Fire service spent £6m less than its budget last year due to lower costs

LOWER-THAN-PREDICTED pay rises and an unexpected windfall have helped give Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Service a £6 million boost.

- by BRADLEY GERRARD Local Democracy Reporter [e-mail]

As part of its budget for last year, the service set aside cash for an expected pay rise for fire crews. However, the pay rise was lower than predicted, meaning a £700,000 saving.

Pay is agreed nationally and the Devon and Somerset service has no say on the level set.

The service also received an unexpected £1m from a refund from its radio system provider.

The Competition and Markets Authority had claimed that Motorola was charging too much because of its “virtually unconstrained monopoly” on communications network services for UK emergency services.

Elsewhere, the challenges recruiting for the service's office-based roles saved around £1m compared to expectations, and it saved a further £1m on the use of on-call firefighters.