Pay, Working Arrangements and Benefits
In this section you will find information on pay and allowances, conditions of service, working arrangements and benefits.
Pay
Grades
Corporate Staff Job Families Pay and Grading Structure 2024
Progression
Pay progression for 'Green Book' employees (from Level A to Level B within a salary grade) is linked to performance and an assessment process.
Protection
A period of pay protection can apply for up to 12 months in circumstances where an organisational change takes place and results in a reduction to the current pay level.
Pay Protection Procedure and Guidance
Over/Underpayment
Every effort is made to pay employees' accurately; however occasionally mistakes are made, which may result in an under or overpayment. This policy outlines CFRS position with regard to such payments and the procedures to be followed.
Policy Statement
The Pay Policy Statement provides information regarding CFRS approach to setting the pay of its employees.
Allowances
Honorarium
An honorarium is a one-off lump sum payment intended to recognise exceptional effort or contribution. Honoraria payments under £2,000 are paid in arrears and are subject to the approval of a Principal Officer. Amounts exceeding £2,000 must be authorised by the CFO.
Acting Up
Payments are available for employees who are temporarily 'promoted' to carry out the full duties of a higher graded job and temporarily cease to carry out their normal substantive job. In this case employees will be paid at the minimum level of the allocated grade for the job being acted up into.
Line managers should contact the HR Team if they are considering an acting up arrangement within their team.
Responsibility Pay
Responsibility pay is intended to reward employees who are temporarily undertaking additional responsibilities, or part of the duties of a more highly graded job, in addition to their substantive job. The additional responsibilities or duties will be temporarily incorporated into the existing job description and evaluated to see whether or not they are significant enough to result in an additional payment at the minimum level of the nearest higher grade.
Line managers should contact the HR Team if they are considering arranging responsibility pay.
First Aid Allowance
A payment of £104 per year paid monthly to people who are registered "First Aiders" for their building and will be pro-rated for part-time employees.
Standby
A payment of £105 per week (or pro rata over 7 days - £15 per session) will be paid whilst on standby. Standby is an allowance paid when management require employees to be available for work outside of core hours. The start and end time of the standby periods will be locally determined in advance, subject to operational need, and will be specified in a rota or service plan. The allowance is an inconvenience payment and is paid to provide minimal cover for essential services out of normal working hours. It is not designed therefore to provide regular cover where the introduction of a shift rota would be more appropriate.
Market Supplement
A market supplement is an additional payment that enhances a basic salary. It can only be applied where there is evidence that the post cannot be filled or occupied at the current rate of pay.
Homeworking
Homeworking Handbook
In March 2020, the outbreak of coronavirus acted as an overnight catalyst, creating a new working landscape for Cumbria Fire and Rescue where, for many, home working became not just beneficial, but vital to both employee wellbeing and service delivery.
As the Covid19 pandemic continues, this home working handbook seeks to provide support and guidance to enable employees to operate effectively in safe and well-connected spaces that work for them and the services they deliver.
The guidance within this handbook applies to staff who are working from home as a result of the pandemic as well as those who will continue to work from home in the future as part of a new way of working. As such, we expect that it will be updated regularly over time to reflect the changing ways of working.
Managing Remote Teams Guidance
This guidance is aimed at Managers and includes useful information, hints and tips to help you support your remote teams.
Travel and Subsistence
The travel and subsistence scheme sets out what reimbursements are available for expenses incurred in the pursuit of council business.
Travel and Subsistence Scheme and Rates
Additional Travel Scheme
If an employee is required to change their workplace location, they may be entitled to claim for additional travel costs.
Workplace Relocation - Additional Travel Assistance
Local Car User Scheme
The local car user scheme provides an allowance to a post holder who is authorised to use their car for the efficient performance of their duties.
Local Car User Scheme Guidance
Car Loan Scheme - If an employee is classed as a local car user then they will be eligible for financial assistance in accordance with the National Joint Council Scheme.
New Guidance for Travelling on Business
Terms and Conditions
Payment and Benefits Booklet - This document is intended to provide you with further information regarding your employment with Cumbria Fire and Rescue Service. It outlines the pay and grading structure together with a range of benefits of working for Cumbria Fire and Rescue Service.
Pay and Benefits Booklet - CFRS
Casual Workers - Casual workers are workers as opposed to employees. This means that they have a limited set of employment rights. The document below provides guidance on the use and management of casual workers.
CLAS Tutors - The document below details further information on the additional terms and conditions for Community Learning and Skills Tutors.
Additional Terms and Conditions-Community Learning and Skills Tutor
Job Families and Regrading
Job Allocation and Job Families
Cumbria Fire and Rescue uses a 'job families' approach. This involves allocating similar jobs into logical categories, or 'families'. For example, under the job families approach all admin posts would be grouped together; similarly all posts where the main focus of the role is customer service, and so on. This grouping of posts into families allows for a fair and consistent approach to job profiles right across the Service.
Cumbria Fire and Rescue job families framework has the following 6 families:
Business Support - delivery of administration and business services to support the Service.
Organisational Support - delivery of professional services to support the Service and partners in longer term, corporate compliance, planning, performance, policy and strategy.
Customer Engagement - provision of assistance, instruction and information to groups and individuals using CFRS facilities.
Operations - delivery of ongoing service activities requiring specialist and vocational expertise.
Regulation and Technical - provision of services of a technical or specialist operational nature to internal and external customers and / or monitoring and enforcement of prescribed regulatory areas.
People Care and Development - support and development of individual or groups of people to build their personal capability in skills, knowledge and / or to assure their protection, security and development. A job family is a group of jobs with common features. Each job family contains a number of levels, each reflecting different job outputs such as skills, knowledge, and experience.
All CFRS jobs are covered by the NJC terms and conditions are allocated to a level within a job family following a job allocation process. The process examines the roles and responsibilities of a job, as well as its Job Working Circumstances.
If you are manager who needs to allocate a new role, please contact the HR Team, at HR@cumbriafire.gov.uk
Job Family Allocation Toolkit - The Scoring Tool
To view the allocation list (which includes all existing roles and their allocations), post specifications and generic role profiles, please get in touch with the HR Team, via the email address above.
Job Working Circumstances
Job Working Circumstances (JWC) are taken into consideration when scoring a job and consequently determining a salary. JWC's are awarded on temporary basis and relate to the physical and emotional demands of the job as well as the working conditions such as weather, hazards and adverse people behaviour.
Regrading Request
Career Grade Scheme
The Career Grade Scheme is available to Managers to support the recruitment and retention of appropriately skilled staff where jobs are hard to fill or to enable the transition for Apprentices or a person engaged through an agency / consultancy (Externally Provided Workforce) into employment with CFRS. There are key principles detailed in the Scheme which must be followed and the employee is expected to commit to working for CFRS for a minimum of 3 years after successfully achieving the required standards in the full role.
Career Grade Guidance for Managers
Work Life Balance
The work life balance procedure includes information on how to make a request for flexible working, home working and career breaks.
Benefits
Staff Offers - Find out about the special offers, exclusive deals and discounts available to Cumbria Fire and Rescue employees.
Tax Free Childcare - Tax Free Childcare Guidance
Cycle to Work - The Cycle to Work scheme is all about getting fit, having better transport options and saving money. Cyclescheme are the company who run the scheme for Cumbria Fire and Rescue employees.
Payroll Giving - Did you know that you can donate to charity straight from your salary? Cumbria Fire and Rescue has an agreement with the Charities Trust so that you can choose to support any charity of your choice directly from your monthly pay. Because the donation is taken from your gross pay, every pound you give will only cost you 80p, 60p, or 50p if you are a higher rate tax payer. The Charities Trust take a standard 25p per donation to cover administrative costs.
Example
| You Donate | £5.00 | £7.50 | £10.00 |
| Cost to you as a 20% tax payer | £4.00 | £6.00 | £8.00 |
| Cost to you as a 40% tax payer | £3.00 | £4.50 | £6.00 |
| Cost to you as a 50% tax payer | £2.50 | £3.75 | £5.00 |
Simply complete a Charities Trust Payroll Giving authorisation form available on their website here - Charities Trust Payroll Giving Authorisation Form
then send a copy to:
Payroll Section,
Service Centre,
The Parkhouse Building,
West Wing,
Kingmoor Business Park,
Carlisle,
CA6 4SJ
Credit Union - Cumbria Fire and Rescue has teamed up with credit unions in Cumbria to offer a salary deduction scheme to staff which means you can save directly from your wages.
Long Service - All employees with 35 years of continuous Cumbria Fire and Rescue service are recognised under the Excellence Award Scheme, for their dedication and long term service. The long term service awards take place annually, during the prestigious excellence awards ceremony and individuals are awarded with £350.
In the run up to the excellence awards, all eligible employees will be contacted directly by the HR service.
Medicash - We have partnered up with Medicash to bring you a fantastic discounted scheme deducted through your payroll. The Medicash membership scheme lets you claim back 100% on a whole host of daily healthcare needs and encourages a proactive approach to your health and wellbeing. Established in 1871, you are in safe hands with Medicash, as they have been looking after its members for nearly 150 years and are recognised today by a 5 Star Trust Pilot review and our Investors in Gold which they have sustained for over 6 years. Unlike other providers you can select which practitioner or provider you want to use whether that is an optician, dentist or physiotherapist, all without a referral, no excess and 100% cash back reimbursement straight back in to your bank account. You can cover up to 4 children for free up to 19 years old and even include your partner at a discounted rate too so the whole family can benefit from the scheme.
Starting from £6.95 benefits include cash back on:
- Optical Cover: Eye Tests, Prescription Glasses and Frames (including sunglasses), Contact Lenses and Laser Eye Surgery
- Routine Dental: Anything your dentist says you need to have from check-ups through to root canal and everything routine in between
- Specialist Consultation and Diagnostic Tests: Instead of waiting through the NHS, once you have a GP referral, you can go privately for your consultation or claim back CT, MRI and PET scans
- Complementary Therapies: Homeopathy, Reflexology, Bowen and Alexander Technique, Indian Head Massage, Reiki, and Hypnotherapy
- Prescription, Inoculations, and Flu Jabs
- Chiropody
- Health Screening
- Goodwill cashback on Hospital Overnight Stays, Hospital Daycase (both NHS or Private) and Birth or Adoption of a child benefit
- Discounted Gym Memberships on over 3,000 gyms, swimming pools and leisure centres and clubs
- 24/7 Unlimited Stress Related Helplines
- Best Doctors InterConsulation (top 53,000 Doctors Worldwide) and Doctors Online
- Medicash Extras, a shopping discount portal with over 600 retailers and promotions from money off days out at Legoland, Alton Towers, EE phone contracts and your weekly Tesco big shop!
- Person Accident Cover for up to £45,000 per person
If you have any questions contact Nathan Moore at Medicash directly by email to nathan.moore@medicash.org or on 07703828330 (phone or text).
EU/EA Citizens
Settled Status
What is Settled Status?
Settled Status is a legal status for EU and EEA citizens that means you can continue Iiving in the UK after Brexit. If you are an EU or EEA citizen currently living in the UK, you can apply for Settled Status.
How do I apply for Settled Status?
Please see the guidance below.
Process for applying for Settled Status
To find further information on the process and the application form please visit the GOV website.
Or download the EU settlement status application app (please note this must be done on an android phone)
EU Exit: ID Document Check App
Driving in the UK
If you have a non-UK licence you can continue to drive under your current licence if you are from Northern Ireland, European Union or European Economic Area countries.
Please see the GOV website for further information.
If your vehicle is not insured in the UK, but is insured in a country that is a member of the green card system, then you will need to contact your insurer for a 'green card'.
If your vehicle is insured in a country outside of the green card system you will need UK insurance.
Operational Working Arrangements
This section is currently being reviewed by the HR team - if you have any queries, please contact us directly on: HR@cumbriafire.gov.uk