Cambridgeshire Police cuts �9 million from its budget

CAMBRIDGESHIRE Police is to cut �9 million from its budget.

Deputy Chief Constable John Feavyour said another 200 staff would have to go as the force responded to “critical” financial measures and “very stark choices” about its future.

Beginning a cost-cutting consultation today (Friday, August 13), Mr Feavyour admitted the constabulary is staring at a worst case scenario of losing up to �33 million in Government funding over four years - the equivalent of sacking all its police staff or 1,100 officers.

The force already had to make “unprecedented and unexpected” savings of �1.2 million earlier this year which Mr Feavyour says had a “real impact on people’s live and families”.

But it now has to find nearly nine times that figure by next April if it is to continue to provide frontline policing across the county.

There will also be no increase in council tax funding available to plug the funding gap as police brace themselves for October’s Comprehensive Spending Review, where further reductions could be made.

Mr Feavyour admitted: “The cuts the Government has asked us to make are deep.”

He said the worst case scenario of slicing �33 million was an “unrealistic proposition” but said: “This is a new Government and the national financial situation is critical.

“Such dramatic numbers leave us with some very stark choices to make.”

He said more than 80 per cent of the police budget was spent on staff costs and added: “It is inevitable that further drastic cuts will be needed at every level in the force.”

However he said: “I am confident that, if we remain properly focused, we can survive.”

Chief Superintendent Nigel Trippett will now head up a financial savings team which will “look at every option for cutting cost”.