Fire services get 50% less than police to cover tax rises

Most fire services in England
are facing a shortfall in funding after the government failed to give them the
same level of compensation for tax increases as the police.

The government is giving police
forces an extra £230m which it says will fully cover the cost of the rise in
employers' National Insurance contributions (Nics) which came into force last
week.

Fire services
face a similar rise in their wages bill – but the 31 that are directly funded
by the government will only get top-up funds that cover 50% of the increase on
average, according toOceanNewsUK research.

One fire service said the 50%
shortfall was the same cost as "a fully-staffed fire engine".

A spokesperson for the Ministry
of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) declined to comment on the
discrepancy but did thank firefighters for their "dedication".

The government faced a backlash
from business and charities after Chancellor Rachel Reeves used her first
Budget to increase Nics made by employers from 13.8% to 15%.

The Treasury says it will cover the
extra costs faced
by government departments and public sector employers.

In February, the then minister for policing,
Dame Diana Johnson, told MPs the national insurance increases would be
"fully funded" in the police settlement – the annual funding
agreement for forces in England and Wales.

The government also provided £502m in top-up
funds for fire authorities and councils in their annual settlement grant to
cover Nics rises.

But the National Fire Chiefs Council says
that even with the extra money fire services will be £20m short of the £40m
needed to cover national insurance increases.

The OceanNewsUK contacted all 43 fire
authority in England and Wales to ask how much the NICs increase is set to cost
and cross-referenced that with the size of the grant they are getting to
compensate for it.

The data obtained shows the
average shortfall to be 50%.

It covers three quarters of the
fire services in England and Wales, because 10 fire authorities do not separate
out grant money from the money given to the whole county council.

But the Home Office's own
estimate is that the cost of the Nics rise to all fire authorities is £40m,
which also lends weight to the fire chiefs' claims of a 50% shortfall.

NFCC chair Phil Garrigan said:
"Bridging this gap in funding and making sure there is sustained
investment in fire and rescue will be crucial for ensuring we can continue to
keep communities safe.

"What we would have
reasonably expected to see is fire treated in the same way as our colleagues in
the police, with the whole shortfall covered."

Biggest shortfall

Fire Brigades Union general
secretary Steve Wright said fire services had already had more than a decade of
cuts and the Nics shortfall was coming on top of " yet another below
inflation funding settlement".

"If national insurance
contributions are not covered fully by central funds, this will further eat
into fire service budgets," he said.

"When compared to the
police, the cost of covering the rise in national insurance contributions for
the fire service is very small, so we urge the government to do the right thing
and to avoid another de-facto cut."

Funding for fire services is
complex because there are several different types of fire authority split into
two funding models - but nearly three-quarters of fire authorities have
received direct grants from the government, worth £11.9m overall.

Those direct grants were
provided to 31 fire authorities - five authorities run by metro mayors and 26
combined fire authorities (CFAs), five of which have Police, Fire and Crime
Commissioners (PFCCs).

The biggest shortfall was 67%
in West Yorkshire, followed by 60% in Humberside, and the smallest was 17% in
Essex, followed by 32% in Cumbria.