In the second part of a series marking the coalition Government’s first anniversary in power, The Northern Echo looks at the region-wide impact of public sector cuts.

A SURVEY by The Northern Echo today reveals the full impact the Government’s austerity measures are having on the public sector.

The Echo approached a number of local councils, as well as police and fire services, to ask if they could provide information about staffing levels over a three- year period – including looking ahead to the next financial year.

Organisations were asked to give details of their annual budgets, while some gave information about funding shortfalls they were facing.

Staffing-wise there was a clear downward trend in the past year, with nearly every organisation seeing reductions.

The region’s biggest council, Durham County Council, experienced the most startling drop in staffing levels from 9,000 to 8,272 just before the start of the current financial year.

All of the local authorities that took part in the survey were, however, reluctant to predict how many staff they expected to have on their books in a year’s time.

In Durham County Council’s case, this was despite the fact the council – which has a £66m shortfall to grapple with this year – already stating publicly it expects 1,600 jobs to go over the next four years.

Some organisations, such as Cleveland Police, pointed out apparent anomalies in staffing figures.

In April last year, the force employed 2,635 people, including police officers and civilian staff. However, a year later the full-time equivalent (FTE) headcount was 2,088.

A spokeswoman said this was not solely due to a cut in numbers, but the result of the “outsourcing” of staff to the private sector firm Steria in October last year.

About 470 staff, largely working in so-called backoffice operations, transferred to Steria in a move expected to save £50m over ten years.

In contrast, North Yorkshire Police saw an increase in staffing levels over the past 12 months from 2,856 to 2,954.

This may be attributable in part to a well-publicised recruitment drive early last year which saw the force swampedby callers attempting to secure 60 jobs that were advertised.

Staffing levels at the force are expected to dip in the next 12 months as cuts to the police grant begin to bite.

North Yorkshire Police has to save £8.9m in the next year and could lose 100 officers and 350 police staff jobs.

It predicts it will have 2,628 FTE staff in 12 months time.

Another force suffering is Northumbria. A year ago, it had 6,725 staff. In 12 months time that is predicted to have reduced to 5,932, a decrease of 793 FTEs.

It expects to face a £5m funding shortfall next year. Meanwhile, neighbouring Durham Police must make up a £11mplus shortfall in 2011-12.

Fire authorities have not been immune either to the belt-tightening. Durham and Darlington has lost 38 staff over the past 12 months, although it expects no further decreases next year.

When it comes to annual budgets – which encompass all the services organisations have to pay for – a number of councils were particularly keen to point out that comparing these figures did not give the true financial picture.

Some gave details of actual financial shortfalls they were facing, while others suggested the Government was cleverly disguising its funding cuts by withdrawing specific grants and transferring others into the main formula grant authorities receive.

Chris Little, Hartlepool Borough Council’s chief financial officer, said: “It is important to point out that the annual budget figures only relate to our core budget.

“The council has also lost funding from the Government’s decision to cut specific grants and the Area Based Grant/Working Neighbourhoods Fund, which was only paid to the most deprived communities.

“This means that in 2011-12, the council lost a total of £14.2m in Government grants – a 19 per cent cut.

“Cuts already announced by the Government for 2012-13 will increase the total grant cut to 25 per cent over two years.

“The figures simply show cuts in our cash budget, but the real-term reduction is even greater.

“We have already started planning the budgets for 2013- 14 and 2014-15 and expect further cuts in these years.”

With the Government “front-loading” cuts to local Government settlements, most councils face their biggest funding shortfalls this financial year – £10m in Hartlepool and £15m in Redcar and east Cleveland for instance.

But some expect the funding gap to continue to grow – Darlington from £6.8m this year to £13.7m next year and North Yorkshire, whose shortfall will more than double from £16.6m to £36.9m.