Hampshire Fire and Rescue expects more but recognises less from its RDS staff.

Added: (Tue Dec 13 2005)

Pressbox (Press Release) - “Unprofessional and dirty” is how the HRFU has described Hampshire Fire and Rescues recent decision to cut the pay of its Retained Sub Officers who run almost 40 fire stations throughout Hampshire. In a move which has both insulted and demoralised its Retained Officers, Hampshire Fire and Rescue has today informed them that, while they are expecting more from them, their role in the new rank to role evaluation recognises them as doing less than their Wholetime colleagues and so will reduce their pay. This process which was tasked to ‘de-militarise’ the Fire Service and bring it more into a corporate model has (apart from 4 Wholetime positions) downgraded all of its Retained Sub Officers.

It is impossible to identify any differences between Wholetime and Retained positions within HFRS. Both work for Hampshire Fire and Rescue and work to deliver its three core aims of Preventing, Protecting and Responding. Every resident of Hampshire must realise that a fire or road traffic incident needs the same professional skills wherever in the county it occurs in fact many identify that the skills in retained rural stations have to be more developed as it takes that much longer for additional emergency backup services.

In the ‘office’ tasks undertaken by a retained officer many senior officers have confidentially advised us that they believe due to the relative autonomy that a Retained Sub Officer has to work under, lack of immediate senior staff to offload work to and the fact that a Retained Sub Officer is available 24x7 the workload and demands are higher. A retained Sub Officer does not ‘knock off’ and put his job behind him at the end of a working shift.

Even Chief Fire Officer John Bonney in an interview for Hampshire Retained Firefighters Union Newsletter “Shout!” last may stated:

“My view is that sometimes too much distinction is made between Retained and Wholetime firefighters. As far as I am concerned these two are only methods of delivery of a service and in fact are part of the same service just from a different source. I recognise that the only people working the sorts of hours I put in as the Chief in the fire service are retained fire fighters because of their duel responsibilities”.

This comes at a time when the Government has already identified that the Retained Fire Service is "Fire fighting on the cheap" and much needs to be done by Fire Services to improve both recruitment and retention within Retained Fire Fighting. Perhaps most poignant is the requirement that "Retained Fire fighters need to be properly valued as part of the Integrated Risk Management Process".

Hampshire’s response to this is to discriminate against this one specific group of employees.


“It is important to stress that these officers are not requesting extra pay even though their role has grown dramatically in the last few years” said Rikki Noble, Chairman of Hampshire Retained Firefighters Union. “They just want recognition and for their pay to at least stay the same not be reduced as will result.”

“Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service’s claim to be trying to level the playing field between Wholetime and Retained employees is completely contradicted by this Berlin Wall of a decision.”

“We urge every resident of Hampshire to think about the service that these individuals are supplying to their local communities, family’s and friends and to contact Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service and demand that they reverse this decision.”

“Concerned residents can sign our petition at http://www.hrfu.org.uk”.

Copy dated 13 December 2005

For further information contact HRFU Chair
Rikki Noble
rikki@hrfu.org.uk
01489 893980
0798 555 9243
www.hrfu.org.uk


HRFU Website Team


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