Cambridgeshire 2018/19

Cambridgeshire Fire and Rescue Service is good at looking after its people.

The service promotes the right values and culture among its staff and leaders. It puts its people’s wellbeing first. Staff use and appreciate its support services.

The service’s health and safety policy is clear. It is backed up by dedicated health and safety specialists. We are confident that staff understand and comply with their responsibilities.

A stated set of values underpins the service’s culture. Staff respect leaders and their efforts to improve workplace culture. The service commissioned an action plan to improve the culture. But it has made slow progress against the plan in some respects. There is limited evidence of bullying and harassment. But staff are not confident in reporting such incidents, should they occur. It needs to do more to make staff feel comfortable reporting bullying and harassment if it occurs.

The service is good at getting the right people with the right skills. Its workforce planning is sophisticated and robust enough to prevent current and future skills gaps. The service is good at ensuring fairness and promoting diversity. Leaders look for feedback. The service is keen to engage better with staff.

The service knows its workforce is less diverse than the population it serves. It is working to change that.

Cambridgeshire FRS could improve the way it manages staff performance. It reviews staff performance in a clear and structured way. But some staff weren’t confident about the process and didn’t engage with it.

The service expects its new career management process will help it find and develop high-potential staff. But many staff didn’t know about or understand the process. Some staff said the promotion process was not fair and transparent enough. The service should to do more to help staff better understand the promotion process.