In accordance with the Localism Act 2011 (Chapter 8 Sections 38 to 43) Lancashire Fire Authority is required to produce a pay policy for each financial year.
Any decision under powers delegated to the Authority’s Constitution with regard to remuneration to be taken in 2024/25 will be bound by and must comply with the 2024/25 Statement.
The Director of People & Development must be consulted prior to any decision impacting on remuneration where there is any question regarding compliance with the Statement.
In general terms, the Fire Authority recognises terms and conditions negotiated nationally by the National Employers with the National Employees’ bodies for 3 distinct staff groups. These are:
National Joint Council for Brigade Managers (referred to in Lancashire Fire Authority as Principal Officers) of Local Authority Fire and Rescue Services (commonly referred to as ‘Gold Book’);
National Joint Council for Local Government Services (commonly referred to as ‘Green Book’);
National Joint Council for Local Authority Fire and Rescue Services (commonly referred to as ‘Grey Book’).
Under the definitions provided for within the Act, the officers included in this pay statement are the Chief Fire Officer (CFO), Deputy Chief Fire Officer (DCFO), Assistant Chief Fire Officer (ACFO), Director of Corporate Services (DoCS) and Director of People & Development (DoPD).
The Treasurer responsibilities are undertaken by the Director of Corporate Services.
The Monitoring Officer duties are undertaken by the Clerk to the Authority who is engaged on a contract for services basis.
The Fire Authority has delegated responsibility for any local terms and conditions, including remuneration for chief officers, to the Appointments Panel/Succession Planning Sub-Committee.
A chosen natural internal benchmark for Chief Officer pay is the percentage rise in firefighters pay. This is the standard for the majority of staff within the Service and has been deemed affordable and proportionate by the National Joint Council (NJC) for Local Authority Fire and Rescue Services. It has been agreed that the Chief Fire Officer’s pay with the established linkages for other Executive Board members should rise by the same amount as NJC for grey book when they receive their annual award.
Any pay rise will be subject to a satisfactory performance evaluation. This will be undertaken with the Chair of the Authority with regard to the Chief Fire Officer, who will in turn appraise his staff. These appraisals confirm increases in basic salary; no bonus payments are made to Executive Board members.
Information relating to chief officers pay and benefits in kind is found in the Fire Authority’s Statement of Accounts and on the Authority’s website.
The Fire Authority creates and sustains a competent, motivated, and well led workforce, to meet current and future organisational needs and to be an employer of choice with improved working practices, work life balance, personal development, health and well-being and fair pay. We are committed to striving to achieve fairness in pay and reward structures across all occupational groups taking into account all the employment relationships that exist.
Changes from national negotiations generally take place each year, in January (Gold Book), April (Green Book) and July (Grey Book). The Fire Authority’s policy is to implement national agreements, amended as needed to meet local needs.
A £1,925 increase to all spinal column points for “green book staff” was agreed nationally from 1 April 2023.
The next anniversary dates for “grey book” and Principal Officers pay is 1 July 2024. The national employers have yet to negotiate an agreed pay award and pay negotiations are ongoing.
In addition to pay the national agreements cover other terms and conditions such as annual leave and allowances for use of private vehicles on Authority business. The Authority pays car allowances in accordance with these national scales.
All employees may join a pension scheme which is relevant to their occupational group. The operative schemes are statutory schemes with contributions from employers and the employees.
There are 2 Pension schemes in existence; the Firefighters’ 2015 Pension scheme and the Local Government Pension Scheme. Some employees retain legacy scheme pension membership in the Firefighters’ Pension Scheme (which became closed to new entrants in 2006) or the New Firefighters’ Pension Scheme (which became closed to new entrants on establishment of the 2015 scheme). All firefighters are now members of the 2015 Firefighters Pension Scheme.
The Local Government Pension Scheme provides for flexible retirement for which the Fire Authority has approved a Policy statement.
The Firefighters’ Pension Schemes allow for re-engagement after retirement. Any utilisation of this option is subject to approval by the Authority based on a business case and demonstrated need and may involve abatement of pension benefit where appropriate.
There are 3 pay grades for Grey Book staff (trainee, in development and competent), a spinal column system for Green Book staff where the policy is to start any appointee on the lowest point of the pay grade, save for where an applicant brings specific skills or experience to a post. In respect of Gold Book staff, they are appointed within a range and progress by incremental movement subject to performance until the maximum of the range is reached.
The “green book” grading is determined and underpinned by the Local Government Job Evaluation Scheme. The salaries utilised are above the ‘living wage’.
Delegated powers for the payment of honoraria lie with the Chief Fire Officer.
Changes to chief officer salaries are approved by the Fire Authority.
The chief officers are conditioned to the Gold Book terms and conditions of employment.
A facility exists for the chief officers (either singularly or collectively) to present a case to the Authority (via the Chair) for a salary increase based on evidence, the overall performance of Lancashire Fire & Rescue Service and an annual appraisal.
Lancashire Fire Authority does not operate a bonus scheme or performance related pay for chief officers.
Chief Officers may claim reimbursement for expenses incurred in the course of carrying out their duties.
The post holder is a member of the 2015 Firefighters Pension Scheme and has reached the maximum of his salary range.
The current remuneration for this post on recruitment is between £166,100 and £172,031 pa.
The Chief Fire Officer has a provided car to enable the duties of the post to be performed.
The provisions for redundancy are the statutory payments for redundancy.
The post holder is a member of the 2015 Firefighters’ Pension Scheme and has reached the maximum of his salary range.
The current remuneration for this post on recruitment is between £154,236 and £160,167 pa.
The Deputy Chief Fire Officer has a provided car to enable the duties of the post to be performed.
The provisions for redundancy are the statutory payments for redundancy.
The post holder is a member of the 2015 Firefighters’ Pension Scheme and has a further increment before reaching the maximum of his range.
The current remuneration for this post on recruitment is between £130,507 and £136,439 pa.
The Assistant Chief Fire Officer has a provided car to enable the duties of the post to be performed.
The provisions for redundancy are the statutory payments for redundancy.
The post holder is a member of the Local Government Pension Scheme and has reached the maximum of his salary range.
The remuneration for this post on recruitment will be aligned to the Treasurer/Director of Corporate Services.
There is no provision to utilise the car leasing scheme nor is any car allowance paid. Any mileage reimbursement utilises the casual user arrangement.
The post holder is entitled to discretionary entitlements in relation to redundancy which include average weekly pay with a multiplier of 2.2 applied and in exceptional cases augmentation of pensionable service to the maximum of 3 years. These provisions apply to all staff eligible to join the Local Government Pension Scheme.
The post holder is a member of the Local Government Pension Scheme and has three further increments before reaching the maximum of his salary range.
The current remuneration for this post on recruitment is between £95,498 - £101,115 pa.
There is no provision to utilise the car leasing scheme nor is any car allowance paid. Any mileage reimbursement utilises the casual car user arrangements.
The post holder is entitled to discretionary entitlements in relation to redundancy which include average weekly pay with a multiplier of 2.2 applied and in exceptional cases augmentation of pensionable service to the maximum of 3 years. These provisions apply to all staff eligible to join the Local Government Pension Scheme.
The Fire Authority takes the opportunity in year to review the salaries of the senior officer grouping to determine whether the salary range should be adjusted prior to advert.
The definition of the ‘lowest paid employee’ is that postholder receiving the lowest (FTE) annual salary (exclusive of Employer pension contributions).
The pay floor level is our Green Book Grade 2 posts (Cooks, Receptionists and Gardener/handypersons) who are on a scale of £23,500 to £23,893 pa. £23,500 equates to £12.43 per hour.
The Chief Fire Officer’s earnings ratio is 1:7.32 using the minima of pay grade 2.
The government statement is a recommendation that this ratio should not exceed 1:25.
As a further comparison, the ratio between a competent firefighter and the maximum salary for the Chief Fire Officer is 1:4.75.
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