Council Tax
The Council Tax charge for 2025/2026 for Hereford & Worcester Fire and Rescue Authority will be £102.22 for a Band D Council Taxpayer.
For this you receive round-the-clock reassurance that, in the event of an emergency, the Service will be on hand to help you.
We also spend thousands of hours in your local communities, educating people about the risk of fires and other emergencies such as road traffic collisions. Additionally, we work extensively with other local partners to protect the young and the vulnerable, part of which includes fitting free smoke alarms and providing fire safety advice.
We have wholetime stations (operating 24 hours a day) and retained duty (on-call) stations that are crewed by firefighters who are on call to provide 24-hour cover to their communities, often in addition to their regular employment and are able to respond in a few minutes from their place of main employment or home.
Your contributions help fund a total of 255 full-time operational staff, 361 retained (on-call) firefighters, 25 control room staff who take emergency calls and mobilise our crews, and a number of support staff who ensure the Service runs effectively and efficiently. As part of the nation’s resilience against large-scale incidents, we also host specialist equipment including one of 20 national Urban Search and Rescue specialist units.
Our area has a particular demand for rope and water rescues and for assistance when chemicals are spilled. We also have highly trained specialist teams to deal with these specific emergencies.
How are we performing?
We are committed to delivering an excellent service and we will continue to strive to ensure that our communities are made safer from the dramatic and sometimes tragic consequences of fire and other hazards.
We are a consistently high-performing authority with a good record of improvement and financial prudence. In the past year the Service has had to make significant savings in order to meet a budget shortfall. These savings have come from reductions in back office, management roles and through a range of internal service improvements. Our Community Risk Management Plan has ensured further savings from our frontline resources whilst at the same time having the least impact on our communities.
What will your money go towards this year?
Whilst we need to make significant savings from our budget we still need to procure and replace the necessary equipment and vehicles to ensure the safety of our communities and our firefighters.
We will continue to deliver safety advice, particularly to vulnerable people within our communities. We will also continue to work with other emergency services, agencies and schools to make our communities safer and help improve community well-being.
Ultimately, your Council Tax will go towards ensuring our firefighting and rescue response to emergency calls remains effective, and that we continue to perform well.
Council Tax Precept 2025/26
In 2025/26 the Fire Authority will spend £45.1m providing a comprehensive emergency service to the communities of Herefordshire & Worcestershire. This represents an increase of £1.5m (3.5%) compared to 2024/25, and includes the impact of changes to National Insurance, pay awards and inflation.
| BUDGET | 2024/25 £m | 2025/26 £m |
|---|---|---|
| Employees (including Pension Costs) | 29.919 | 31.371 |
| Running Costs | 10.731 | 10.798 |
| Capital Financing | 3.014 | 3.016 |
| Income | (0.076) | (0.076) |
| Core Budget | 43.588 | 45.109 |
| Net Transfer to/(from) Budget Reduction Reserves | 0.034 | (0.359) |
| Net Budget | 39.397 | 44.750 |
The Fire Authority keeps a proportion (1%) of Business Rates collected locally as well as receiving grant from central government, and a charge on local tax payers through Council Tax.
In 2025/26 £11.2m (25%) will come from the government in the form of grants (which is £1m less than in 2024/25), £3.2m (7%) from local business rate payers and the balance £30.3m (68%) from local council tax-payers, (up from 65% in 2024/25).
| COUNCIL TAX REQUIREMENT | 2024/25 £m | 2025/26 £m |
|---|---|---|
| Core Budget | 43.622 | 44.750 |
| Less: Formula/Support (Government) Grants | ||
| Revenue Support Grant (RSG) | (4.086) | (4.162) |
| Business Rate Top Up Grant | (3.538) | (3.575) |
| Non-Indexation of Business Rates Grant | (1.210) | (1.270) |
| Services Grant | (0.038) | |
| Funding Guarantee Grant | (0.902) | |
| Rural Services Delivery Grant | (0.149) | |
| National Insurance Costs Grant | (0.288) | |
| 24/25 Pensions Grant | (1.133) | (1.133) |
| (11.056) | (10.428) | |
| Less : Special Grants | ||
| S31: Fire Revenue Grant – New Dims | (0.824) | (0.824) |
| S31: Fire Revenue Grant – Firelink | (0.073) | |
| S31: Pension Admin Grant | (0.080) | |
| S31: Protection Grant | (0.146) | |
| (1.123) | (0.824) | |
| Share of Local Business Rates & Section 31 Grants | (3.102) | (3.217) |
| Less : Deficits/(Surpluses) on Council Tax Collection Funds | (0.130) | (0.242) |
| Council Tax Requirement | 28.211 | 30.039 |
| Tax-base | 290,180 | 293,867 |
| Band D Equivalent | £97.22 | £102.22 |
| WHY SPENDING HAS CHANGED | £m |
|---|---|
| Core Budget 2025/26 | 43.588 |
| less one-off items | (0.226) |
| 43.362 | |
| Increased Employer National Insurance Contributions | 0.574 |
| Provision for Future Pay Awards (2%) | 0.444 |
| Provision for inflation (General) | 0.307 |
| Full year cost of Past Pay Awards | 0.262 |
| Capital Programme | 0.200 |
| Miscellaneous | (0.040) |
| Core Budget 2025/26 | 45.109 |