MERSEYSIDE'S new police officers could end up working in call centres and administrative roles as the force faces more budget cuts over the coming years.

The force is currently in the process of recruiting 500 new officers by the end of next March as part of Operation Uplift, the Government's flagship pledge to recruit 20,000 new police officers nationally.

But at the same time, Merseyside Police believes it will have to make cuts of £28 million over the next four years.

The region's police and crime panel heard today that this could involve a process of "decivlianisation", in which civilian police staff are made redundant and police officers deployed to their back office roles instead.

Police and Crime Commissioner Jane Kennedy told the panel decivilianisation would be "an abomination" and "a very serious breach of public trust" after the promise of "more bobbies on the beat" formed a major part of the Government's election campaign in 2019.

Ms Kennedy said: "We are now facing the prospect that unless this is addressed the police will be putting police officers into custody suites, into call centres, into administrative roles, when we have spent decades taking them out and putting them back on the streets where the public wants them to be.

"There's a very clear conflict with the Government's ambition to get more police officers onto the street doing the job where the public see them and actually feel safer because they see them."

Cllr Simon Shaw, a panel member from Sefton Council, added: "In order to enjoy a national headline, a populist policy kind of thing, of more bobbies on the beat, we will in Merseyside end up with a less efficient service."

However, Ms Kennedy added that Government ministers "understand the situation and feel very exercised about it", raising hopes that a solution could be reached.

But Merseyside Police will need considerable financial support if it is to avoid making the forecast cuts, which do not include additional spending incurred as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.

The force expects its core grant from government to remain the same and the council tax precept to rise 2% per year while pay inflation alone is expected to be 2.5% per year.

John Riley, the police and crime commissioner's chief finance officer, said pay increases meant a rise of £8million in costs that was not funded by additional income.

Mr Riley also warned that Merseyside's council tax base could actually fall in the coming years as the pandemic saw more people fall into arrears or claim reduced rates, which could see a shortfall "in the millions" in police income.