How we inspect fire and rescue services
We carried out our first ever set of inspections of fire and rescue service in England during 2018 and 2019. This was the first time in over a decade that the sector had been subject to independent inspection. Since 2018, every service has been inspected at least twice. There is now a benchmark against which we can monitor progress.
We measure FRSs against the ‘characteristics of good performance’. These describe the levels of performance needed for an FRS to achieve a grade of ‘good, which allows us to make consistent assessments across all services.
In our previous rounds of inspections, we assessed and gave graded judgments for 11 diagnostic questions. For our inspection programme commencing in 2025 we have combined our efficiency questions and reduced the overall number of diagnostic questions to 10. This is to reduce duplication and concentrate more on outcomes for communities and the workforce.
Choose a page from the navigation menu to see for each inspection cycle:
- the specific question sets; and
- other information specific to that inspection cycle.
This page sets out the:
- aim of the inspection programme;
- inspection questions and focus;
- inspection framework;
- graded judgments;
- areas for improvement, causes of concern and recommendations; and
- our approach to monitoring.
The aim of the inspection programme
We developed our FRS inspection programme in consultation with the fire sector. The inspection programme is designed to promote improvements across FRSs and must be approved by the Home Secretary.
As part of each inspection cycle, we publish an assessment on the performance of every service. This report will include graded judgments for each of the 10 questions.
Our inspections give a rounded assessment of every FRS, including an assessment of:
- the operational service provided to the public (including prevention, protection and response);
- the efficiency of the service (how well it provides value for money and allocates resources to match risk); and
- how well the service looks after its people (how well it promotes its values and culture, trains its staff and ensures they have the necessary skills, ensures fairness and diversity for the workforce and develops leadership and service capability).
Principal inspection questions
The principal questions which the FRS inspection programme is designed to answer are set out below, along with the corresponding inspection focus.
| Principal question | Inspection focus |
|---|---|
| How effective is the fire and rescue service at keeping people safe and secure from fire and other risks? | How well does the FRS understand and manage the risk of fire and other emergencies? How effective is the FRS at preventing fires and other risks? How effective is the FRS at protecting the public through the regulation of fire safety? How effective is the FRS at responding to fires and other emergencies? How well prepared is the FRS to respond to major and multi-agency incidents? |
| How efficient is the fire and rescue service at keeping people safe and secure from fire and other risks? | How well does the FRS use resources to manage risk, making sure it is efficient and affordable? |
| How well does the fire and rescue service look after its people? | How well does the FRS promote, integrate and improve its values and culture, and consider the health and well-being of its workforce? How well trained, skilled and prepared for the future are FRS staff? How well does the FRS demonstrate fairness and diversity? How well does the FRS lead its people? |
Effectiveness
Our assessment of effectiveness will consider how well each FRS is performing its principal functions of:
- preventing fire happening;
- ensuring the public is kept safe through the regulation of fire safety; and
- responding to emergency incidents.
An effective FRS will identify and assess the full range of foreseeable fire and rescue risks its community faces. It will target its fire prevention and protection activities to those who are at greatest risk from fire. It will make sure businesses comply with fire safety legislation. When the public calls for help, the fire and rescue service should respond promptly with the right skills and equipment to deal with the incident effectively. FRSs should be prepared to respond to major incidents with other FRSs and agencies. They should also work with partners to improve community resilience.
Efficiency
Our assessment of efficiency will consider:
- the way each FRS uses its resources to manage its current risks; and
- how well it is planning to manage its risks affordably in the future.
An efficient FRS will manage its budget and spend money properly and appropriately. It will align its resources to its risk. It should try to keep costs down without compromising public safety. Future budgets should be based on robust and realistic assumptions.
During our inspection programme commencing in 2025, we will introduce a new assessment of how each FRS is affected by its FRA’s governance, oversight and scrutiny arrangements.
We will not inspect governance in the FRA, only the impact of FRA governance on the FRS.
People
Our assessment of how each FRS looks after its people will consider leadership at all levels in the organisation, including training. There will be a particular emphasis on diversity, values and culture and how services are trying to overcome inequalities.
A fire and rescue service that looks after its people should be able to provide an effective service to its community. It should offer a range of services to make its communities safer. This will include developing and maintaining a workforce that is professional, resilient, skilled, flexible and diverse. The service’s leaders should be positive role models, and this should be reflected in the behaviour of the workforce.
For our 2025–27 inspection programme there will be more detail provided regarding the most important findings in relation to the service’s leadership.
Our inspection framework for fire and rescue services
We will gather information to inform our assessments using a range of methods that include:
- analysis of documents and data;
- reviews of operational incidents;
- surveys of the public, and of FRS staff;
- interviews;
- focus groups; and
- observations of fire and rescue practice.
Our inspections currently assess each FRS against the characteristics of good set out in the assessment framework, so we can build up a detailed understanding of their performance. In the future, we may consult with the sector on moving to a more risk-based inspection programme.
Graded judgments
FRSs will be assessed and given graded judgments.
The categories of graded judgment are:
- Outstanding – The service has substantially exceeded the characteristics of good performance;
- Good – The service has demonstrated substantially all the characteristics of good performance;
- Adequate – The service has demonstrated some of the characteristics of good performance, but we have identified areas where the service should make improvements;
- Requires improvement – The service has demonstrated few, if any, of the characteristics of good performance and we have identified a substantial number of areas where the service needs to make improvements; and
- Inadequate – We have causes for concern and have made recommendations to the service to address them.
Good is the ‘expected’ graded judgment.
Good is based on policy, practice or performance that meets pre-defined grading criteria that are informed by any relevant national operational guidance or standards.
If the policy, practice or performance exceeds what is expected for good, then consideration will be given to a graded judgment of outstanding.
If there are shortcomings in the policy, practice or performance of the FRS, then consideration will be given to a graded judgment of requires improvement.
If there are serious, critical or systemic failings of policy, practice or performance of the FRS, then consideration will be given to a graded judgment of inadequate.
We publish the programme and framework before we start each cycle of inspections.
Areas for improvement, causes of concern and recommendations
During our inspections, we will identify:
- areas for improvement; and
- causes of concern – with an accompanying recommendation.
Areas for improvement
If our inspection identifies an aspect of a fire and rescue service’s practice, policy or performance that falls short of the expected standard, it will be reported as one or more area(s) for improvement.
Area(s) for improvement will not be accompanied by a recommendation.
Causes of concern
In our inspections, if we identify a serious, critical or systemic shortcoming in a service’s practice, policy or performance, we will report it as a cause of concern. A cause of concern will always be accompanied by one or more recommendations. When we identify a cause of concern during our inspections, we provide details in the published service report.
Accelerated causes of concern
In some cases when we discover significant service failures or risks to public safety, we report our concerns and recommendations earlier. This is called an accelerated cause of concern. We publish accelerated causes of concern as soon as possible on our website. The full evidence base and background to the cause of concern is then covered in the service’s next report.
Monitoring
Monitoring is an important part of our work to help promote improvements. This involves engaging with services to ensure they are taking the necessary action where we have identified problems. The process applies to every FRS in England. Our monitoring activity will primarily be focused on services who have a cause(s) of concern. Read more about our approach to monitoring services.