New figures obtained by the Fire Brigades Union reveal that 12,000 firefighter posts have been lost to cuts since 2010, leaving the UK without the resilience needed to guarantee public safety. (1)
One in five firefighter jobs (21%) across the UK have been axed in the last 14 years. One in three fire control staff, who take emergency calls and mobilise crews, have been cut.
Meanwhile, response times to life-threatening fires have slowed by three minutes, from 6.11 minutes in 1995 to 9.13 minutes in 2023.
England was the worst impacted, with 10,000 jobs cut (22%). In the same period, Scotland lost 1,400 firefighters (18%), Wales lost 500 (13%), and Northern Ireland lost over 200 (12%).
12 fire and rescue services in England have lost a quarter or more of their workforce. The worst hit service was Buckinghamshire, which has been cut by over 40%.
The FBU has also found that 4,000 firefighters have both a full-time and an on-call contract, meaning that they will be counted as two firefighters in the data. This double counting means that the numbers employed and available at any one time are significantly lower than official figures suggest.
Matt Wrack, Fire Brigades Union general secretary said:
“Fourteen years of austerity have devastated the fire and rescue service. Every region has been hit, with 12,000 firefighters lost to cuts across the UK.
“With flooding, wildfires and storms on the rise as a result of the climate emergency, firefighters are being asked to do more with less. 999 response times are slower than ever before, putting homes and lives at risk.
“To protect the public, Labour must invest in the fire and rescue service as a matter of urgency.”
(1) A full breakdown of the data by fire and rescue service, obtained by Freedom of Information requests, can be found below.
(2) According to annual Home Office data on average response times Fire statistics data tables – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Fire and Rescue Service 2010 numbers 2024 numbers Number of firefighters cut % decrease
Scotland 7,712 6,306 -1,406 -18%
Northern Ireland 1,994 1,762 -232 -12%
Mid and West Wales 1,196 1,119 -77 -6%
North Wales 883 724 -159 -18%
South Wales 1,666 1,404 -262 -16%
Cleveland 629 409 -220 -35%
Durham 579 512 -67 -12%
Northumberland 430 322 -108 -25%
Tyne and Wear 940 637 -303 -32%
Humberside 1,053 833 -220 -21%
North Yorkshire 773 599 -174 -23%
South Yorkshire 936 748 -188 -20%
West Yorkshire 1,720 1,103 -617 -36%
Cheshire 746 660 -86 -12%
Cumbria 738 490 -248 -34%
Greater Manchester 1,992 1,397 -595 -30%
Lancashire 1,336 1,070 -266 -20%
Merseyside 1,204 1,010 -194 -16%
North West Fire Control 0 69 69 N/A
Derbyshire 779 734 -45 -6%
Leicestershire 796 624 -172 -22%
Lincolnshire 757 612 -145 -19%
Northamptonshire 575 410 -165 -29%
Nottinghamshire 973 651 -322 -33%
Hereford & Worcester 723 622 -101 -14%
Shropshire 573 485 -88 -15%
Staffordshire 930 695 -235 -25%
Warwickshire 457 429 -28 -6%
West Midlands 1,933 1,417 -516 -27%
Bedfordshire 499 458 -41 -8%
Cambridgeshire 695 535 -160 -23%
Essex 1,415 1,171 -244 -17%
Hertfordshire 842 725 -117 -14%
Norfolk 861 781 -80 -9%
Suffolk 782 595 -187 -24%
London 6,018 4,669 -1,349 -22%
Berkshire 579 464 -115 -20%
Buckinghamshire 625 369 -256 -41%
East Sussex 734 552 -182 -25%
Hampshire & IW 1,837 1,402 -435 -24%
Kent 1,663 1,189 -474 -29%
Oxfordshire 652 563 -89 -14%
Surrey 753 621 -132 -18%
West Sussex 825 632 -193 -23%
Avon 970 750 -220 -23%
Cornwall 647 576 -71 -11%
Devon and Somerset 2,058 1,688 -370 -17%
Dorset and Wiltshire 1,297 1,007 -290 -22%
Gloucestershire 523 403 -120 -23%
UK 59,298 47,003 -12,295 -21%
Data is from Home Office, Stats Wales, SFRS, NIFRS and FBU Freedom of information requests. 2024 figures except for Nottinghamshire, London, Avon, who failed to provide these.
