FIRE chiefs have warned they cannot afford to cope with an incoming tide of paperwork imposed from Whitehall.

A drive to achieve an equality and diversity standard is among the "significant increased workloads" set to put pressure on staff, said Cynthia Changer, treasurer of Buckinghamshire and Milton Keynes Fire Authority.

The authority is in the process of agreeing how to spend its budget for the forthcoming financial year - and has warned of hard times ahead.

Mrs Changer said: "The impact of the additional work could result in sickness absence and associated costs for which there is no provision."

The authority has hit out at the funding given it from Government and said it will have no choice but to ask for more cash from council tax payers.

It will be asked on Friday to agree a five per cent increase in its take the final council tax bill, giving it an extra £2.52 a year from the average band D rate payer.

Mrs Changer, in a report to the authority board, said work around its "Comprehensive Area Assessment", "Local Area Agreements" and a drive to achieve "Level 3 of the Local Government and Equality Standard" were among the pressures.

Other projects and the need to make savings would add to the pressure on staff, she said.

Mrs Changer added: "There is no provision in the base budget for redundancy costs or unforeseen pension strain costs."

Authority chairman Councillor David Rowlands said: "The government's contribution to this year's budget was only one per cent higher than last year's, and it is proposing rises of only 0.5 per cent for the next two years.

"These tight settlements give us very little room for manoeuvre, and increase the percentage of funding we have to find from council tax payers."

The fire service gets about four pence for every pound of council taxpayers' cash.