Fire and rescue services in England face a real term cut to central government funding, with a below inflation increase of 1.4% this year.
The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government publishes the amount of funding local authorities receive annually, which includes funds for fire and rescue services. Figures for the financial year 2025-26 were published on 3 February, when inflation stood at 2.5% according to the consumer price index.
Central funding in England will still be less than £1 billion for 2025-2025, which is lower than funding a decade ago.
This funding from Westminster is combined with locally raised revenue from councils. In England, central funding was cut by more than 30% in cash terms alone between 2013 and 2020. Increases since have been small and below inflation, amounting to continued cuts.
In 2010, 50% of fire service funding came from a central pot. This has been reduced to less than 40% of fire and rescue income, driving local cuts.
Last year, fire authorities were allocated an average of £986.1 million, which has only increased to £999.5 million despite continued pressures of inflation.
Cornwall has been allocated the lowest increase, at 1.1%, and London the highest with 1.5%.
Northumberland, North Yorkshire, Hereford and Worcester, Shropshire, East Sussex, Devon and Somerset will be receiving a 1.2% increase.
Services with a 1.3% increase include Durham, South Yorkshire, West Yorkshire, Cheshire, Lancashire, Derbyshire, Lincolnshire, Nottinghamshire, Staffordshire, West Midlands, Essex, Hertfordshire, Norfolk, Suffolk, Dorset and Wiltshire and Gloucestershire.
Oxfordshire, Surrey, Warwickshire and West Sussex get less central funding, but keep more local raised revenue under a deal brokered during austerity.
Some fire authorities may put up local council taxes and business rates to maintain budgets, as ministers have allowed local councils to do so.
Funding in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland is devolved and calculated separately.
Commenting on the funding settlement FBU general secretary Steve Wright urged the government to invest in the fire service. “Any further cuts to fire services are cuts to public safety, and FBU members will be making that case to fire authorities across the country” he said, calling on Starmer to “go after the super rich and big business, rather than asking workers and the public to stomach more cuts”.
