HAMPSHIRE'S fire service has paid almost £1m in sick pay in the past year -as it gears up for some of its worst budget cuts.

According to a report by chief officer Dave Curry, the service has seen long term sickness rates rise by 20 per cent in a year.

It comes as the fire service grapples with a £12.2m black hole as the Government led austerity drive continues to shrink its budget.

As previously reported, no fire stations are expected to close but jobs are at risk and how the service responds to incidents is expected to change.

And it could even mean fire-fighters heading to incidents in smaller vehicles rather than traditional fire appliances.

Overall absences have risen by 5.1 per cent with 44 per cent off with injuries being the chief cause. This includes back problems and broken bones.

Meanwhile breathing conditions and illnesses accounted for 20 per cent of people off sick while 17 per cent had digestive ailments.

The increases are in fleet workshops and in the Eastleigh and Test Valley group and members of the Incident Command Unit (ICU) team, based at the service's headquarters in Eastleigh.

Among uniformed staff 4,666 shifts have been lost among full time uniformed staff and 5,200 shifts among retained staff.

The report says less than four per cent of staff account for 38 per cent of those off.

But because the database was set up last year there are no like-for-like comparisons can be made for the previous years.

Currently the county’s fire service employs more than 1,900 people across 51 locations with a total budget of £70m.

A plan to cut absences is to be discussed today by members of Hampshire Fire and Rescue performance review and scrutiny committee.

This includes keeping a closer eye on absence rates, provide stress and resilience workshops and HR and occupational health stepping up review of people who are signed off long-term.