Fire and Rescue Services National Employers
Local Government Association,
18 Smith Square, Westminster,
London, SW1P 3HZ
Telephone 020 7187 7335
e-mail: [email protected]
Employers’ Secretary, Sarah Ward
Direct Dial: 020 7187 7335
Website: www.local.gov.uk
To: Chief fire officers
Chief executives/Clerks to fire authorities
Chairs of fire authorities
Directors of human resources
CC: Members of the Employers’ Side of the NJC
21 April 2026
Circular EMP 2/26 - Pay negotiations 2026 consultation meetings
Dear colleagues
As many of you will already know, the NJC is currently involved in a complex piece of work which is looking at role and pay reform across UK fire and rescue services. This project is being led jointly by the National Employers and the Fire Brigades Union (the Employer and Employee sides of the NJC) but involves multiple stakeholders, including all UK governments, the NFCC, the LGA and other trade unions in the operational space.
At the February NJC meeting, it was agreed that we should seek to spend less time in the potentially adversarial space of pay bargaining in 2026, in order to remain focused on the pay and role reform work. It was felt that the best way of achieving this was to devolve talks to the Joint Secretaries and work to the principle of seeking to find an agreement that would be fair and credible to both sides. To that end, there has been no formal claim letter submitted by the FBU.
For the first part of the year, this felt relatively straight forward, as the economy had started to settle, and there were various markers that could be used to establish consensus on the meaning of what would be “fair and credible”.
Unfortunately, this has changed with events in the middle east, in particular bringing some risk to economic certainty which in turn makes it more challenging for both sides of the NJC to be confident that any agreement is indeed “fair and credible”. Given this uncertainty, it has taken much longer and been harder than we anticipated in February. That said, the Joint Secretaries continue to believe this remains entirely possible and we continue to aim for agreement in time for 1 July 2026.
The National Employers are always informed by views from across the sector, with an eye on multiple economic factors, agreements and pay offers made in comparable sectors, and of course on the financial health of Fire and Rescue Services.
To that end, the Employers Side Secretariat, alongside Cllr Roger Philips (Chair of the National Employers) would welcome an confidential and open discussion with the senior Leadership of the sector, including Fire Authority Chairs, Deputy Mayors, Police and Fire Commissioners, and Fire and Rescue Service Chief Fire Officers, to explore the range of reasonable responses that the employers might consider, when seeking to make formal offers via the NJC.
We therefore invite you to join one of the following online confidential discussions, to provide an update on the situation and where we would be pleased to hear your views from your service perspective, and your advice for the National Employers.
- Friday 8 May, 12.00-14.00
- Monday 11 May, 10.00-12.00
As with previous years, we will also be producing a quick online survey where we will invite confidential responses (strictly one response per service), which will be used to help inform the National Employers when they undertake their formal deliberations.
Pay and role reform – brief update
With thanks to all colleagues that have participated in sessions either at LGA Fire Conference, via the NFCC Chiefs Council and online. There have been some great discussions around the aims and ambitions of the pay and role reform work. Having done a huge amount of engagement in recent weeks, not just across the sector but including at civil servant level across all four UK nations, and with the Joint Secretaries presenting at the Ministerial Advisory Group with the Fire Minister Samantha Dixon MP, this work continues at pace.
The joint secretaries are about to embark on a procurement process in order to appoint an expert partner to provide assurance and guidance to our work. The months ahead are going to be crucial in terms of developing the detail and dealing with the many thorny issues that the reform programme touches on. It is important to note that this work has many other interdependencies, such as the College of Fire (consultation due to launch soon) and other work being undertaken by partners such as the NFCC. It continues to be a complex but crucial piece of work, with the NJC acutely aware of the opportunity and responsibility before it. As always, we welcome any dialogue colleagues want to have with us directly, and continue to update our web pages
Yours faithfully,
Sarah Ward
Employers’ side secretary