FEES charged for non-life threatening call-outs to the fire service are set to increase.

Bills handed to residents who summon the fire service to incidents like being locked out of their own homes will increase to £278.50-per-hour, up from £267.30.

The increase comes as income raised by Staffordshire Fire and Rescue Service for the 'special service charges' and training, advice and hosting conferences, has fallen. The fire service raised £80,000 in 2010/11, but is expected to raise just £57,000 in 2011/12.

The biggest drop came in training fees, which saw income fall from £50,000 to £26,000.

Fees for some of the other services are also set to be increased from April.

Charges for advice sessions with fire officers will increase from £70.53 to £73.50-per-hour.

But fees for formal fire training courses and hosting conferences at the service's base in Pirehill, Stone, will be frozen.

A one-day fire risk management course costs £205-per-person, while it costs £284 to book the main conference room.

Staffordshire Fire Authority is freezing its council tax precept in 2012/13, despite needing to find savings of £1.3 million.