Chief Fire Officer Salary and Role: What Brigade Managers Earn

What does a chief fire officer earn?

The honest answer is that it depends on the service. A chief fire officer (CFO) leads a whole fire and rescue service, and the salary is set by the fire authority that employs them, informed by national minimum recommendations, the size of the service and local benchmarking. That is why you will see very different numbers quoted online, and why we do not give one figure.

What we can do is show you real, dated examples from published pay policy statements. Under the Localism Act 2011 each fire authority has to publish a statement that includes the chief officer's pay and how it compares with other staff, as the Avon Fire Authority report to its 1 July 2026 meeting notes. Two statements for the 2026/27 financial year, from Lancashire and Cambridgeshire, give the figures in the table below. Treat them as snapshots from two services, not as a national rate.

One other thing to keep in mind is that base salary is only part of the package. Some statements also mention a provided vehicle for operational and business use (both Lancashire and Cambridgeshire do), and pension contributions are paid at the normal scheme rates. If you are comparing offers or job adverts, compare like with like: base salary, allowances, car arrangements and pension scheme.

Who counts as a brigade manager: CFO, DCFO and ACFO

Brigade managers, also called principal officers or chief officers depending on the service, are the executive tier above area manager. In most English and Welsh services that means the chief fire officer, the deputy chief fire officer (DCFO) and one or more assistant chief fire officers (ACFOs). Lancashire's statement lists those three posts among its chief officers, and Cambridgeshire calls the same group Principal Officers. Some services also employ a chief executive alongside or in place of a chief fire officer, so you will see titles such as Chief Fire Officer/Chief Executive.

Their day-to-day meaning differs slightly by service, but the pattern is consistent. The CFO is accountable for the whole service. The DCFO is the second in command and stands in for the chief. ACFOs typically lead a directorate such as service delivery, prevention and protection, or people and training. You can see the same structure, with the helmet and epaulette markings, in our fire service ranks guide and the rank structure and hierarchy guide.

It matters where the line falls. Area managers and below are on the Grey Book, and Avon's report to its fire authority is explicit that only the chief fire officer and the assistant chief fire officers are engaged under the Gold Book terms, while area managers are employed under the Grey Book. That is why an area manager's basic pay is on the national NJC table (£70,368 to £77,186 from 1 July 2026, see the area manager role and pay guide and the pay scales) but a brigade manager's is not. For the pay of every role below that, see firefighter pay scales 2026.

How brigade manager pay is set: the Gold Book two-track approach

Grey Book pay is negotiated nationally by the National Joint Council for Local Authority Fire and Rescue Services and applies to every service that follows it. Brigade manager terms are different. They are set out in the National Joint Council for Brigade Managers of Fire and Rescue Services, Constitution and Scheme of Conditions of Service, known as the Gold Book (the 6th edition is the one referred to in current fire authority papers).

Avon Fire Authority's report to its 1 July 2026 meeting quotes the Gold Book wording. The NJC publishes annually recommended minimum levels of salary for chief fire officers and chief executives. Pay is then decided through a two-track approach: at national level the NJC reviews the level of pay increase applicable to everyone covered by the agreement, and all other decisions about the level of pay for individual brigade manager roles are taken by the local fire and rescue employer, which reviews the salary levels each year.

In practice this means a national uplift sits on top of a local salary. The NJC for Brigade Managers announced a 3.8% uplift on all salaries from 1 July 2026 (announced on 8 June 2026, according to the Avon report). Local authorities can also run their own reviews: Nottinghamshire's statement describes a two-yearly local review by its fire authority, with the December 2025 review resulting in no local increase, and Cambridgeshire describes a local pay review methodology first approved in 2008 and updated in 2016 that benchmarks against other fire and rescue authorities.

How salaries relate inside the top team

Many fire authorities fix the deputy's and assistant's pay as a percentage of the chief officer's. Avon's report says all members of its leadership board and its statutory officers are paid a percentage of the chief fire officer/chief executive salary: 75% for assistant chief fire officers and 65% for directors and statutory officers. Lancashire's statement and Cambridgeshire's do not use exactly the same relationship, which is why the percentages differ.

You can see this by working out the ratios from the published examples. In Lancashire the deputy's £171,904 is about 95% of the chief's £181,456 and the assistant's £142,617 is about 79%. In Cambridgeshire the deputy's £161,720.59 is about 87% of £185,490.65 and the assistant's £150,541.45 is about 81%. Those are our calculations from the published figures, and they show why you should not assume a fixed formula.

A second relationship is between the top and the workforce. Lancashire's statement gives a chief fire officer earnings ratio of 1:7.09 against the minimum of its lowest pay grade, and says the ratio between a competent firefighter with CPD and the chief's maximum salary is 1:4.56. Government guidance recommends that the ratio should not exceed 1:25, which Lancashire's document notes. Avon's report also points out that pay differentials with Grey Book area managers matter for recruitment and retention, which is one reason the gap between area manager and ACFO is watched closely.

What a chief fire officer actually does

A chief fire officer is the professional head of the service. The role includes accountability for operational response, the safety of staff and the public, the budget agreed with the fire authority, and the strategic plan (often called an integrated risk management plan or community risk management plan). Cambridgeshire's statement also records that the chief fire officer has delegated responsibility for establishing appropriate grading and salaries, which shows how much of the organisation runs through the post.

In practice the job is mostly leadership, governance and partnership work rather than firefighting. Chiefs report to a fire authority, and the governance model differs in London and Scotland, as the next two sections explain. Senior officers also typically represent the service in national bodies and in multi-agency planning, and take strategic-level decisions at the most serious incidents. Our fire service rank structure guide explains how gold, silver and bronze command roles map to the ranks below.

The deputy and assistants share this work. DCFOs typically hold the second-in-command role and often cover operations or corporate delivery. ACFOs lead directorates. Below them, group managers and area managers deliver the strategy on the ground, and if you want to see what the last step before the executive tier looks like, read our group manager and area manager guides.

London: the Commissioner is not called a chief fire officer

In London the head of the service is the London Fire Commissioner. Under section 327A of the Greater London Authority Act 1999 the London Fire Commissioner is a corporation sole, the Mayor of London appoints the Commissioner, and the Commissioner holds the powers of the fire and rescue authority for Greater London and must ensure the service is efficient and effective. So the Commissioner is both the authority and the professional head of the brigade.

The London Fire Brigade uses its own rank titles below that post. According to its Freedom of Information response 7732.1, its authorised establishment as at 30 June 2023 included one Commissioner, two Deputy Commissioners (Ops), six Assistant Commissioners and 16 Deputy Assistant Commissioners, followed by Group Commanders and Station Commanders. LFB also told the requester that its rank structure has a different naming convention to the county-style titles in the question.

If you are trying to work out where London titles sit, our London Fire Brigade ranks guide sets the two systems side by side. We have not published a London Commissioner salary here because we could not verify a current figure from a source we could open. If it matters to you, look for the Greater London Authority and LFB senior salary disclosures.

Scotland: the Chief Officer of the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service

Scotland has one national service rather than local fire authorities. The Scottish Government's governance and accountability framework says the Chief Officer is employed and appointed by the board with the approval of the Scottish Ministers, is the board's principal adviser and is accountable to the board. The Chief Officer is also designated as the Accountable Officer, personally answerable to the Scottish Parliament for the exercise of their functions.

The Strategic Leadership Team page on the SFRS website shows the wider structure at the time we checked: a Chief Officer with overall responsibility for the day-to-day running of the service, Deputy Chief Officers (one for operations and one for corporate services) and Assistant Chief Officers who direct areas such as service delivery, training, safety and assurance, and prevention, protection and preparedness. Our Scottish Fire and Rescue Service ranks guide covers the operational titles below that level.

We have not stated a Chief Officer salary because we could not confirm a current figure from a primary source we could open. SFRS publishes remuneration information in its annual report and accounts, and job adverts for senior posts state the salary. Northern Ireland also has its own arrangements, and we have not verified its chief officer pay here either.

How people reach chief officer level

Most chief fire officers have worked their way up through the operational ranks, so the journey is the ladder in our promotion guide: firefighter, crew manager, watch manager, station manager, group manager and area manager, then a brigade manager post. Along the way you would usually hold incident command qualifications up to the highest level and build experience in strategic roles. The Pearson Edexcel qualification specification describes a Level 6 Award in Advanced Incident Command in Fire and Rescue Services for officers who tactically command the largest and most serious incidents.

The National Fire Chiefs Council (NFCC) runs leadership development at four levels, and its top level, Leading the Service (the Executive Leadership Programme), is aimed at senior strategic leaders who set an organisation's vision and direction. Fire authorities also advertise brigade manager roles openly, and the pay is stated in the advert or the service's pay policy statement.

Entry to the executive tier is small in number and competitive. Each service has one chief fire officer and usually one deputy and a small number of assistants. If you are planning a long career, the practical steps are the same as at every stage: get promoted, build incident command and leadership evidence, and look at how far the difference in pay between area manager and ACFO changes what the next step is worth.

How to check a real chief fire officer salary

Because the figure is local, the most reliable habit is to go to the source. Every fire authority publishes an annual pay policy statement, normally on the service or authority website and often as an appendix to a fire authority meeting agenda. It gives the chief officer's salary, how the rest of the executive team is paid, the pay multiple compared with the lowest-paid staff, and any allowances.

Be careful about dates. Pay policy statements are written for a financial year starting in April, but the NJC award takes effect on 1 July, and some services update later in the year. Avon's own report explains that the 2026 brigade manager award would be added to its pay policy statement once its full detail was confirmed. Always check the date on the document and whether a July uplift has been applied.

1. Search the service name plus 'pay policy statement 2026/27' and open the official PDF.
2. Find the section on the chief fire officer or principal officers and note the base salary and its effective date.
3. Check whether the statement says the 1 July 2026 NJC uplift of 3.8% has been applied yet.
4. Note the deputy and assistant salaries, and whether they are quoted as a percentage of the chief's pay.
5. Look at the ratio to lowest-paid staff and any mention of a car, allowances or performance pay.