Chancellor must provide more money for the service in Spring Budget, FBU says.
Government funding for fire and rescue services in England has been cut by £139.7m since 2016/17, the Fire Brigades Union (FBU) can reveal, in new analysis of the 2021/22 local government finance settlement.
Ministers have reduced funding for fire and rescue services by 13.8% in cash terms over the five years since the last local government finance settlement, leaving fire and rescue services exposed as they face emerging threats from flooding, wildfires, and the Covid-19 pandemic.
The FBU is calling on the Chancellor to bring forward urgent funding for the service in the Spring Budget.
Some fire and rescue services have seen their government funding cut by more than 40%, with some brigades losing as much as £22m. At the beginning of the previous settlement, in 2013/14, fire and rescue services received £1,240m of government funding. But this has dropped to £873m for 2021-22, a cut of £367m.
Brigades will receive just £1.6m more funding in 2021-22 compared to 2020-21, an increase of just 0.18% in cash terms, well below inflation (0.8% CPI to December 2020), representing another real-terms funding cut. On average, this equates to just £37,200 per brigade.
Funding cuts will worsen public and firefighter safety and the impact of fires, floods, and other emergencies, the FBU says.
England has lost 21% of its firefighters since 2010, totalling 9,444 to March of last year.
The FBU’s analysis reveals that from 2016/17 to 2021/22:
- Four brigades have had their funding cut by more than a third. West Sussex has lost £4.3m or 43.9%, Warwickshire £2.9m or 40.8%, Oxfordshire £3.2m or 38.2%, and Surrey £6.1m or 34.3%. None of these brigades have been granted any more funding since last year.
- London Fire Brigade experienced the biggest cut in cash terms, losing £22.1m or 9.5% of its funding.
- Another nine brigades have had their funding cut by more than £4m, including Greater Manchester (£5.8m or 10.2%), West Yorkshire (£4.8m or 11.1%) and Devon and Somerset £4.5m or 16.8%).
- 42 of England’s 43 brigades have had their funding cut by at least £1m since 2016/17 and 41 have been cut by at least 10%.
Central government has historically been the primary source of funding for fire and rescue services, but increasingly brigades are having to turn to struggling local authorities for greater proportions of their funding, as Conservative-led governments have imposed austerity on brigade finances.
Meanwhile the number of non-fire incidents attended by fire and rescue services in England, such as flooding, road traffic collisions, water rescues, evacuations and hazardous chemical incidents have increased by 28% over the last five years.
Matt Wrack, FBU general secretary, said:
“The last five years has seen more devastating cuts to fire and rescue services just as brigades face an increased threat from major events like floods and wildfires.
“For firefighters and their communities, these aren’t just numbers on a spreadsheet. This will worsen public safety, firefighter safety, and the damage wreaked on homes, businesses, and the environment by fires, floods and other emergencies.
“This year, brigades are experiencing another real-terms cut to their funding from central government, with the costs of the pandemic leaving local authorities unable to soften the blow. The cash-terms increase each brigade will receive is painfully small and, after losing millions over the last few years, demonstrates this government’s contempt for a vital service.
“Unless the fire and rescue service receives substantial and sustained funding going forward from the Chancellor, guaranteeing public safety will become increasingly a throw of the dice.”
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