REDUNDANCY payouts to firefighters are being increased a whopping 45 per cent - with some offered extra cash of more than £6,000 to walk out the door.

Your Worcester News can reveal serious concern at Hereford & Worcester Fire Service that no staff have come forward and taken voluntary redundancy since job losses were announced last year.

It comes amid a fresh strike announcement, which will take place from 7am this coming Tuesday until 7am the next day.

No fire service in the UK has ever made a firefighter compulsorily redundant, but a total of 55 roles need to be slashed within five years across Worcestershire and Herefordshire to balance the books.

Now bosses have agreed special 'enhanced redundancy' payments, with the terms 45 per cent better than before and 75 per cent above the legal minimum to tempt them to leave.

The new rates mean lump sums worth around £23,890 are on offer for those aged around 50 with 25 years' service, £6,143 extra.

A typical firefighter can leave with £18,527 in their pocket if they are around 40 with 20 years' work under their belt, nearly £5,000 extra, while the new offer is worth more than £2,200 extra for a typical 30-year-old firefighter with a decade of service.

Because of the lack of appetite for the previous payments, the fire service has admitted it needs to "incentivise" staff better to get them to walk.

Despite the payments increasing so much, bosses say it still represents good value for the taxpayer as their wages disappear.

It is anxious to avoid a clash with the Fire Brigades Union' by making any forced redundancies, which would make history across the nation.

Deputy chief fire officer Richard Lawrence said: "The spectre of compulsory redundancies is a very serious one, so using all means necessary to avoid that is very important.

"This is an incentive we think would allow us to achieve permanent leavers."

Chief fire officer Mark Yates said: "We know we have to reduce firefighter numbers, but it's got to be attractive enough to get them to come forward."

The councillor-controlled fire authority has given it their full backing.

Liberal Councillor Fran Oborski said: "We can't sustain the current numbers going forward, it becomes impossible, so this is a civilised solution.

"It offers a dignified and sensible option for staff who may want to leave but otherwise couldn't afford it."

Back in October the fire authority agreed that 44 firefighter jobs would go by 2020, but previous agreements mean the total loss of uniformed staff will be 55, to cope with reduced funding from central Government.

As we exclusively revealed yesterday, it follows a deal where firefighters are volunteering to be on duty for 24-hour shifts from May so the service can reach incidents four to five minutes quicker during the night.

Under the move certain workers will be put on a roster to work 12 hours, then spend the next 12 hours on-site in new purpose-built accommodation in Worcester and Hereford, to be on-call for breaking incidents.

* The fire service say contingency measures are in place for the 24-hour strike this Tuesday, which is about the national pensions dispute.