Fire authorities faced with cutting 25% off their budgets over the next four years will have to be make “radical reforms”, industry leaders have said.
Authority mergers, staff reorganisation, redundancies and outsourcing services are all on the table in the wake of £275 million that needs to be shaved off frontline costs.
Speaking at the two-day annual Fire Conference, the Local Government Association (LGA), which acts on behalf of local Government, offered up case studies from across the country of how fire authorities were already successfully making savings.
The conference, which kicked off yesterday and was attended by chief fire officers, councillors and other fire industry professionals, will aim to highlight huge savings made from “fresh thinking”.
Although the savings will be staggered out over four years, some city authorities will have to cut as much as 9.5% off their budgets over the next 12 months, the LGA has warned.
“Tackling these cuts is no easy task.” Councillor Brian Coleman, chairman of the LGA’s Fire Services management committee, said.
“Many authorities have already made substantial efficiencies in recent years and making further savings without impacting on the frontline will be difficult. Nor is the pain of these cuts spread evenly and some authorities face much tougher years ahead than others…Now is the time for radical change and fresh thinking in the fire world.”
To coincide with the conference the LGA published Fire and Rescue – Going the Extra Mile, which compiled examples from 23 fire and rescue services of how they cut costs. These included flexible staffing arrangements, improved sickness management, pay restraint and recruitment freezes and the voluntary amalgamations of authorities.
One example given for combining services was a proposal for a shared fire control between Cambridgeshire Fire and Rescue Service and Suffolk Fire and Rescue Service. Among the benefits they hope to see is joint development of “improved” IT systems.
It comes after a Fire Futures report published in December 2010 that warned that Government cuts could lead to an increased likelihood of deaths, injuries and property losses.
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