THE county’s police authority has agreed the force’s budget for the coming year, and despite a freeze in the council tax precept, residents are being warned of “tough times ahead”.

West Mercia Police will see a 17 per reduction in government funding over the next four years, which has resulted in a £14.7million funding gap for 2011/12.

The force will save £4.2million this year by cutting 43 police officer and 73 police staff posts – part of a three-year £9.8 million saving programme.

These posts are in the process of being vacated and deleted.

A total of £3million is being saved through a recruitment freeze, £2.59 million will be made through efficiency savings and the rest of the shortfall is being made up by using £4.9million from the forces £24.5million of reserves.

Sheila Blagg, chairman of the police authority, said: “Using some of our reserves means that we can achieve a more measured downsizing, so the impact on policing services in 2011/12 will be minimised by comparison with many other forces.

"Reserves can only be used once. That is why we are looking at other ways of working in order to continue to provide high quality services.”

The overall budget for 2011/12 is £205.6 million. This has increased from £203.6 the previous year.