Fire chiefs in West Yorkshire will next month ask councillors to agree to a recruitment freeze in anticipation of huge budget cutbacks.

Officers have been discussing how to make savings of up to £20 million without harming front-line services due to expected reductions in Government funding.

The fire authority has said it will only know how much money it will receive from the Government for 2011/12 and future years after this year’s General Election.

But West Yorkshire Fire Service’s Management Board has already been considering the impacts of forecasted savings of between £11 million and £20 million by 2013/14.

The authority’s personnel and training committee has been asked to ratify the recruitment freeze for full-time firefighters when it meets on Friday, February 5.

But fire chiefs have revealed to the Telegraph & Argus that 82 jobs have already been lost through retirements.

Martyn Redfearn, assistant chief officer for West Yorkshire, said it was possible £11 million could be saved through the authority’s retirement programme, but that would leave the service without sufficient staff needed to maintain services.

He said: “What we are trying to do is minimise the impact on front-line services wherever possible and deal with it wherever possible with natural wastage.

“This is planning for the worst-case scenario – we would hope that it’s not going to be as bad as we are planning for. We are trying to deliver the same level of service for less money.”

Mr Redfearn said the service had not recruited since last October as it had been over-staffed.

A report to the authority’s finance and resources committee, which meets on Friday, states: “Nationally each of the political parties has indicated which of the services they are likely to protect and fire is not included.

“As a result of this the Management Board has been preparing planning options based on future revenue support grant settlements between cash standstill and a three per cent year-on- year cash reduction. These options would leave the authority having to find efficiency savings of between £11 million and £20 million by 2013/14.

“Clearly savings of this magnitude need a strategic approach if front line services are to be protected and the management board is preparing a medium term strategy to deal with this position.”