Financial information

On this page, you will find information about the financial performance of Kent and Medway Fire and Rescue Authority.

If you would like a printed copy of any of these documents please email information.officer@kent.fire-uk.org
 

Council Tax
Senior officers' pay
Pay policies

Pay policies

Our statement of accounts shows how many staff are paid more than £50k, in bands of £5k. Other than those on the Corporate Management Board (CMB), we will not publish the details of the individual pay of any officer, as this data is personal to that individual. We will also not release this data under any freedom of information request.

To give an idea of the responsibilities someone attracting a salary in excess of £50k has, we have provided job descriptions for the following roles:

  • Uniformed – area manager: this is the most senior uniformed role outside of CMB. They would be most likely to attend Level 4 incidents, which are the largest and most complex incidents.  
  • Uniformed - group manager: this role provide cover for level 3 incidents [for example a complex house fire or large car crash], and will sometimes act up to level 4 incidents. 
  • Uniformed – station manager: this role provides cover for level 2 incidents [such as more straightforward single room house fires], and will sometimes act up to level 3 incidents. 
  • Uniformed – watch manager: this role manages teams of firefighters directly, and will deal with level 1 and 2 incidents, which range from small fires to straightforward house fires. 
  • Uniformed – crew manager

Other uniformed roles:

  • Detection and monitoring officers
  • Inter-agency liaison officers
  • Fire investigation officers 

Additional hours contracts: some uniformed staff do additional voluntary hours for us over and above their core duties. These can be as a firefighter, even if their primary role is, for example, a watch manager. This is done under a secondary contract with the Service. Payment is made at the standard rate for the role performed which is set nationally. 

Non-uniformed roles

There are non-uniformed roles which earn in excess of £50k per year, in a variety of disciplines. We have chosen to not publish the job descriptions for these individuals as it will lead to people being very easy to identify. However, they are generally in the business areas of human resources, procurement, property management, communications, and finance. 

Generally, pay and conditions for both uniformed and non-uniformed staff are set nationally. However, there are local variations which have been negotiated in Kent between us as the employer and staff, through their unions where appropriate.

Pay policy statement

The Localism Act 2011 requires the Authority to publish a Pay Policy Statement for each financial year beginning with 2013/14. The Pay Policy Statement describes the arrangements in place for setting and amending the pay of its employees.


Trade union facility time

As a public sector employer, the Kent and Medway Fire and Rescue Authority is required to report and publish information on facility time for employees who are trade union representatives.

Facility time is when an employee takes time off from their normal role to carry out their duties and activities as a trade union representative.

The Authority is required to publish information on trade union facility time under the ‘Trade Union (Facility Time Publication Requirements) Regulations 2017’ and the ‘Local Government Transparency Code 2015’. The relevant information under each of the requirements is set out below.

Trade Union (Facility Time Publication Requirements) Regulations 2017

Number of employees who were relevant union officials during the relevant period

At present the number of Fire Brigades Union (FBU) officials recognised is six: brigade secretary, brigade chair, brigade membership secretary/vice-chair, brigade health and safety representative, brigade officer's secretary and brigade officer's chair.

Based on the March 2023 list, there are 75 members of staff who are elected FBU representatives. This is broken down as follows: 45 are employed on a full-time contract (i.e. wholetime firefighters and FTE), 30 are on-call firefighters.

In addition to the FBU, we also have one elected representative from the Fire Officers’ Association (FOA) and four from the Fire and Rescue Service Association (FRSA).

This gives a total of 80 employees.

How many employees who were relevant union officials during the relevant period spent a)0%, b)1 – 50%, c) 51-99% or d) 100% of their working hours on facility time

The elected representatives spend significantly less than 50% of their working time on facility time.

This is true across all three unions (FBU, FOA, and FRSA).

Percentage of the total pay bill spent on facility time

Union officials and representatives perform their union roles by claiming overtime or time back, therefore it is impossible to estimate the total bill spent on facility time.  

Time spent on paid trade union activities as a percentage of total paid facility time hours

Union officials and representatives perform their union roles by claiming overtime or time back, therefore it is impossible to estimate the total bill spent on facility time.

Total pay bill
The total pay bill for Kent and Medway Fire and Rescue Authority amounts to £70.377m (source: Budget Book and Medium Term Financial Plan 2023/24 to 2026/27).

Local Government Transparency Code 2015

Total number (absolute number and full-time equivalent) of staff who are union representatives (including general, learning and health and safety representatives) 

Based on the March 2023 list, there are 75 members of staff who are elected Fire Brigades Union (FBU) representatives. This is broken down as follows: 45 are employed on a full-time contract (i.e. wholetime firefighters and FTE), 30 are on-call firefighters.

In addition to the FBU, we also have one elected representative from the Fire Officers’ Association (FOA) and four from the Fire and Rescue Service Association ( FRSA). 

This gives a total of 80 employees.

Total number (absolute number and full-time equivalent) of union representatives who devote at least 50 percent of their time to union duties 

The elected representatives spend significantly less than 50% of their working time on facility time.

This is true across all three unions (FBU, FOA, and FRSA).

Names of all trade unions represented in the local authority

Fire Brigades Union (FBU)
Fire Officers Association (FOA)
Fire and Rescue Service Association (FRSA)

A basic estimate of spending on unions (calculated as the number of full-time equivalent days spent on union duties multiplied by the average salary), and 

Union officials and representatives perform their union roles by claiming overtime or time back, therefore it is impossible to estimate the total bill spent on facility time.  

A basic estimate of spending on unions as a percentage of the total pay bill (calculated as the number of full-time equivalent days spent on union duties multiplied by the average salary divided by the total pay bill).

Union officials and representatives perform their union roles by claiming overtime or time back, therefore it is impossible to estimate the total bill spent on facility time.

External audit

External audit

The authority is statutorily obliged to have a yearly audit conducted by an external audit firm. Grant Thornton was appointed the authority’s auditor in 2018/19 by the Public Sector Audit Appointments (PSAA) and will fulfil this role for the next five years.

What are the external auditors' key responsibilities?

  • To give an opinion on the authority’s financial statements
  • Assess the authority’s arrangements for securing economy, efficiency and effectiveness in its use of resources - the value for money (VFM) conclusion

The external auditors’ latest comments can be found within the annual audit letter which is linked on this page.

Annual audit report

The external auditors are required to comply with the international standards on auditing and as part of this are required to issue an annual audit report to the authority once the annual review has been completed.

Audit of accounts 2021/22

Notice of conclusion of audit

All work is completed, and the annual audit report received. The auditors concluded an unqualified opinion on the audited annual statement of accounts and annual governance statement 2021/22 on 27 November 2023.

Statements and summary statements of accounts

Statements of accounts

Due to the complexity of the financial information presented in the following documents, it has not been possible to convert them to a fully accessible format, except where noted.

Annual governance statements 
Medium term financial plan, financial strategies, and productivity and efficiency plan

Medium term financial plan, financial strategies, and productivity and efficiency plan

We are committed to providing services that meet the needs of all users in Kent and Medway while delivering value for money to the taxpayer.  Our approach to budgeting is sustainable and business-led and is detailed in a document called the Medium Term Financial Plan (MTFP). The latest document covers the four-year period from 2023/24 to 2026/27 and underpins the Customer and Corporate Plan and provides an update on the work of the service and our future plans.

Financial strategies

The financial strategies of the authority establish the financial planning framework for the development of the authority’s business plans and service budgets in line with key priorities.

Assumptions are made on the amount of income that is likely to be received from council tax, business rates and central government grant over the medium term, against the projected future level of spend.  The strategies provide a forecast that enables the authority to plan how future expenditure can be funded through existing income, borrowing, and investments, use of reserves and efficiency savings.

The medium term financial plan along with the three strategies for the following financial year are formally approved at the meeting of the authority in February each year, alongside the budget. The links on this page reference the strategies that were approved at the last February meeting of the authority.

Productivity and efficiency plan 2024/25

The Productivity and efficiency plan is reviewed and approved by the authority each year.

Monthly spend reports

Monthly spend reports

The government requires fire and rescue authorities to publish spend transactions that exceed £500 excluding VAT. However, in order to increase the transparency of its spending, the authority has chosen to publish all transactions in excess of £250 excluding VAT.

Invoices may relate to more than one budget heading and therefore may be split across multiple lines in the published document.

Purchasing card transparency reports

The government requires fire and rescue authorities to publish all spending on purchasing cards, regardless of the transaction value.

Grants

Authorities are also required to publish details of grants made to voluntary, community and social enterprise organisations. Where these transactions occur additional columns will be added to the right identifying additional details in line with the code.

Publishing formats

Monthly spend reports are published in Adobe PDF and CSV formats.

Past years’ data has been compressed into ZIP files to allow entire years to be downloaded with a single link.

If you have any queries about the information in these reports please email spendenquiry@kent.fire-uk.org​​​​​​

PDFs

Previous years PDFs (Zip archives)

CSVs

Previous years CSVs (Zip archives)
Late payments

Late payments

Every financial year, every contracting authority has a statutory obligation to publish on their internet statistics showing, for the preceding financial year, how far the authority has actually complied with its obligations under Regulation 113(7) of the Public Contracts Regulations 2015, to make payments within 30 days, including:

(a) the proportion of invoices that were paid in accordance with those obligations, expressed as a percentage of the total number of invoices that were, or should have been, paid in accordance with those obligations;

(b) the total amount of any liability (whether statutory or otherwise) to pay interest which accrued by virtue of circumstances amounting to a breach of those obligations; and

(c) the total amount of interest actually paid in discharge of any such liability (including any which had accrued before the beginning of the period to which the statistics relate).

Regulation 113 performance since financial year 2018/19
Financial yearNumber of valid and undisputed invoices received in accordance with regulation 113Proportion of valid and undisputed invoices paid within 30 days in accordance with regulation 113
2018/1911,99692.96%
2019/2012,31491.14%
2020/2110,01693.50%
2021/229,99794.54%
2022/2310,27594.91%


The authority does not at this time report or hold information regarding the amount of interest charges paid out or the amount of potential interest charges liable.

Charging for services

Charging for services

Kent and Medway Fire and Rescue Authority does not charge for any service it provides to members of the public. This includes when we respond to your home in an emergency, or if we provide safety advice to you. As a result of this, we do not hold a 'cost per incident' and will not provide this information if requested to as part of a freedom of information request.

We may charge in some circumstances:

  • We may charge insurance companies, solicitors and private companies for incident reports. The price will be made clear on application. We do not charge members of the public.
  • We may charge for very complex freedom of information requests, where this exceeds a threshold of work required. This will be made clear to the person making the request and payment must be received before the work will be started.
  • We will charge insurance companies for interviews with our staff related to our actions at emergency incidents, where this has led to an insurance claim by a householder.
  • We may charge another fire and rescue service if we attend an incident within their geographic boundary, for example if we go into London.
Fraud transparency

Fraud transparency

The Transparency Code 2015 requires authorities to be transparent regarding fraud including: the number of frauds, the number of internal counter fraud specialists, the expenditure on investigations and the number of frauds investigated.

The authority has a zero tolerance policy regarding fraud and corruption, the procedures and processes regarding fraud are set out within the Anti-fraud framework which includes the: Anti-fraud and corruption service order, Anti-fraud and corruption plan, Fraud response plan, Anti-bribery and anti-money laundering.

For reporting purposes the authority only reports on those fraud cases that have exceeded £5,000 in value and does not record the time spent on fraud related activities below this level as to do this would add increased bureaucracy to the process which has little purpose considering the current level of detected and suspected fraud. As a result of this the authority does not employ a dedicated officer for fraud investigations and instead purchases specialist anti-fraud advice through Kent County Council who have a dedicated anti-fraud team. In addition to this Internal audit regularly scrutinise the authority’s fraud arrangements and where necessary advise on areas for improvement.

The authority has not used the Prevention of Social Housing Fraud Regulations 2014 power or any similar powers.

  • Detected frauds during 2022/23 - Three
  • Number of frauds that exceeded £5,000 - None

As the authority was not subject to any frauds exceeding £5,000 in value there were no fraud investigations within the 2022/23 financial year.