This post doesnt wind me up , but i do like a good discussion with intelligent people .
We all pay taxes for people that don't work and never have , right or wrong thats what happens and has for a long time in this country.
I personally have always managed to find a job and have done some pretty crappy ones for low pay , but i would rather do that than sponge off the system.
The entire fire service is paid for from everyones taxes (including firefighters) , there is millions of pounds wasted every year on idiotic stuff that doesnt work , for instance regional control centres-billions wasted (and millions still being wasted on empty buildings), overpriced out of date I.T systems , and a ridiculously top heavy management structure to name but a few.
Regarding pensions , until recently the pension has been self funded , the people paying into the pension were paying the pensions of the retired firefighters (there has never been a pot of money that is invested and the pensions paid from . As the fire service has shrunk there is not enough people paying in to cover whats going out . Yes your right the taxpayer pays some of this contribution , like they do for nurses , teachers and all public sector workers - the difference is we pay around double the contributions so we can retire before we are too old to do the job.
Without a workable pension scheme a lot of firefighters would end up claiming benefits for ten years rather than claiming pension , because they too unfit for the job and cant access their pension until they are 67 .
So the taxpayer still ends up footing the bill and it will cost the taxpayer more .
The fire service is also very cheap , around fifty to sixty quid a year per household , wait until they privatise it and your paying 2- 3 hundred quid a year for a much worse service .
Also worth noting is that in the last ten years firefighter fatalities have doubled compared to the previous ten year period due to lack of investment in realistic training .