REDUNDANCIES in Gwent Police are inevitable as the force looks to cut 350 jobs, a union representative said yesterday.

Unison Gwent Police branch secretary Linda Sweet, who represents the 1,051 police staff at the force who are not officers, said compulsory job losses look unavoidable.

A newsletter sent to Gwent Police staff by chief constable Mick Giannasi said between 2012 and 2015, around 350 jobs will have to go, cutting the force from around 2,500 to 2,150.

Mr Giannasi said it is anticipated around 200 officers and 150 police staff will retire or move to new jobs, and if they were not replaced, this would amount to the £20 million which has to be saved.

As reported in the Argus last week, the force is facing cuts of £24.6 million over the next four years.

But Mrs Sweet, who works on behalf of staff including control room workers, crime scene investigators, fingerprint experts and call handlers, said she thinks this sort of movement would be possible in "normal" times, but with the job market shrinking she feels people are not moving around as much.

She added: "I think redundancies are inevitable, not this year but in years to come. We're trying to protect jobs at all costs but it's going to be a hard bargaining road to go down. I would say no department is safe."

Mrs Sweet said the union has a good working relationship with the force and they hope to lessen the impact on jobs through ideas such as early retirement and reduced hours where people want to take these options.

She also fears crime will rise as a result: "It's inevitable crime will go up as staff numbers go down - we give a Rolls Royce service but if police staff are the engine, you can't run a Rolls Royce on the engine of a Mini - it will move, but it's going to move slower."

The force is set to announce its budget plans on February 9, outlining how it will trim £3 million in 2011/12. The budget for 2010/11 was £121.616 million.

Force is in 'a good position' - Gwent Police

A Gwent Police spokesman said: “While we are intent on working closely to minimise affect on the service we provide to the residents of Gwent, it is inevitable that there will be some impact.

“Although the situation presents several challenges, the Force is currently in a good position to tackle them due to our internal ‘Staying Ahead’ project. The project has totally re-modelled the Force based on public expectation and feedback.

“We will have to do more with less, and as over 80% of our operating budget relates to officer/staff costs this means that the number of posts within our workforce will have to decrease.

“Our current projections suggest that this reduction could be made through natural wastage as people retire and move to new jobs. However, although an absolute last resort, we can't guarantee that compulsory redundancies won't be needed.”