Gloucestershire Fire and Rescue Service is forging ahead with changing wholetime firefighters shifts from 8am to 7pm instead of 9am to 6pm, despite the county council fire scrutiny panel recommending that these plans are scrapped.
The council’s fire scrutiny committee published a report into the proposed changes this March, recommending that the council cabinet’s plans to change shift patterns should be abandoned.
Firefighters rallied outside the committee’s meeting, calling for chief fire officer Mark Preece to listen to the scrutiny panel and to firefighters.
Councillors raised concerns around the plans impacting morale in the service; a lack of childcare provision; the detrimental effect on firefighters’ family lives; the significant impact on women in the workforce; and the toll the changes would take on firefighters’ physical and mental health.
The council cabinet decision to accept or overturn the recommendation has now been delayed until after May due to local elections. However deputy chief fire officer Nathaniel Hooton has insisted that the service will not heed the recommendation, and will continue to push through the changes.
Kate Yhnell, FBU brigade organiser for Gloucestershire said that “the FBU will continue to fight until the council and chief fire officer start listening and drop the plans.”
