FERRY TRAVEL IS ADDING TO FIRE SERVICE’S PREDICTED £6MILLION BUDGET DEFICIT
The cost of transporting staff and vehicles to and from the Isle of Wight has contributed to a predicted £6million deficit for Hampshire & Isle of Wight Fire and Rescue Service.
Hampshire and Isle of Wight Fire and Rescue Authority has said it will fall a staggering £6million short in the 2025/26 financial year if recommendations, set to be put forward in February, are not followed.
The Authority says that the predicted shortfall is due to 4 reasons… with transport costs related to travel between the mainland and the Isle of Wight one of those 4 reasons.
More frequent shipping of fire appliances to the Island for resilience, as well as responding to large incidents, will have added to the costs. In addition, senior officers are also being sent to the Island weekly – whereas in previous years the Island had enough officers living locally.
The costs of crossing the Solent, alongside the higher costs for maintaining and repairing vehicles, have led to the authority overspending by £117,000.
The increased cost of ill health and injury pensions totals £200,000, but £520,000 is being set aside as a contingency to allow for inflation.
Like many organisations are finding, the increase in Employer’s National Insurance and a reduction in thresholds announced by the Government could generate around £1.4million extra pressure on the fire service. However, it’s said that public authorities will receive a grant to cover the full cost of the increase.
If approval is given to follow the suggested plan, the shortfall could be cut to ‘just’ £3.3million.
It is recommended that Council Tax precepts increase by the maximum of £5 per household to generate around £2.4million additional revenue. Second homes and empty properties could also then have to pay a premium on their Council Tax, which could generate an additional £500,000.
A total of £490,000 of savings have already been identified too.
It’s not all overspending though… the Authority came under budget by £740,000 in respect of retained firefighters, due to there being fewer on-call firefighters across the service owing to retention and recruitment troubles.
A further underspend of £691,000 has been highlighted which is due to a number of staff vacancies, suggesting the fire service is finding itself understaffed.
