A letter that uses your real hours
The draft says how many of your offered hours fall in a working week, what you are and are not asking for, and offers a conversation. Edit every word, then print it.
On-Call Joiner Pack · £7.99 one-time
One payment · no subscriptionGo from “could I do on-call?” to a conversation with your employer.
Your availability grid becomes a personalised letter to your employer, a first-year earnings outlook, a training-commitment timeline and a printable briefing. The pack below already uses your numbers.
A first-year outlook
Retainer, drill, call-outs and disturbance payments on the July 2026 NJC rates, with quiet, expected and busy stations side by side.
Timeline, checklist and briefing
The typical stages from application to cover, your yearly training hours, a before-you-apply checklist and a printable briefing with AI-written notes.
Your availability
Start from a presetThen adjust the grid. The total so far: 0 hours a week.
Getting to the station
Affects weekday-daytime cover only
Pay basis
Rate you would start on
New on-call firefighters are normally paid at the development rate first. NJC rates from 1 July 2026.Illustrative planning estimate based on published rules, not financial, legal, pension or tax advice. Your payroll record, contract and scheme administrator control your actual position.
Try the free on-call availability planner first: the grid, coverage and fit score stay free.
Who the pack is for
People weighing up on-call firefighting who want more than a pay figure: someone with a day job who would need an employer's agreement to leave work, a parent working out whether nights are realistic, or a wholetime hopeful looking at on-call as a route in. If you already know your availability, the pack helps you turn it into the two conversations that matter most: the one with your employer and the one with your station.
What is inside
- Employer letter generator. Choose your service and station, say what you are asking (paid release, unpaid with time made up, flexible or open to discussion), and get an editable, printable draft in factual, hedged language. Once you edit it your wording is kept.
- First-year earnings outlook. A twelve-month model using the same on-call model as the on-call earnings planner: retainer at the band your hours suggest, hourly activity pay, drill and the £5.31 disturbance payment, with a development-to-competent switch and an optional delay before you start responding.
- Training-commitment timeline. The typical structure from application to development period, with no invented durations, plus yearly drill and course hours and a checklist of what to ask before you apply.
- Printable briefing and account saving. A one-page summary with a heat map of your week, your fit flags and pay outlook, an AI-written interpretation on request, CSV export and saving to your account.
- AI answers grounded in your availability and pay assumptions.
What it does not do
It cannot tell you whether a service will select you, what your station's requirements are or whether your employer will agree. The fit score is a heuristic of ours, not any service's criteria. Pay during initial training, local retainer terms, pensionability and tax are not modelled here; the On-Call Earnings Planner covers seasonal call patterns and tax as a second income. The letter is a draft, not legal advice. For the background to the employer conversation read the on-call employer conversation guide, and for the route in read how to become an on-call firefighter.
Where the facts come from
The role description, response-within-minutes expectation, weekly training and employer agreement come from NFCC's on-call firefighting page. Pay uses NJC circular NJC/2/26 and the Grey Book retainer bands. Your service and your contract control the real terms.
Frequently asked questions
What is in the On-Call Joiner Pack?
A personalised, editable employer letter built from your own availability; a first-year earnings outlook using the NJC rates from 1 July 2026 and the same on-call model as the earnings planner; a training-commitment timeline and pre-application checklist; a printable briefing with an AI-written interpretation; saving to your account; and AI answers grounded in your availability. The free availability planner stays free.
Is it a subscription?
No. It is a single payment of £7.99. Guest checkout works, and a free account afterwards keeps your access on every device.
Will the letter get my employer to agree?
No letter can promise that. It is a clear, factual, polite starting point that says what on-call involves, what you are and are not asking, and offers to talk. NFCC says on-call firefighters need an agreement with their employer to leave work when alerted, so the decision is your employer's. You can edit every word.
Are the timeline durations real?
The timeline lists the typical stages from NFCC and service pages and deliberately gives no durations, because they vary by service. You add what your service tells you. Nothing on it is presented as a guarantee.
How is the first-year outlook worked out?
It uses the Grey Book retainer band your weekly hours suggest, the development or competent hourly rate you choose, your expected call-outs, call length and drill hours, and the £5.31 disturbance payment. Pay during initial training is not assumed; you can set a delay. It is gross, before tax, and illustrative.
Where do my figures go?
Calculations and your letter stay in your browser's local storage. If you save a briefing it goes to your account, and AI questions send your availability summary to the AI service. Analytics only see coarse buckets.
Is this endorsed by a fire service?
No. Firefighter Pay is independent and not affiliated with any fire and rescue service. Your service is the authority on its own requirements.