![](https://emergencyservicestimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/ESS-Button-resized.png")
The National Fire Chiefs Council (NFCC) is asking the government to consult on a new statutory duty to respond to flooding in England to ensure parity with existing arrangements in Wales and Scotland. The fire chiefs say that without the right levels of funding, investment in response capability will fall behind as demand to respond to these types of incidents continue to increase.
The call for the new duty is part of a new position statement published by the NFCC last week and is accompanied by two other statements on inland water safety and wildfires.
Flooding incidents where there is a risk to life are up, with Home Office data showing an 18 per cent increase over the last five years with rescues from water up 69 per cent for the same period. The NFCC says that water safety incidents are amplified the effects of extreme weather, citing the 40 degree temperatures experienced in England during July 2022.
Fire and rescue services respond to these types of incidents but have not been allocated funding to do so by the Home Office which oversees the service in England. This discrepancy is not new and was discussed by fire chiefs during a webinar hosted by Emergency Services Times in June.
“Our position is that establishing statutory duties in England is not about shifting responsibility from land and site owners and managers. It is about improving the overall capability and readiness of fire and rescue authorities.”
The Fire Brigades Union has long called for the duty and funding to go with it. In July, the union called on the new government to “urgently invest in the fire service to protect public safety.”
“The absence of a statutory duty to respond to flooding and inland water incidents in England challenges our ability to ensure our services are prepared, with the appropriate equipment and training in place. It also risks there being different standards of safety depending on where you live in the UK.
“We would like to see the Government consult on introducing these changes to the legal framework, but with core budgets already under significant strain, any revisions to our statutory obligations must be met with adequate funding.
Mark Hardingham, Chair, NFCC.
The flooding response position statement is available on the NFCC website along with the other position statements for inland water safety and wildfires.
The Public Accounts Committee published its thoughts on the UK’s preparedness for flooding in a report from January 2024. Read Government approach to flooding resilience is ‘contradictory and self-defeating,’ says scrutiny Chair.