of the cost. That's a monumental change."

But he could not rule out redundancies in backroom staff.

He said: "In fact, there probably will be, but not many. We're in negotiations with unions at the moment. We're not talking hundreds of jobs but I feel it's inevitable there will be some.

"When I arrived 18 months ago people thought I would outsource all the back office but I didn't. I'm also working on a tie-up with the fire service on some of the jobs."

Talks have already begun with the fire service on sharing fleet management, in particular a workshop facility for repairing and maintaining vehicles, saving a further £2.2m.

Under the new system, the time police cars are be off the road could be reduced from three days to just 24 hours.

He said he planned not to raise the police levy on council tax - the second biggest after the county council levy - but would keep it as an option if necessary.

Mr Ellis said: "The public sector has had a pretty easy time over the last decade or so, as there has been plenty of money around. It's my job to play a part in getting the housekeeping back on track.

"The police can spend money a lot better that they have done in the past. We've got 11 major pieces of work, from estates through to technology, through to the way things are bought, all of which will save very significant amount of money."

The commissioner has provided a five-year financial plan instead of the more usual two or three-year forecast 'to start making progress early.'

He vowed any spare money would go towards on bolstering front line policing.

The £22.8m gap has been created by an expected fall in the Staffordshire force's Home Office grant.