UNION bosses have warned about the dire funding problems facing Worcestershire's fire service - as it faces being the worst-hit in England.

Hereford & Worcester Fire and Rescue Service has been named among the biggest losers in central Government support, with its handout set to plunge 28 per cent by 2019.

The shock fall, unveiled after work from the Fire Brigades Union (FBU), puts it level pegging with Nottinghamshire as the country's worst affected area.

The service has a current budget of around £32 million and relies on £9.5 million in Government grants to top up what it gets in council tax and business rates.

Under Government proposals the typical fire authority can expect a 20 per cent cut by 2019, with Hereford & Worcester level with Nottingham in facing the deepest reduction percentage-wise.

Only Dorset, Buckinghamshire and East Sussex come close to it, with cuts of either 26 or 27 per cent respectively.

Matt Wrack, General Secretary of the FBU, said: "These never-ending cost saving measures won't keep the public safe.

"It's time the public made it clear that it won't stand for this growing threat to their safety, enough is enough."

The Department for Communities and Local Government says it expects fire authorities to merge more closely with other emergency services, something already being advanced in this county.

It also wants fire authorities to consider allowing police and crime commissioners the chance to oversee their services, something which has already been criticised in Worcestershire.

Councillor Derek Prodger, the fire authority's chairman, said: "I know it's going to be difficult.

"I think we'll be ok in the next two years but after that it will get tighter.

"You've got to be more efficient and smarter in what you do, and that's what we'll be looking at.

"We already do a lot of fire precaution work but we'll be looking at that too."

The service employs more than 600 people, of which around 80 per cent are either whole-time or on-call firefighters.

We revealed earlier this month how the current chief fire officer Mark Yates is retiring, with Councillor Prodger currently involved in the hunt for a replacement.