Short guide to government support for fire and rescue services

Background

The provision of fire and rescue services is a devolved matter and there are separate legislative and administrative arrangements in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. This briefing focuses on government support for fire and rescue services in England.

There are 44 fire and rescue services in England.

Fire and rescue services in England are governed by the Fire and Rescue Services Act 2004. The act sets out the following core functions for fire and rescue services:

• promoting fire safety,
• extinguishing fires, as well as protecting life and property in the event of a fire,
• rescuing people in the event of a road traffic accident,
• assessing and preventing any fire and rescue-related risks, and
• responding to any other emergencies, including requests from the Secretary of State.

Each fire and rescue service is overseen by a fire and rescue authority who is responsible for:

• setting the strategic and policy direction,
• setting a budget to fund delivery of that strategy and policy, and
• ensuring that outcomes are being achieved in a way that is cost-effective, efficient and in line with legal requirements.

Overall responsibility for the fire and rescue authority varies by location. Whilst the Mayor is responsible for the fire and rescue authority in some areas, in other areas it is the County Council, the Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner or a body made up of local councillors.

In the English Devolution White Paper (December 2024), the government set out its ambition to align public service boundaries with mayoral authorities wherever possible. It subsequently introduced measures in the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill 2024-26 which would lead to many more mayors becoming responsible for fire and rescue services. The government has also committed to scrapping Police, Fire and Crime Commissioners at the end of their current terms in 2028.

Statistics

As of 31 March 2025, there were 30,601 full time equivalent (FTE) firefighters in England. This was a decrease of 4.1% compared to 5 years before (31,912) and a decrease of 14% compared to 10 years before (35,699).

In the year ending March 2025, fire and rescue services in England attended 603,942 incidents. This was an increase of 8.2% compared with 5 years before (558,034) and an increase of 22% compared with 10 years before (496,279).

Of all incidents attended by fire and rescue services in England in the year ending March 2025, fires accounted for 24% of incidents, fire false alarms accounted for 41% of incidents and non-fire incidents accounted for 35% of incidents.

Fire and Rescue National Framework

The Fire and Rescue National Framework sets out the government’s priorities and objectives for fire and rescue authorities.

The framework’s main priorities for fire and rescue authorities are:

• to make appropriate provision for fire prevention and protection activities and response to fire and rescue related incidents,
• identify and assess the full range of foreseeable fire and rescue related risks their areas face,
• collaborate with emergency services and other local and national partners to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of the service they provide,
• be accountable to communities for the service they provide, and
• develop and maintain a workforce that is professional, resilient, skilled, flexible and diverse.

All fire and rescue authorities are required to publish a community risk management plan in line with the framework.

The government last published a progress report on fire and rescue authorities’ compliance with the framework in June 2023.

State of Fire and Rescue: The Annual Assessment of Fire and Rescue Services in England 2024–25

His Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Fire and Rescue Services (HMICFRS) publishes an assessment of fire and rescue services in England each year.

State of Fire and Rescue: The Annual Assessment of Fire and Rescue Services in England 2024–25 was published in November 2025.

In a summary published alongside the report, HMICFRS stated that fire and rescue services had made “notable progress in some areas” including improving their protection departments, improving productivity, supporting the wellbeing of workforces and implementing recommendations from the Grenfell Tower Inquiry.

It also stated that fire and rescue services “must focus on improving persistent issues to give the best service to the public”, including improving leadership, creating a positive organisational culture and addressing difficulties in recruiting and retaining skilled officers.

It also urged the government to “be decisive and follow through on its commitment to reform” and to “seriously consider granting the inspectorate greater powers to create accountability.”

The report made several other recommendations on how fire and rescue services in England could improve, including:

• precisely determining the roles of fire and rescue services and their staff to remove any ambiguity,
• reviewing and reforming the systems for determining pay and conditions, and
• giving chief fire officers operational independence.

Commenting on the report, His Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Fire and Rescue Services, Sir Andy Cooke said:  

It was encouraging to see improvements made in our latest round of inspections, particularly the progress made in protection departments and the focus on improving productivity.

However, persistent issues remain in some areas, such as values, culture and behaviour, and leadership. Until our outstanding recommendations are addressed in full, the sector won’t be able to give the best service to the public.

Now is a valuable opportunity to refocus efforts and advance reform across the fire and rescue sector, including extending our powers and establishing a College of Fire and Rescue.

Government support for fire and rescue services Funding

Funding for fire and rescue services is made up of grants from central government and revenue raised locally through council tax. Income and resources vary depending on the structure of the authority.

Government funding for fire and rescue services is provided by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government through the Local Government Finance Settlement in the form of revenue support grants and retained business rates.

The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government published its provisional 2026-27 Local Government Finance Settlement in December 2025. After consulting on the provisional settlement, the government committed to “providing an additional £15 million to ensure standalone Fire and Rescue Authorities see a Core Spending Power increase of at least 3.8% in 2026-27 compared to 2025-26, and to protect this income in real-terms in 2027-28 and 2028-29”. This additional funding was awarded across fire and rescue services, not to specific areas. The final 2026-27 Local Government Finance Settlement was published in February 2026.

The Minister for Building Safety, Fire and Democracy, Samantha Dixon, has stated that the 2026-27 Local Government Finance Settlement will “make available almost £1.99bn in Core Spending Power for standalone Fire and Rescue Authorities in England.”

Ms Dixon stated that this was a “4.4% increase compared to 2025-26” and that “by the end of the multi-year period (2026-27 to 2028-29), we will have provided a 12.6% increase compared to 2025-26.”

Ms Dixon has also stated that the government “recognises that the current fire funding formula was designed over a decade ago” and that the government “will work with the fire sector on a comprehensive review of the formula ahead of the next Spending Review.”

The National Fire Chiefs Council chair, Phil Garrigan, welcomed the government’s commitment to review the funding formula but said that the government needed to “go further to address a decade of underinvestment”:

We welcome the Government’s recognition of the urgent need to stabilise fire and rescue funding and its commitment to review the formula – this is confirmation that they have listened to our concerns. These steps are vital to avoid immediate harm, but we now need to go further to address the impact of a decade of underinvestment, including the loss of almost £1 billion in capital investment.

Following the announcement of the three-year funding settlement, the Fire Brigades Union launched its Cuts Kill campaign in February 2026. The campaign states that the fire and rescue service is “stretched to breaking point” and that the service “is being asked to do more with less.”

The Fire Brigades Union states that their concerns have been “been brushed aside while politicians made decisions that stripped vital resources from the frontline” and have urged the government to “stop the cuts and start reinvesting in the fire service.”

Responsibility for fire and rescue transferred to the Ministry of Housing Communities and Local Government

Following a recommendation made in the Grenfell Tower Inquiry’s Phase 2 report, the government transferred the ministerial responsibility for all fire and rescue functions from the Home Office to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government on 1 April 2025.

The government stated that this would result in “greater clarity and accountability” and would “strengthen coordination, improve policy implementation, and reinforce the government’s commitment to making homes, buildings and communities safer.”

The Fire Brigades Union general secretary, Steve Wright, welcomed the announcement, stating:

The Fire Brigades Union wholeheartedly welcomes this move as an important first step to repairing the damage done to the fire and rescue service by recent governments.

[…]

I look forward to working with ministers to deliver a fire and rescue service that is fit for the future, with national standards and adequate funding to tackle the growing risks we face.

The then National Fire Chiefs Council chair, Mark Hardingham, also welcomed the announcement stating that the National Fire Chiefs Council “looks forward to working collaboratively with MHCLG to support fire and rescue services and firefighters, to secure fire investment, and to drive improvements across the sector.”

Conservative government’s fire reform white paper

In May 2022, the Conservative government published a fire reform white paper setting out its plans to “introduce system-wide reform to strengthen fire and rescue services across England.”

In December 2023, following a public consultation, the Conservative government confirmed the details of its planned reforms. The Conservative government stated that it would:

• introduce a professional College of Fire & Rescue to raise standards and strengthen leadership,
• develop provisions for fire chiefs to have operational independence,
• task the National Joint Council to review the pay negotiation mechanism, and
• take action to improve integrity and culture in fire and rescue services through improved training, more open recruitment practices and working towards a statutory code of ethics for fire and rescue employees.

After publishing its response to the public consultation, the Conservative government made limited progress on its plans to reform fire and rescue services across England before leaving office in July 2024.