Last week, South Wales Fire Authority’s HR & Personnel Committee signed off a new pay arrangement for on-call firefighters (pdf – item 7).
On-call firefighters (also known as retained firefighters) staff smaller fire stations and live and/or work within a short distance of the station itself. They commit to a minimum number of hours “on-call” a week and are summoned to their station as and when needed or for training.
Five fire stations in Bridgend county are staffed by on-call firefighters: Pontycymer, Ogmore Vale, Pencoed, Kenfig Hill and Porthcawl, with on-call roles at the two wholetime fire stations in Maesteg and Bridgend.
The report acknowledges the fire service’s difficulty in retaining on-call firefighters. One of the main reasons given for people leaving on-call duty is the length of time it takes to receive a pay increase.
In light of this, the fire service has opted to incrementally increase the pay to on-call firefighters once they’ve completed basic training courses – which includes training modules in the use of breathing apparatus, fire trauma and road accidents.
Under the current system, a “development” on-call firefighter is paid just over £4,316-a-year.
Under the new system, their pay will increase with each training course they complete up to £5,279 – a 22.3% increase in total.
By encouraging early completion of training courses, the fire service hopes this will “provide an opportunity to increase contracted hours, which will support firefighter availability, community protection and pay increases.”
