2024/25 Grant Funded Expenditure
In addition to the non-specific Government grants that form part of the Authority’s overall funding (pages 13 and 14), a proportion of the Authority’s annual expenditure is offset by other Government grant income. These grants are usually provided for specific purposes and will therefore be matched to specific grant-related expenditure. Grant funds may be carried forward within Earmarked Reserves if they are not spent in the year in which they are allocated. Detailed below are the estimated grant allocations for 2024/25:-
Select from below for further information and amounts.
New Fire Pensions Grant
This grant is provided to cover the increase in costs resulting from the significantly higher employer pension contribution rates effective from 1 April 2024, following the latest Firefighters’ Pension Scheme valuation. The employer contribution rate will increase from 28.8% to 37.6% so costs in this area will increase by over 30%.
£2,757,000
National Resilience (formerly New Dimension) Grant
This grant provides funding towards the cost of various resilience activities including the costs of the Technical Rescue team.
£968,000
Protection Uplift Grant
This grant provides funding to support fire protection work and to respond to new burdens arising from the Fire Safety Act.
£333,000
Building Safety Grant
This grant has been provided to bolster the building safety team and will cover the cost of 2 Inspecting Officer posts
£98,000
Firelink Grant
This grant partly covers the difference between the annual charge for the Firelink managed service radio scheme and the legacy costs of the now decommissioned radio scheme. Following confirmation of government intentions to phase this grant out over 5 years, this grant has been decreased by a further 20% for 2024/25.
£237,000
Pensions Admin Grant
This grant has been provided to fund additional costs incurred by the Authority in delivering the remedy outcomes in relation to the McCloud and Matthew’s firefighter pensions cases.
£194,000
Apprenticeship Levy
The Authority can draw down funds from the apprenticeship levy to fund the cost of eligible training expenses.