Calls on government to boost firefighter funding

Cleveland Fire Authority has lost dozens of full time firefighters

A fire service which is facing a cash deficit has lost a third of its full-time firefighters in the past decade.

Cleveland Fire Authority has seen a £4.7m reduction in government funding since the 2013-14 tax year and is now facing a £1.5m shortage for the coming year, a meeting of the authority heard.

Councillors have now called on the organisation to lobby the government in a push for further funding.

A Home Office spokesperson said the government was "committed" to ensuring fire services had the resources they needed.

'System needs change'

Cleveland Fire Authority covers Hartlepool, Middlesbrough, Redcar and Stockton.

It has seen a 25% drop in government funding over a decade and a 33% reduction in full-time firefighter roles, from 494 to 332, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

It was recently agreed that the amount of council tax each household pays toward its services should increase by 3%, the maximum allowed nationally.

However, the Cleveland area raises the lowest proportion of spending power from council tax compared to other fire and rescue authorities, due to its low council tax base.

The fire authority's treasurer Chris Little said the government's funding strategy for fire services and councils placed a continued reliance on council tax increases.

He added: "The system isn’t working, to be quite honest.

“I think we’ve lobbied many, many times that the system needs to change, and we continue to do so.”

A spokesperson for the Home Office said it was up to fire and rescue authorities to decide how to use their resources.

“The government is committed to ensuring fire services have the resources they need to do their important work and to keep the public safe," the spokesperson said.

“In 2023/24, fire and rescue authorities will receive around £2.6 billion.

"Decisions on how their resources, including staff, are best deployed to meet their core functions are a matter for each fire and rescue authority.”

Councillor Ben Clayton wants ministers to visit the area

Councillor Ben Clayton, Hartlepool Borough Council's representative on the authority, urged the authority to continue to push.

He said: "I know it feels like we've not been listened to, but you've got to keep going and hopefully at some point, someone will."

Mr Clayton suggested asking ministers to visit the area, adding: "If you stick them in front of our industrial cluster and say 'what do you suggest we do if that goes off, and we haven’t got enough resources', it might hammer it home a bit more than a piece of paper on their desk.”