He has also further reviewed the other operational changes following the Fire Authority request for additional assurances around those that would result in the loss of 16 firefighter posts and five operational managers.
On making the decision Neil said: “I have considered the issues raised by the Fire Authority and taken another look at the changes to ensure no stone has been left unturned when looking for ways to close our funding gap.
“I have also reviewed the consultation and engagement results and data analysis carefully and considered the representations of the FBU on behalf of their members.
“We have taken every step we can to protect the frontline as far as possible. We are making savings across our hardworking support teams through redundancies, not filling vacant posts, and changing ways of working to cut costs, and we have utilised our estates to generate income.
“We have also taken what we can from reserves to offset our funding gap, however reserves are one off sums and taking more would deplete the funding we have for investment in equipment, fleet, technology and maintaining our estate, and create a need for greater reductions in future years.
“This has been a decision that no Chief Fire Officer wants to make but our funding position leaves us no choice. There have been two decades of under-investment in the Fire and Rescue Service nationally while at the same time we have seen demand increasing. And this is set to continue with a further budget shortfall projected for next year and unknowns around factors such as the outcome of the Fair Funding Review, the local government finance settlement, council tax flexibilities, regulatory changes, inflation and interest rates.
“We are asking our local politicians to take up the case, and we have written to Government asking them to act now so as not to make future decisions untenable in terms of balancing risk and resources or making choices between protecting firefighters from contamination versus adequate crewing numbers. We need adequate funding to ensure we can keep our communities and our firefighters safe.”
The operational changes that are to be implemented are:
- Combining Yarmouth and Freshwater fire stations to maintain performance. This will allow two fire engines to operate in the west Wight area of the Island by consolidating our people and vehicles at Freshwater fire station. This approach has been used for the past two years due to recruitment and retention challenges in Yarmouth and the proximity of the stations. This proposal would save the Service £99,000 (excluding non-staff cost savings) over 2025/26 and 2026/27. 77% of respondents people who responded to our online survey were in favour of this proposal.
- Ceasing operational response from Bembridge fire station. There has been no response from Bembridge since 2020 due to lack of available on-call firefighters. During this time, Ryde fire station received investment to increase staffing to a full-time crew. This proposal would save the Service £135,000 (excluding non-staff cost savings) over 2025/26 and 2026/27. This proposal was supported by 66% of people who responded to our online survey.
- Removing an ALP from the Isle of Wight. There will still be four ALPs service wide, including one on the Island. This proposal would save the Service £1 million in vehicle replacement costs (capital expenditure). 34% of online survey respondents supported the removal of an Aerial Ladder Platform (ALP).
- Introduction of a new type of vehicle that combines the capabilities of a specialist rescue vehicle and fire engine in one. This will mean we can crew the affected stations differently and will mean a reduction in 16 firefighter posts across two stations (Redbridge and Cosham). Feedback from colleagues saw changes made to the initial crewing model proposed, reducing the number of posts impacted from 20. There will be no redundancies because of this change, the post reductions will be managed through turnover as people leave the Service and transfer to other stations. Generating a saving of £927,000 over 2025/26 and 2026/27.
- Changing our operational structure reducing the number of middle managers. The savings associated with these changes are £652,000 over 2025/26 and 2026/27.
- A restructured operational officers rota system, which enables a reduction in the number of officers on the Flexible Duty System (FDS) rota. This generates a saving of £126,000 over 2025/26 and 2026/27.
Those already underway
- Pilot the removal of some of the less frequently used fire engines at four of our on-call stations where we currently have two fire engines (Romsey, Waterlooville, Petersfield, Lymington). While these stations will remain operational with one fire engine, the second has been removed for the next year. Estimated savings from implementing these pilots is £216,000 (over 2025/26 and 2026/27) which include vehicle costs.
- A new approach to responding to automatic fire alarms. Saving approximately £44,000 per annum. This will also create significant non-cashable efficiency savings, for example freeing up over 500 hours a year of firefighter’s time to undertake other activity.
