A group of FBU members hold flags outside Gloucestershire county council building

Up to standard

The cover story of this edition of Firefighter will be familiar to many FBU members. In many areas, it is no longer guaranteed that there will be enough firefighters on a fire engine to safely tackle an incident. As we report in this issue, firefighters attending incidents as part of a crew of four...
Steve Wright standing in front of a fire engine at Kingston fire station

Chancellor must not betray ‘covid heroes’ with austerity, says union leader

By Anonymous
As the Chancellor prepares to deliver her Spring Statement, a trade union leader has urged her not to betray public sector workers by inflicting cuts to pay and services. During the pandemic, firefighters delivered medicine, drove ambulances and moved the bodies of the dead. Millions of workers...
Rachel Reeves holding red budget briefcase outside downing street

Reeves must not become Labour’s ‘austerity Chancellor’, union leader warns

By Alice Dann
Fire Brigades Union general secretary Steve Wright has warned Rachel Reeves not to adopt Tory welfare benefit cuts. Responding to a report that the Treasury is planning to cuts welfare spending by billions, Wright said Reeves must not become the ''Austerity Chancellor'. Steve Wright, Fire Brigades...
Two firefighters hold signs reading 'crews of three, not for me' and 'RIP public safety'

Staffordshire firefighters challenge 'crews of three'

Firefighters in Staffordshire have launched a public petition in the fight back against a dangerous policy allowing retained firefighters to attend incidents as a team of three. The service has pushed ahead with the policy despite 130 firefighters involved in the trial signing a letter in opposition...
A firefighter holds a sign reading 'Cuts cost lives, stop fire service cuts'

Fire and rescue services in England still face government funding cuts

Fire and rescue services in England face a real term cut to central government funding, with a below inflation increase of 1.4% this year. The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government publishes the amount of funding local authorities receive annually, which includes funds for fire and...
Fire appliance daylight scene

‘Week of chaos’ follows cuts

In the week following the removal of one of the 24-hour crewed fire engines at Poole in Dorset, retained firefighters at the station were called out to 15 incidents – five times the number predicted by the service. Dorset and Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service removed Poole’s second wholetime...

Pay discussions 2025: letter to fire service employers

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2024HOC0448MW
Dear Brother/Sister, Pay discussions 2025: letter to fire service employers After years of attacks on our pay, the past three years (2022, 2023, 2024) have seen some improvement in the settlements...
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