Staff benefits

Employees who have more than one year’s continuous service at the 11th week before the expected week of childbirth and who are intending to return to work for a minimum of three months will be entitled to:

• 39 weeks full pay – this will include the statutory entitlement to 39 weeks of Statutory Maternity Pay which will be “topped up” to the employee’s normal weekly wage for 39 weeks
• 13 weeks half pay.

On-site fully funded occupational health centre to support employees.

We are in the process of assigning wellbeing champions to be a single point of contact for employees who need support in regards to their mental health, physical health, personal development or to provide a safe space as part of the employee networks. More details coming soon.

An EAP is an online and telephone employee benefit designed to help you deal with personal and professional problems that could be affecting your home life or work life, health and general wellbeing.

Our EAP service provides a complete support network that offers expert advice and compassionate guidance 24/7, covering a wide range of issues. We strongly believe in providing an EAP service that offers not only reactive support when someone needs it but also proactive and preventative support to deliver the best possible outcomes.

We support personnel who require glasses for visual display unit (VDU) use, safety glasses and those operational staff that require prescription breathing apparatus masks.

Flexible working is in operation to allow employees, where possible to have a flexible start and finish to their day; meeting both personal and the organisational needs.

We are proud to be partnered with The Fire Fighters Charity who support the mental, physical and social needs of all serving and retired members of the UK’s fire family. For more information, please visit www.firefighterscharity.org.uk

Allowing employees to choose a bike, hire it for an agreed length of time and then snap it up for a fraction of its original value.

For a small fee you can join the Blue Light Scheme for great discounts at retailers, restaurants and attractions: https://www.bluelightcard.co.uk/ 

A credit union offering SFRS personnel loans and saving accounts.

Various discounts for the rescue community: www.rewardsforrescue.co.uk

Confidential, independent reporting facility for staff to raise any issues or concerns that affect the standard of service delivery.

• A variety of development opportunities as well as access to training programmes for our employees
• Opportunity to apply for our High Potential Programme to help fast track your career
• All employees have regular meetings with their line manager and an annual review to discuss their successes and development needs.

We recognise the following trade unions:

• UNISON (Support Employees)
• Fire Brigades Union
• Fire and Rescue Services Association

Employees with more than one year’s service can apply for an unpaid career break of between three months and one year in duration.

All members of staff have access to free physiotherapy sessions to help maintain physical health.

Trauma Risk in Management (TRiM) is provided to all employees following a difficult operational experience. Research has shown that TRIM may assist in increasing mental resilience through support from colleagues.

More details coming soon.

We are a Fostering Friendly employer – a programme by The Fostering Network, which helps organisations to actively support fostering, and in particular, foster carer employees.

This policy makes a difference to our employees who foster, and support others in becoming approved foster carers themselves.