The government’s inspector of fire and rescue services in England has used its annual ‘State of Fire’ report to attack the FBU and make a number of recommendations that would undermine the terms and conditions for frontline staff.
Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services (HMICFRS) claimed there were too many barriers to change in the service in England and pointed to a lack of ‘flexibility’ in working practices and that firefighters’ terms and conditions contained in the Grey Book were too ‘rigid’.
Sir Thomas Winsor, the report author, also reiterated a recommendation made in 2020 for reform to the way pay is negotiated with consideration of the introduction of a pay review body and dismantling of the national joint council, the UK body where pay and terms and conditions are negotiated.
Government, the report said, should also consider legislating to grant operational independence to fire chiefs.
Yesterday, the Home Office confirmed this would be in a forthcoming fire reform white paper.
Responding to the report, FBU general secretary Matt Wrack, said:
"This report is the latest in a long line of attempts to attack the right of firefighters to be represented by a trade union and to roll back hard-won terms and conditions. Firefighters everywhere will know exactly what the inspectorate means when it recommends ‘reform’ to pay and conditions and will rightly be concerned about what comes next.
"Granting operational independence to fire chiefs is in reality a Trojan horse for granting independence from appropriate scrutiny and accountability, allowing bosses to draw up and implement unsafe plans or attacks on terms and conditions and to try to limit opposition from their own staff or local communities. The ‘barriers’ hampering the work of firefighters are not a lack of power for fire chiefs, but a decade of pay cuts and austerity that sees England with over 9,000 fewer firefighters than in 2010 and a complete refusal from government to invest for the long term.
"The government’s upcoming white paper on reform to the fire and rescue service looks set to be a declaration of war on the terms and conditions of firefighters and their union dressed up in the language of reform, and sadly the Inspectorate is doing all it can to legitimise it. The government claims it wants to ‘level up’ but attacking workers’ rights as this report proposes will do exactly the opposite."
