A newly elected council has claimed police officers are sharing stab-proof vests – and at one station staff have been "suffering in heat" because of a broken boiler.

Staffordshire Police have said that a heating issue at Burslem Police Station is being addressed and officers only use "pool vests" on rare occasions when their personal body armour is being repaired.

Anthony Screen, the new cabinet member for community safety and resilience at Staffordshire County Council, told Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner Ben Adams that police officer morale was "very low".

Speaking at the latest Police, Fire and Crime Panel meeting, the Reform UK councillor highlighted resources issues.

Cllr Screen said: "We need to get the basics right – before 2010 we were hitting all these basics. We have lost over 1,300 police officers across the 43 police forces, I don't know exactly how many officers we have lost in Staffordshire.

"Morale in policing is low and the number of officers under stress. They've been demonised on occasions.

"The Commissioner's office holds the financial reins of the Chief Constable, because the Chief Constable is stuck between a rock and a hard place. He is reliant on the funds the Commissioner's Office is providing to do the job they want to do.

"You look at things like stab-proof vests. Officers are having to share stab-proof vests because there isn't enough to go around for individual officers and that is happening in Staffordshire now.

"You've spent a lot of money on resourcing at police headquarters, millions of pounds, no doubt in preparation for the firearms training facility. You've also got places like Burslem Police Station.

"I was only told the other day the heating is stuck on. It's on very hot and they can't turn it down because something is wrong with the boiler.

"Officers have contacted estates and estates say 'we've got no money to put the boiler right' so they can't turn the heating off. All through the heatwave we've had, officers have been sitting there suffering in heat."

Speaking after the meeting, a Staffordshire Police spokesperson responded: "The heating has been switched off for the summer. However, a fault has been reported and engineers are visiting this week.

"To ensure maximum safety and comfort, all operational officers—including Special Constables and Police Community Support Officers—are issued bespoke body armour that is measured and manufactured specifically for them.

"Each vest is personally fitted and assigned to the individual officer and tailored to meet operational and protective requirements.

"In rare cases, a pool vest may be temporarily issued from uniform stores, such as when an officer's personal body armour is undergoing repair. This is a short-term measure and does not replace the personal issue vest."

Speaking at the meeting, Mr Adams replied to Councillor Screen: "You served in Staffordshire Police and no doubt you have your own experience to draw on and things that colleagues and others are telling you. Thank you for mentioning the thing in Burslem – I will look at that.

"If you walked down the road and went into Longton, where we've invested considerable amounts in improving the area there and not before time, I think you'd get a completely different picture and response.

"That is a much busier station and a really good example of where I would like the estate to be.

"I can't do it straight away, it isn't an appropriate use of the limited resource. In fact the Commissioner has only got the power to distribute the monies they have, coming from the Government through a core grant and a capped amount I can go to the public for as a council tax which I've maximised in recent years.

"Stab vests are all individually fitted, otherwise they might not provide the protection they should and I gather there's a backlog in procurement. I'm not personally close to that – I think it's a national procurement – but I will see if there is an impact on Staffordshire officers and I do hope not.

"In Staffordshire we're about 400 officers down on the peak that we were at back in 2009 or 2010.

"I think there's only four or five other forces in the country which have not returned to record levels of police officers, but in Staffordshire we have retained our number of PCSOs (Police Community Support Officers); other areas have dropped PCSOs and replaced them with officers.

"If we were asked we would like more police officers in Staffordshire please. I'd like to get back to that number at some point down the line and I think that would have a positive impact for everyone."