Talks negotiator gets 180 per cent rise

One of the negotiators trying to talk firefighters out of a 40 per cent pay claim has been awarded a 180 per cent pay increase.

Jim Andrews' financial allowance as chairman of South Yorkshire's Labour-dominated fire authority has jumped from £3,845 a year to £10,800; his committee members' allowances have doubled to just under £2,800. The group sits nine times a year.

Mr Andrews, who also has a full-time job in a Sheffield manufacturing firm and receives £9,200 for being a Barnsley councillor, insisted he was not embarrassed by his enhanced salary.

He told the Yorkshire Post: "It's hard for me to say whether I'm worth it or not – some people might say I am, and the firemen would probably say not. But I'm not embarrassed about it. It was decided by an independent panel."

But the timing of the rise provided some easy political capital in South Yorkshire. Sandra Birkinshaw, an independent Barnsley councillor, said: "How can he say on one hand, as an employer, you can only have 4 per cent, when he's getting this huge increase?"

The Fire Brigades Union capitalised more subtly. Paul Matthewman, a local branch secretary, declined to criticise the increase outright but insisted that the independent pay review body considering firefighters' pay should "come up with a similar response".

The South Yorkshire authority manages the country's sixth-largest brigade area, by population, and voted to accept the recommendations of an independent panel, which suggested basic allowances should be increased from £1,470 to £2,796.

Neighbouring fire authorities pay substantially less. West Yorkshire, with a larger brigade, comes closest with a special responsibility allowance of £9,320 for its Labour chairman. Basic members' allowances are considerably less at £932.

At Humberside fire authority, a Tory councillor receives no allowance for his role as chairman, while North Yorkshire fire authority's chairman – a Tory county councillor – receives a total of £4,560.

Mr Andrews' biggest headaches in the past two years have been the relatively poor condition of some fire stations and budgetary difficulties. The authority has said that anything more than a 4 per cent pay increase for firefighters would drain its negligible capital reserves.