MORE than 1,400 frontline police staff have been offered redundancy amid fears over savage funding cuts.

As previously revealed, 718 staff in back office roles had been offered redundancy in a bid to slash Humberside Police's wage bill.

But now, the Telegraph can reveal 1,451 "operational staff" have been sent letters offering "bespoke" redundancy packages.

The force has been given a pot of £3.9-million to pay off PCSOs, scenes of crimes officers, civilian investigators and call centre staff.

It is the latest sign of the huge strain Government cutbacks will have on policing and the first visible assault on the "frontline".

Despite more than half the staff working across northern Lincolnshire and East Yorkshire now being considered for redundancy – 2,169 in total – Tim Hollis, the force's chief constable, insisted the actual numbers to go would be "modest".

He said: "The offer of redundancy has now been made available to operational staff.

"This is because we know if the budget cut is as bad as we anticipate we are going to have to reduce how many people we employ – 80 per cent of our budget is people so you can work it out for yourself, a 25 per cent cut makes that inevitable.

"We are trying to do it in a very sensible, measured fashion, and trying to give our own staff, who are feeling very uncertain at the minute, a bit of certainty – it helps if people can choose to take redundancy if that suits them.

"But the numbers will be modest."

Last month, Mr Hollis exclusively said that if the coalition Government reduced police funding by 25 per cent – although 40 per cent has not been ruled out – then officer numbers would have to be cut and crime could rise.

The proposed cut in budget has led to a review of aspects of policing by the force, and senior officers were yesterday reporting to the chief with proposals for what would be cut first.

And the information is then to be passed to the Police Authority – which monitors performance and budgets – at a closed meeting on September 15.

Mr Hollis said the purpose of voluntary redundancy would avoid the need for more "Draconian" measures further down the line.

And he insisted that the move to offer redundancy to frontline staff was not ideal and that careful consideration would be taken for each application.

"Because it is redundancy we are talking about, the post has to go, and that makes it more difficult and more delicate when you get into the operational posts," he said.

"The cuts are already starting to impact on the service we deliver to our community.

"I would prefer not to have to look to operation staff, but doing this reduces the risk of having to make more Draconian decisions at a later stage, its part of good management.

"Its a sensible part of the way we manage the business as we approach some challenging times ahead."

Every single civilian staff member of the force has now been offered redundancy, but the force's 2,062 police officers are not included as they cannot be made redundant.