Fire and Rescue Services: Employers' Contributions
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to the Answer of 21 May 2025 to Question HL7317 on Fire and Rescue Service and Police: Employers’ Contribution, what methodology her Department used to calculate the National Insurance mitigation funding for (a) fire and rescue authorities and (b) fire and rescue services that are part of a county council.
Answered by Alex Norris
On 3 February 2025, the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) published the 2025/26 Local Government Finance Settlement (LGFS) which sets out funding allocations for all local authorities including fire and rescue.
At the Settlement, MHCLG announced an additional £515 million of support for local government to manage the impact of changes to employer National Insurance Contributions announced at the Autumn Budget. This addition is now included within the final LGFS.
Of this amount, £502 million has been allocated between local authorities in England based on their shares of relevant net current expenditure on the general fund. This includes standalone fire and rescue authorities as well as fire and rescue authorities that are part of a county council.
The remaining £13 million has been allocated to mayoral combined authorities, based on an assessment of their share of overall relevant net current expenditure. This includes York and North Yorkshire and Greater Manchester, where the mayor holds responsibility for fire and rescue authority functions.
Payments to local authorities will be un-ringfenced to allow for discretion over the use of funds in their area. This funding can be used to mitigate the additional costs of employer National Insurance Contributions within direct, commissioned, and externally provided local services, for example.
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