Hampshire fire and rescue financially “compromised”

The Hampshire and Isle of Wight Fire and Rescue Service could be “compromised” without additional central government funding, a council leader has warned.

In February this year, the Hampshire Fire and Rescue Authority approved a balanced budget by drawing £1.8m from its reserves while aiming to make £1.7m of savings throughout the 2025/26 financial year.

Some of the savings measures did not begin immediately, so the authority took £969,000 from the 2026/27 budget to “reflect the full year effect of savings”.

Even after these measures, the authority projected a budget deficit of £2.911m for 2026/27. To address this, the HIOW Fire and Rescue Authority developed proposals to deliver £2m in ongoing savings from 2026/27.

The proposals included ceasing operations at Bembridge Fire Station, combining Yarmouth and Freshwater Fire Stations at the Freshwater site, and introducing a new heavy rescue vehicle, enabling the service to reduce sixteen firefighter posts.

A Portsmouth City Council report stated that the proposals “are of concern” due to the potential impact “on our regional fire and rescue services”.

It added: “Cuts were made to frontline firefighter numbers previously during the 2015 review and the service will clearly now have even less crewing flexibility to cover sickness and annual leave.”

A new Heavy Rescue Pump vehicle, which combines firefighting and heavy rescue equipment, would replace a Rescue Support Vehicle (RSV) to reduce the costs of maintaining two separate vehicles.

Fire stations with RSVs include Basingstoke, Cosham and Redbridge, “and the proposed impact of the change is a reduction of 16 wholetime officers, 8 of which are based in Cosham.”

“This will equate to two fewer crew per watch based at Cosham.”

Member of the Hampshire Fire Authority, councillor George Madgwick, said this represents the “final cut” before services, and therefore people, are affected directly.

In a letter to Alex Norris MP, council leader Steve Pitt asked the Under-Secretary of State for Building Safety, Fire and Local Growth to confirm that the fire authority would not be required to make further operational reductions.

In response, Local Government Minister Alison McGovern confirmed a 3.7 per cent increase in core spending power for the fire authority in 2025/26, bringing its total to £99.8m.

Core spending power is the Government’s measure of the total money a fire and rescue authority has available each year, bringing together all main funding sources that support day-to-day services.

She also noted that decisions on council tax levels remain matters for individual fire authorities.

McGovern further highlighted wider local government funding changes, including £3.4bn in additional grant support secured through the latest Spending Review and the forthcoming Fair Funding Review reforms.

However, a briefing note sent to the council leader from the fire authority challenged these points, stating that “Core spending power is not a good measure of changes in government funding because it includes council tax in calculation.”

They noted that when council tax increased in 2025/26, the Government’s funding allocations fell by £600,000

They also argued that the core spending power calculation includes increases to national insurance contributions, “but the amount received was less than half the estimated additional cost to the authority” leaving a “net reduction in available funds”.

The note continued: “By reducing central government funding it means council tax must cover increases in operational costs, including inflation, but also has to offset the reduction of government funding and the unfunded portion of the national insurance insurance rise.

“They note there are consequences for the delivery of a central fire and rescue service as a result.”

The authority further warned that consultation on the Fair Funding Review “suggests the funding will be cut further in the future” and that finding additional reductions “will be challenging” and “may make some options untenable as it would not be possible to balance risk with the level of resources available.”

Councillor Pitt said the fire service “must” receive a real-terms increase in its budget or further cuts would be required, “which would compromise the service”.

In closing, he said: “What we will not accept is this government window-dressing their answer to make it look like they’re being supportive of Hampshire fire service when actually they’re cutting it”.