The Fire and Rescue Long Service and Good Conduct Medal now recognises 30 and 40 years' service

We are very pleased to announce that new 30 and 40 years’ service clasps have now been approved by HM The Queen, with the Royal Warrant governing the medal having been rewritten to reflect these. Please find the Royal Warrant here: Royal Warrant

The 30 and the 40 years of service clasp are in cupronickel bearing the inscription “Long Service, Thirty Years” and “Long Service, Forty Years” respectively, which will be worn on the ribbon of the 20 years’ long service medal.

It is important that the range of work that fire and rescue professionals do  to support their communities is acknowledged and the revised Royal Warrant makes clear that control room staff are eligible for this medal too.  It also clarifies the position for Airport Firefighters, who had initially been eligible, but became ineligible following the collapse of BAA (their eligibility in the warrant was associated with their management by BAA).  The revised warrant makes clear that this cohort of firefighters once again, will get the recognition for long service that they deserve.

Listed below is the full eligibility criteria:

(1) Those eligible for the Award, and for the Clasps, are full-time and part-time members of all ranks or roles in the following Fire and Rescue Services:

1. 1. 1. Fire and Rescue Services maintained by Fire and Rescue Authorities in England and Wales;
      2. the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service;
      3. the Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service;
      4. Aerodrome, and Spaceport, Rescue and Fire Fighting Services maintained by Government Departments, by Local Authorities, by the Scottish Ministers, by the Welsh Ministers, by public airport companies established under the Airports Act 1986, by private entities and individuals, or jointly by any such authorities, bodies, entities, or individuals, as the case may be;
      5. Fire and Rescue Service Control Centres maintained by private entities and employed by, or in the service of, Fire and Rescue Services maintained by Fire and Rescue Authorities in England and Wales;
      6. Fire and Rescue Services maintained by Government Departments;
      7. Fire and Rescue Services maintained by private entities or individuals and employed by, or in the service of, Government Departments, or Fire and Rescue Services maintained jointly by Government Departments and private entities or individuals, as the case may be, including the Defence Fire and Rescue Service;
      8. Fire and Rescue Services in the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands.
   2. In order to be eligible for the Award, members of the Fire and Rescue Services listed in paragraphs (1)(d) to (g) must have duties and responsibilities similar to the duties and responsibilities of eligible members serving in the Fire and Rescue Services maintained by Fire and Rescue Authorities in England and Wales, in the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service, and in the Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service.
   3. Members of the Fire and Rescue Services listed in subsection (1), who are temporarily serving on secondment in Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue, in Her Majesty’s Fire Service Inspectorate in Scotland, or as an Inspector of Fire and Rescue Services in Wales are eligible for the Award.

For further information on the new Royal Warrant, please contact Anne Floris (email: anne.floris@homeoffice.gov.uk).