Firefighter Take-Home Pay Calculator

Yes. Switch between Wholetime mode (42-hour week, basic salary plus PAO/CPD/FDS supplements) and Retained Duty System (RDS) mode (annual retainer plus per-turnout, per-drill and per-hour activity pay). All NJC ranks from Firefighter (Development) up to Area Manager (Competent B) are included. Brigade Manager / Chief Officer roles are paid through the JNC for Chief Officers and aren't modelled.

The National Joint Council (NJC) Grey Book pay scales for England & Wales, effective 1 July 2025. Scotland (SJC) and Northern Ireland (NIFRS) will be added in a future update.

All four: FPS 1992 (Old Scheme), FPS 2006 (NFPS), FPS 2006 Modified (Special — for retained firefighters with prior service), and FFPS 2015 (CARE — the current scheme). Each has tiered employee contribution rates based on pensionable pay: 11–14% for FFPS 2015, 9.43–11.9% for FPS 2006, and 12.47–16.25% for FPS 1992 / 2006 Special.

CPD (Continual Professional Development) is paid annually to competent firefighters: £425/year on Wholetime, £105/year on RDS. The calculator auto-applies it when a Competent rank is selected — toggle the CPD checkbox in the Supplements section to opt out if you don't qualify.

FDS is a 20% allowance on basic pay for management ranks on the on-call rota (typically Station Manager and above). It compensates for being available on-call outside core hours. Tick the FDS toggle in the Supplements section if you're on the FDS rota.

PAO is paid at 1.5× your basic hourly rate for the hours worked. It applies up to and including Station Manager grade. Group Manager and above are not eligible for PAO — they're on the Conditional Service Agreement and receive FDS instead.

RDS firefighters receive an annual retainer based on their cover hours (15% of wholetime basic for 120+ hr/wk full cover, around 5% for partial cover), £5.12 per turnout / drill / disturbance, and an hourly rate for operational time at incidents. Enter your monthly turnouts, drills and operational hours and the calculator works out annual gross and take-home pay.

LFB officers earn meaningfully more than national NJC at federated ranks because the London Weighting was consolidated into LFB's basic pay in October 2019. The uplift is largest at federated ranks:

Firefighter (Competent): £44,800 LFB vs £38,881 national (+£5,919).
Leading Firefighter (LFB's name for Crew Manager Competent): £48,891 vs £43,104 national (+£5,787).
Sub Officer (LFB's Watch Manager): £51,138 vs £45,260–£48,202 national.
Station Officer (LFB's Station Manager): £53,831 vs £51,642 national (+£2,189).

The uplift tapers above Station Manager — LFB Station Commander (~£57,000) and Group Commander (~£66,000) are at or slightly below national NJC rates at those levels, because LFB's flatter rank structure doesn't include "Competent A / B" sub-grades within ranks.

LFB does not operate the Retained Duty System within Greater London — the Force Location dropdown is hidden in RDS mode. Source: LFB careers page.

No. The LSI was removed from the NJC Grey Book in 2007 and is not part of current firefighter pay.

No. This is an independent estimation tool. It is not affiliated with the NJC, FBU, the Home Office or any Fire and Rescue Service. Verify any figures with your payroll department before making major financial decisions.

Plan 1 is for English/Welsh students who started before September 2012, Plan 2 for those after. Plan 4 is for Scottish students, Plan 5 for English students from September 2023. Postgraduate loans are repaid alongside other plans. Each has different repayment thresholds and rates.