Most fire services in England face a deficit in funds after the government did not give them the same level of compensation for the tax increases as the police.
The government is giving the police forces an additional £ 230 million that says it covers the cost of the increase in the contributions of the National Employers Insurance (NIC) that entered into force last week.
Fire services face a similar increase in their salary bill, but the 31 that are directly financed by the Government will only obtain recharge funds that cover 50% of the average increase, according to the BBC investigation.
A fire service said that the 50% deficit was the same cost as “a full personnel fire truck.”
A spokesman for the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) declined to comment on the discrepancy, but thanked firefighters for their “dedication.”
The Government faced a violent reaction from businesses and charges after Foreign Minister Rachel Reeves used her first budget to increase NICs made by employers from 13.8% to 15%.
The Treasury says that it will cover the additional costs faced by government departments and public sector employers.
In February, the then Minister of Police, Dame Diana Johnson, told parliamentarians that the increases in national insurance would be “totally financed” in the police agreement, the annual forces of the financing agreement in England and Wales.
The Government also provides £ 502 million in recharge funds for fire and advice authorities in its annual grant to cover NICAs increases.
But the National Council of Fire Chiefs says that even with extra money services will be £ 20 million below the £ 40 million to cover the increases in national insurance.
The BBC contacted the Fire Authority of 43 in England and Wales to ask how much the increase of nics is established to cost and cross references that with the size of the subsidy they are compensating for it.
The data obtained show that the average deficit is 50%.
It covers three quarters of fire services in England and Wales, because 10 fire authorities do not separate the money from the money subsidy granted to the entire county council.
But the estimate of the Interior Ministry is that the cost of NICs increases to all fire authorities is £ 40 million, which also gives weight to the statements of the fire chiefs of a 50%deficit.
The president of the NFCC, Phil Garrigan, said: “Making this gap in financing and making sure there is a sustained investment in fires and rescue will be crucial to ensure that we can continue to keep the communities safe.
“What we would have expected to see is the fire treated in the same way as our whims in the police, with all the covered deficit.”
The general secretary of the Fire Brigades, Steve Wright, said that the services had already had more than a decade of cuts and that the NICS deficit was reaching the top of “another inflation fund agreement.”
“If national insurance contributions are not completely covered by central funds, this will eat more fire service budgets,” he said.
“Compared to the Police, the cost of covering the increase in national insurance contributions for fire service is very small, so we urge the government to do the right thing and avoid another de facto cut.”
Financing for firefighters is complex because there are several different types of fire authority in financing models, but almost three quarters of fire authorities have received direct subsidies from the government, with a value of £ 11.9 million in general.
These direct subsidies were provided to 31 fire authorities: five authorities led by Metro mayors and 26 Combined Firefighters (CFA), five of which have police commissioners, firefighters and crimes (PFCC).
The highest deficit was 67% in West Yorkshire, followed by 60% in Humberside, and the smallest was 17% in Essex, followed by 32% in Cumbria.
There are 10 more firefighters where a county council directs the Fire Service, and the nick subsidies for the Fire Service mixed with the NICS recharges for the council staff, which hinders the service of firefighters difficult to unravel.
London and Greater Manchester also have their own structures, where the mayor has the general responsibility for fire and rescue services, and financing does not separate from the nic subsidies for the counter staff.
The budgetary documents of the Firefighters and Rescue services of Greater Manchester confirmed the estimates suggested that they could see a 50% deficit in funds, which “would like the cost of a totally fire truck.”
A spokesman for the Fire and Rescue Service of the Great London said that the mayor of London had tried an additional recharge financing of £ 2.5 million to cover the £ 4.4m deficit (36%) left by the Government subsidy.
