Tyne and Wear Fire Authority in 'good position' financially, meeting hears

Bosses from Tyne and Wear Fire and Rescue Service acknowledged the cost of living crisis has affected the authority, as it has residents in the region.

The latest meeting of the fire authority on November 14 heard at the halfway point of 2022/23, the organisation is estimating it will overspend its budget by more than £650,000 this year.

Reasons for this include the higher than anticipated fuel, heating and lighting costs, in line with cost of living increases, along with proposed additional pay awards for staff.

Dennis Napier, Tyne and Wear fire finance director, said similar financial issues are impacting the budgets of every council and police service in the country.

He said: “The cost of living crisis affects the authority just as much as it does individuals.

“You’ll see that our fuel costs have gone up significantly, our utility costs have gone up significantly, there’s more than just employee costs.”

Chris Lowther, chief fire officer, said he continues to lobby Government for increased funding, and stressed they manage the budget the best they can amid pending national financial announcements.

He said: “This is why the financial management of the authority over the last few years has been so important, it puts the future of this fire service in a very strong position.

“We always seek to make sure this service is sustainable but borrowing will be inevitable unless significant funding changes are made.

“We’re in a good position to deal with anything that comes through.

“But we’ll need to be aware that early in the year, like most public sectors, we’ll probably start to have to re-profile our medium term financial strategy for an oncoming storm.”

He added by the time current fire service capital projects are complete, building stock, vehicles and other resources will be in “absolute tip top condition”, leaving them in a good position.

Kim McGuinness, Northumbria Police and Crime Commissioner, added Government support is needed over numerous issues, including to fund “proper” pay increases for public sector staff.

She said: “We need to be giving public sector workers, including fire service staff and firefighters, a proper pay rise, but this has to be funded by Government.

“Otherwise you are literally tying one hand behind the back of these people who go out every single day to do a very difficult job in keeping people safe.

“We need to start to have discussions with Government about what public sector funding will look like in the coming years if this level of uncontrolled inflation continues.”