Firefighter pay rise 2026: 3.8% and what it means in £

What was agreed: the 3.8% award in plain English

The NJC for Local Authority Fire and Rescue Services agreed a 3.8% increase to basic pay and to Continual Professional Development (CPD) payments from 1 July 2026. The NJC is the national negotiating body for what is known as the Grey Book workforce: operational firefighters and fire control staff in the roles from firefighter up to area manager. The result is published to fire and rescue authorities as a numbered circular, and the 2026 figures in this guide are taken from Circular NJC/2/26.

The award is a percentage applied to the whole national table, so every point moves by the same proportion. Annual figures are rounded first; the hourly rate is then derived from the annual figure using the national method (annual salary divided by 52.143 weeks, then by 42 hours, with rounding at each stage). That is why a £40,358 salary gives an hourly rate of £18.43 rather than an unrounded 18.4335 or similar.

Two things the headline number does not tell you. First, it is the national baseline: your service pays it through local payroll, on a date of its choosing once the award is implemented. Second, the rise applies to basic pay and CPD, not to every allowance you may receive. Flexible-duty payments, local supplements and acting-up arrangements have their own rules; see our guide to firefighter allowances for how they interact with basic pay.

New firefighter pay rates from 1 July 2026

The table below lists every national point in the 2026 table with annual salary, the derived hourly rate and the published overtime rate (1.5 times the hourly rate after national rounding). Group manager and area manager points have annual and hourly figures but no standard published overtime rate.

Use the annual figure as your starting point for tax, pension and mortgage estimates, but check your contract: a development point applies while you work towards competence, and A/B competent points for managers depend on the job and its evaluation, not simply your title. Our pay scales hub has a page for each role and point, and the pay calculator turns any of these figures into estimated take-home pay.

What 3.8% is worth in pounds

A percentage is easier to judge when converted into money. Because annual figures are rounded, the amounts below are approximate: they show the gross gain on the basic salary compared with the rate the same point paid before 1 July 2026 (the new figure divided by 1.038).

For a competent firefighter the rise is worth roughly £1,477 a year gross, or about £123 a month before tax, National Insurance and pension. A development firefighter gains about £1,155 a year. At the top of the manager scale the pound value is larger because the percentage is applied to a bigger salary: roughly £2,100 a year at station manager competent B. Most of the increase is taxed at 20% plus 8% National Insurance in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, and pension contributions come out as well, so take-home gain is noticeably lower than the gross figure.

The worked example in the next section shows this precisely. The point to take away is that a 3.8% rise is not 3.8% more in your pocket each month; it is 3.8% more gross, and the net effect depends on your tax band, pension band and any overtime on top.

Worked example: a competent firefighter's net pay after the rise

Take a wholetime competent firefighter in England on £40,358 a year, paying the English FPS 2015 member contribution for that pay level (12.59%, see pension contribution rates 2026/27), with a standard tax code and no student loan. Using 2026/27 income tax and National Insurance rates, the annual position is: pension contribution £5,081.07; taxable income after pension £35,276.93; income tax £4,541.39; National Insurance £2,223.04; net pay about £28,512.50 a year, or roughly £2,376 a month.

Now compare a Scottish Fire and Rescue Service firefighter at the same salary using the Scottish FPS 2015 contribution rate for that level (13.63%) and Scottish income tax bands. The pension contribution is £5,500.80, income tax £4,471.08 and National Insurance £2,223.04, leaving about £28,163 a year or roughly £2,347 a month. The Scottish figure is lower here mainly because of the higher pension contribution rate, not because the salary is different. Check the exact bands for your own scheme rather than relying on this comparison.

Finally, a development firefighter on £31,539 in England pays 11.09% pension (£3,497.68), income tax of £3,094.26 and National Insurance of £1,517.52, giving net pay around £23,430 a year, or about £1,952 a month. These are estimates of annual averages; PAYE is cumulative and your actual monthly figure depends on your tax code and when the award reaches payroll.

Back pay: when will the new rate reach my payslip?

The effective date is 1 July 2026, but the date a service actually changes payroll is a local matter. Authorities have to receive the circular, load the new rates, and run a payroll cycle. If the new rate is loaded after 1 July, most services pay the difference as arrears covering the gap, usually shown as a separate line on the payslip.

To check back pay, work out the number of pay periods between 1 July 2026 and the first payslip with the new rate. For monthly pay, that is one month's difference for each month elapsed. For a competent firefighter the monthly difference is roughly £123 gross, so two months of arrears would be about £246 gross before tax. Arrears are taxed as part of the pay period in which they are paid, so a payslip with arrears can show a higher deduction rate than usual. That is a feature of how PAYE works, not automatically an error.

Also check whether the rise has been applied to your CPD payment and to any other pay elements that the circular says move with basic pay. If a payment such as a flexible-duty allowance or a local supplement is defined as a percentage of basic pay, it should change too; if it is a fixed sum it will not. Ask your payroll team which of your pay elements are linked to basic pay.

1. Find your role and pay point in the table above and note the new annual salary.
2. Divide by 12 to get the expected monthly basic pay and compare it with your payslip.
3. Look for a separate arrears line covering 1 July 2026 onwards.
4. Check that CPD and any pay-linked allowances have been recalculated.
5. If figures still differ after allowing for tax code changes, ask payroll for a written breakdown.

How the rise changes overtime and on-call earnings

Overtime rates are 1.5 times the hourly rate after rounding, so every published overtime figure rose with the award: £27.65 an hour for a competent firefighter, £30.65 for a competent crew manager and £34.28 for a watch manager at competent B. Whether a specific extra duty is paid at that rate depends on the reason for the work, which is covered in our overtime rates guide and, for take-home effects, overtime after tax. Use the overtime calculator if your payslip supplies a different rate.

On-call and retained pay also moves because the retainer is a percentage of the matching wholetime salary. A full-cover retainer is 15% of basic pay and the day-crewing retainer is 5%. In 2026 that is £6,054 and £2,018 for a competent firefighter, or £4,731 and £1,577 for a development firefighter. Work activity is paid at the hourly rate (£18.43 for a competent firefighter) and the published disturbance payment is £5.31 per occasion. See on-call firefighter pay for how the four elements combine, or model your own pattern in the on-call pay calculator.

Fire control staff on control-specific roles are set at 95% of the corresponding firefighting-role salary, so their figures also rose by 3.8%; see fire control pay scales 2026. Part-time staff should take the pay-point figure and pro-rate it, which our part-time pay calculator can do.

Pension, tax and mortgage effects of a higher salary

A higher salary raises pensionable pay, which increases the pension you build each year in the CARE scheme. In FPS 2015 in England, each scheme year adds pensionable pay divided by 59.7 to your pension account. On £40,358 that is about £676 of annual pension for the year; before the award, the same job built slightly less. Contribution bands also depend on pensionable earnings, so anyone near a band boundary should check whether the award has moved them into a higher band. The pension calculator models this.

The tax effect is modest for most firefighters because the award does not move a competent firefighter close to the higher-rate threshold. Taxable income after pension for a competent firefighter is about £35,277, which leaves room within the basic-rate band. Station managers and above are closer to the boundary, and overtime or acting-up pay can push taxable income higher.

For a mortgage, lenders normally look at your basic salary and sometimes a share of regular allowances. A rise of about £1,477 in basic salary at competent changes the multiple you might borrow by a few thousand pounds only. Our mortgage borrowing calculator shows the typical range, and the overtime-to-deposit tool shows how extra earnings could accelerate saving.

Common misunderstandings about the pay rise

The first is that the award is a guaranteed 3.8% increase in take-home pay. It is a 3.8% rise in basic pay and CPD payments. Take-home changes with deductions, and any element not linked to basic pay will not move.

The second is that every UK firefighter receives exactly the table figure. Services can pay additional local supplements, and Scotland has its own pay documents and pension scheme. Some staff, for example non-operational fire control operators or support staff, sit on different local authority grades rather than the Grey Book table.

The third is mixing up two different things: the pay award and the pension contribution structure. From April 2026 England's FPS 2015 contribution rates are set on actual pensionable earnings, which is a separate change from the July award. Both can affect net pay in the same year, so when comparing old and new payslips, compare pay elements and deductions separately.

What to do next

Start with your own contract or latest payslip: confirm your role, your pay point and the date the new rate was implemented. Compare your annual basic pay with the table above. If you are seeking promotion, the promotion calculator shows how a move to crew or watch manager changes salary, and our guide to firefighter ranks and career progression explains how the ranks map to pay points.

If you are considering joining, the new figures are the relevant benchmark: development pay applies during training and the competent rate applies once you are assessed as competent. Read how to become a firefighter and the pay scales overview for what to expect. The annual figures here come from the circular; the exact date you move from development to competent is set locally.