Archived decisions

    Appendix 1

Analysis of variations

     

    Approved Budget £'000

    Overspend / undersp'd (-)

    £'000

    %

    Comments

    Wholetime firefighters pay and allowances

    32,458

    -166

    -1%

    Relatively small underspend partly due to savings on day crewing allowances.

    Retained Firefighters pay and allowances

    6,074

    165

    3%

    Overspend due to increases in the number of retained firefighters, increases in co-responder incidents and HFSVs and an increase in claims for non operational activity (e.g. attending meetings, PDRs, etc) partly offset by savings from attending fewer incidents.

    Support staff pay

    9,531

    -321

    -3%

    Underspend due to proposals for Equal Pay being deferred. It is recommended that £300,000 is used to set up a reserve to help meet any costs when agreement is eventually reached.

    Cleaning and Refuse Collection

    249

    52

    21%

    This increase is partly due to the increased floor area to be cleaned resulting from new developments at HQ and partly due to the significant increase in costs in the disposal of hazardous waste.

    Vehicle Fuel and other running expenses

    369

    86

    23%

    This overspend is partly due to the increased cost of vehicle fuel and partly due to fuel consumption greater than budgeted for. Vehicle fuel consumption has remained at this level for the past 3 years. A reduction in response activity is being offset by increases in other service delivery activity (e.g. training, HFSVs).

    Workshop spares

    267

    71

    27%

    Increased cost of workshop spares due to increased fitout costs of new vehicles has been offset by additional fitout income.

    Staff car allowances

    893

    110

    12%

    This overspend is mainly explained by the additional travel claims for firefighters who moved to Andover and Winchester fire stations. In addition the underlying trend in the increased cost of staff car allowances continues.

    IT and Comm's

    2,988

    48

    2%

    This overspend is explained by increases in the demand for and the use of (call charges) mobile phones. In previous years this has been offset by savings elsewhere in the IT and Communications budget, which have not been possible this year.

    Insurance

    717

    -49

    -7%

    Participation in a mutual insurance arrangement during the year has resulted in significant savings.

    Hydrants

    151

    -63

    -42%

    Many large water companies are not charging for new hydrants, preferring to charge developers. This could revert back to HFRS being charged at any time as there is no legal requirement for developers to pay, but this has not happened in over 3 years.

    Clothing and Uniform

    559

    60

    11%

    In recent years there has been an increase in the number of green book staff who wear uniform (station support, central services, equality and diversity) and an increase in the number of grey book staff (RDS, MIRG, USAR, co responders) which has contributed to the increased expenditure.

    Hired and Contracted Services

    764

    -98

    -13%

    This underspend is partly explained by achieving savings from using HFRS staff to undertake project work and other similar activities which would have been undertaken by consultants wherever possible and reducing the call on external consultants and partly from an underspend on the Group Managers' budget allocations (used for community based activites.

    Members conference expenses

    40

    -39

    -98%

    The underspend is due to the cost of members attending conferences being less than budgeted for.

    Legal Expenses

    76

    -39

    -51%

    The underspend is due to fewer cases requiring external legal advice

    Contingency

    114

    -114

    -100%

    Balance of unallocated inflation provision.

    Income

    -2,246

    306

    -14%

    Mainly explained by the Business Education Team's change in focus from the provision of commercial training to targeted assistance to recognised partners in accordance with the FRS plan.

    Other

     

    -14

     

     

    Provision for bad debts

     0

    -18

     

     Reduction in provision.

    Provision for uninsured losses

     0

    -10

     

     Reduction in provision.

    Pensions

     

    -219

     

    No ill-health retirements in the year.

    Interest

     508

    -151

     

    Lower interest rate and expenditure.

    -403

    Proposed Contribution to Equal pay reserve

    -

    300

     

    Reserve to cover costs of implementing new pay scales and possible appeals.

    Overspend to be met from Modernisation reserve

    -355

    -103

     

    Less than revised budget.

    0