Fire Service

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Fire Service is a publicly funded organisation. They respond to fire emergencies.

nationalfirechiefs.org.uk/Fire-and-Rescue-Services

What's the average pay for a firefighter at Fire Service?

The average pay for a firefighter at Fire Service is between £28.0k and £40.0k per year.

Last updated 10 March 2024

What is the Real Living Wage?

The Real Living Wage is a voluntary rate employers can sign up to that is based on the real cost of living.

Location Real Living Wage
London £13.15
Rest of the UK £12.00

What is the legal minimum wage?

The minimum wage is the legal minimum you must be paid per hour.

Age group Legal minimum wage
23 or older £10.42
21-22 £10.18
18-20 £7.49
Under 18 £5.28
Apprentices £5.28

How we know this

Based on data from 55 people who took the Breakroom Quiz between March 2023 and March 2024.

What are firefighters saying about pay at Fire Service?

  • Best thing

    The pay
    The responsibility
    The joy in being able to help
    The family unit you work day and night with

    Worst thing

    Rude people when helping them

    9.9

    Fire Service Firefighter, July 2022

  • Best thing

    Getting to help people
    Work in a team
    Shift pattern

    Worst thing

    Senior managers
    Training staff conflicting with information and moving goal posts
    Pay

    9.7

    Fire Service Firefighter, May 2022

  • Best thing

    Extremely rewarding work

    Worst thing

    Low pay

    9.8

    Fire Service Firefighter, April 2021

  • Best thing

    Work life balance, interesting work

    Worst thing

    Poor pay for the work we do. Older member discriminate younger members

    9.9

    Fire Service Firefighter, January 2021

  • Best thing

    I joined to use my skills to help people and I still really enjoy that aspect of the job. It's a great feeling when you've just rescued someone, saved their home or cut them from their car and handed them safely over to paramedics. It's what I joined to do

    Worst thing

    The pay isn't enough to support a family or even get a mortgage here in the south east. The take home pay is around £1900 per month. Can be around £2000 if you're on duty on a bank holiday or pick up a shout at the end of a couple of shifts, but that's rare. If you have children you will most certainly need to take on a second job on your off duty days which in turn means you are constantly exhausted.
    It did come with the benefit of a very good pension to compensate for the poor pay, but the government have now taken that away and replaced it with one that pays far less and probably not worth signing up to.
    If you do sign up for it, you'd need to work untill age 60 and do 40 years service for a full pension which would still be much much less than the previous pension and almost certainly unachievable.
    Management are constantly after more work and attack our conditions almost daily. To protect ourselves we have to really be on the ball and consider very carefully what is being asked of us. This has obviously lead to a less than happy work environment unfortunately.
    I don't want to tell people not to join, but be aware this job is being attacked constantly and probably isn't the job you think it is. It certainly isn't the job I joined at the start of my career

    3.0

    Fire Service Firefighter, December 2020

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