Fire jobs at risk

UP to 300 fire service jobs in Greater Manchester are under threat .

Councillor Derek Heffernan, Oldham Council’s spokesman for Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Authority, has revealed that there are no plans to close fire stations or for mass sackings, but hundreds of jobs will be affected.

The Government has slashed funding by up to £19 million but it is understood job losses will be from natural wastage, such as retirements and voluntary redundancies — rather than compulsory redundancies — over four years. Councillor Heffernan said fewer emergency calls meant fewer staff were needed.

He said: “It is anticipated that about 250 to 300 jobs will be affected. That is throughout the organisation.

“About 100 will be back office and between 150 and 200 will be front-line firefighters.

“The changes will be implemented over a period of time, not all at once. There will be no mass sackings.

“We cannot justify keeping the same size workforce doing less work.

“The staff have been fully consulted as have the unions.

“They recognise that fact that change is inevitable in the modern service.

“There are no plans to close fire stations. There are no plans to reduce the number of fire appliances or specialist equipment available. In fact we have 22 new fire appliances coming on line in the next year or so.”

Councillor Heffernan’s comments came in a response to a question raised on the fire service during last week’s full Oldham Council meeting.

He said the Government’s settlement was actually worse than feared but the fire service was prepared.