Overall summary

Our judgments

Our inspection assessed how well Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service has performed in 11 areas. We have made the following graded judgments:

In the rest of the report, we set out our detailed findings about the areas in which the service has performed well and where it should improve.

Changes to this round of inspection

We last inspected Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service in February 2021. And in December 2021, we published our inspection report with our findings on the service’s effectiveness and efficiency and how well it looks after its people.

This inspection contains our third assessment of the service’s effectiveness and efficiency, and how well it looks after its people. We have measured the service against the same 11 areas and given a grade for each.

We haven’t given separate grades for effectiveness, efficiency and people as we did previously. This is to encourage the service to consider our inspection findings as a whole and not focus on just one area.

We now assess services against the characteristics of good performance, and we more clearly link our judgments to causes of concern and areas for improvement. We have also expanded our previous four-tier system of graded judgments to five. As a result, we can state more precisely where we consider improvement is needed and highlight good performance more effectively. However, these changes mean it isn’t possible to make direct comparisons between grades awarded in this round of fire and rescue service inspections with those from previous years.

A reduction in grade, particularly from good to adequate, doesn’t necessarily mean there has been a reduction in performance, unless we say so in the report.

This report sets out our inspection findings for Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service.

Read more about how we assess fire and rescue services and our graded judgments.

HMI summary

It was a pleasure to visit Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service, and I am grateful for the positive and constructive way in which the service worked with our inspection staff.

I am pleased with the performance of Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service in keeping people safe and secure from fire and other risks, but it needs to improve in some areas to provide a consistently good service. For example, the service could improve how it gathers up-to-date risk information to help protect firefighters, the public and property during an emergency. It could also improve how it learns from incidents.

We were pleased to see that the service has made progress since our 2021 inspection. For example, it has improved its staff appraisal process and its business continuity arrangements in fire control.

My principal findings from our assessments of the service over the past year are as follows:

• The service’s prevention activity is effectively targeted. We were encouraged to find that the service has improved how safe and well visits (SAWVs) are targeted to individuals who are most at risk or are seldom heard and how the information it gathers during visits is used.
• The service’s protection activity is clearly linked to local risk. Its risk-based inspection programme is focused on its highest-risk buildings. But we found that the service wasn’t consistently auditing the targeted buildings within the time frame it set itself.
• The service should make sure that risk information is accurate and up to date. We sampled a range of risk information at wholetime and on-call stations, including the information in place for firefighters responding to incidents. We found information wasn’t always up to date or detailed.
• The service has a sound understanding of its future financial challenges. It has plans to mitigate its significant financial risks. We were pleased to see that the service has identified savings and investment opportunities to improve its service to the public or generate further savings.
• The service continues to have well-defined values, which staff understand. There is a positive working culture throughout the service, with staff feeling empowered and willing to challenge poor behaviours when they come across them.

Overall, I am pleased with Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service’s performance and the improvements it has made since our last inspection. I encourage it to continue to make improvements in the areas we have highlighted.

Michelle Skeer

HM Inspector of Fire & Rescue Services

Service in numbers

Percentage of firefighters, workforce and population who are female as at 31 March 2022

Percentage of firefighters, workforce and population who are from ethnic minority backgrounds as at 31 March 2022

References to ethnic minorities in this report include people from White minority backgrounds but exclude people from Irish minority backgrounds. This is due to current data collection practices for national data. Read more information on data and analysis throughout this report in ‘About the data’.

Understanding the risk of fire and other emergencies

Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service is adequate at understanding risk.

Each fire and rescue service should identify and assess all foreseeable fire and rescue-related risks that could affect its communities. It should use its protection and response capabilities to prevent or mitigate these risks for the public.

We set out our detailed findings below. These are the basis for our judgment of the service’s performance in this area.

Main findings

The service is effective at identifying risk in the community

The service has assessed a suitable range of risks and threats using a thorough community risk management planning process. In its assessment of risk, it uses information it has collected from a broad range of internal and external sources and datasets. This includes historical incident data, census data and societal data.

When appropriate, the service has consulted and held constructive dialogue with its communities and other relevant parties to understand risk and explain how it intends to mitigate it. For example, it has spoken to Cheshire, Halton and Warrington Race and Equality Centre, Alsager Swans Swimming Club for the Disabled and Phoenix LGBT+ youth group.

The service uses social media, online surveys and its website to gather feedback from members of the public. The service also works with staff, employee representative bodies, local authorities and other emergency services to understand and mitigate identified risks.

The service’s consultation process has been independently assessed for good practice.

The service has an effective integrated risk management plan

Once it has assessed risks, the service records its findings in an easily understood integrated risk management plan (IRMP). This plan describes how the service intends to use its prevention, protection and response activities to mitigate or reduce the risks and threats the community faces both now and in the future. For example, the service proposes to:

• develop campaigns to reduce cooking fires and fires started by smoking materials;
• refine how it targets its activities to focus prevention work on the most vulnerable people and groups;
• work with other organisations to create a road safety plan to reduce the number of people killed or seriously injured on the roads;
• review the risk-based inspection programme to address risks to businesses and improve safety; and
• provide a cardiac response capability across all stations.

The service’s IRMP is in its last year. It is currently developing a new plan that will start in 2024.

The service needs to improve how it gathers and maintains risk information

The service collects some information about the highest-risk people, places and threats it has identified. But some of the information we reviewed was limited, inaccurate or out of date. We found that site-specific risk information wasn’t always completed within the time frame set by the service.

Our inspection also highlighted an ineffective quality assurance process. For example, we found risk information files that lacked important information such as floor plans, identifications of hazardous materials, water supplies and gas, water and electrical supply isolation points. We also found that risk classifications (high, medium and low) for similar buildings were inconsistent.

But the service does have a robust system in place to notify staff of any significant changes to risk information. Changes to risk information are recorded and shared through the service’s electronic maintenance and competence system. Staff using the system are alerted to new risk information as soon as they log on and can’t proceed on the system until they have read and acknowledged it. The service uses the same process effectively to inform staff of temporary risk information, such as information on people, buildings and events, including festivals and football matches.

Firefighters at the locations we visited were able to show us that they could access and use risk information quickly through mobile data terminals. This meant they could resolve incidents safely.

We were encouraged to see that the service has improved the access that control room staff have to relevant risk information. This helps staff make informed mobilising decisions on every occasion. Control staff now have access to information about things such as high-rise premises and evacuation strategies, high-risk sites, temporary risks, oxygen users and premises where inappropriate behaviour has been directed at staff in the past.

The service uses the outcomes of operational activity effectively to build an understanding of risk

The service records and communicates risk information effectively. It also routinely updates risk assessments and uses feedback from local and national operational activities to inform its planning assumptions. For example:

• protection officers inform fire crews about any premises they identify that have high-risk processes and may need a site-specific risk inspection;
• protection officers inform fire crews about new timber-framed buildings;
• protection officers inform fire crews about enforcement notices that they have issued;
• fire crews share information on identified hazards in buildings that have become derelict; and
• fire crews, protection and prevention staff share information on premises where inappropriate behaviour has been directed at staff in the past.

The service has analysed national reports that relate to major incidents. It has identified learning and made improvements to policies and guidance in many areas, including changes to operational procedures for tall buildings.

Preventing fires and other risks

Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service is adequate at preventing fires and other risks.

Fire and rescue services must promote fire safety, including giving fire safety advice. To identify people at greatest risk from fire, services should work closely with other organisations in the public and voluntary sectors, and with the police and ambulance services. They should share intelligence and risk information with these other organisations when they identify vulnerability or exploitation.

We set out our detailed findings below. These are the basis for our judgment of the service’s performance in this area.

Main findings

The service needs to make sure it can carry out its prevention strategy

The service’s prevention strategy is clearly linked to the risks it has identified in its IRMP. The strategy has an action plan that includes areas such as home safety, young people, societal risks and road safety.

The service’s teams work well together and with other relevant organisations on prevention, and they share relevant information when needed. The service uses the information to adjust its planning assumptions and direct activity between its prevention, protection and response functions. It works closely with the NHS, local authorities and social care teams to identify those individuals most at risk.
Prevention staff prioritise SAWVs for at-risk people.

The service should make sure it allocates enough resources to its prevention strategy. It is currently carrying out a departmental review and has decided to not recruit into the prevention department in the meantime. This has resulted in fewer prevention staff. This is affecting the service’s ability to achieve its target of 20,000 SAWVs to heightened-risk addresses per year. The service should make sure that it has enough trained staff to achieve its target in line with its prevention strategy (see the section on ‘Making best use of resources’). This is an area for improvement.

Prevention activity is effectively targeted

We were encouraged to see that since our last inspection the service has improved how SAWVs are targeted to individuals that are most at risk or are seldom heard. It uses a risk-based approach to clearly prioritise its prevention activity towards people most at risk from fire and other emergencies. For example, this includes people who:

• live alone;
• smoke;
• have alcohol dependencies;
• live more than ten minutes away from a fire station; and/or
• have disabilities.

Referrals from the NHS, district nurses and occupational therapists are also prioritised.

The service uses a broad range of information and data to target its prevention activity at vulnerable people and groups. It continues to target people identified in OpenExeter (which gathers data on patients registered with GPs) who are aged over 65. But the service recognises that the number of fire fatalities and injuries involving people aged under 65 has increased. As a result, it has created the New Cheshire Data database, which uses societal data to identify those individuals most at risk.

It carries out a range of interventions, which it adapts to the level of risk in its communities. The service carries out SAWVs to those individuals identified as being most at risk. These visits build on standard home fire safety checks to give people more advice and refer them to other organisations where necessary.

We found the service’s post-incident prevention work was inconsistent. We couldn’t get a clear picture of its post-incident prevention work processes from the files we sampled and the staff that we talked to.

Prevention staff and wholetime firefighters carry out prevention work. But on-call firefighters don’t routinely complete prevention work, including SAWVs. This is a missed opportunity for the service to improve prevention work in on-call station areas.

The service’s SAWV quality assurance process has improved

Staff told us they have the right skills and the confidence to carry out SAWVs. The visits cover an appropriate range of hazards that can put vulnerable people at greater risk from fire and other emergencies. During SAWVs, staff give people standard fire safety advice and fit smoke alarms as needed. Staff also give advice on areas such as slips, trips and falls prevention, how to stop smoking and alcohol consumption.

We were encouraged to see that the service quality assures its prevention activity so staff carry out SAWVs to an appropriate standard. It has a clear quality assurance process and schedule in place. Prevention staff and firefighters are assessed at least once every year.

Staff understand how to identify vulnerable people and act to safeguard them

Staff we interviewed told us about occasions when they had identified safeguarding problems. They told us they feel confident and trained to act appropriately and promptly. Staff complete safeguarding e-learning that covers both adult and child safeguarding.

The service works well with other organisations to reduce risk

The service works with a wide range of other organisations to prevent fires and other emergencies. These include Cheshire Constabulary, local authorities, Cheshire Water Safety Forum and Cheshire Safer Roads Group.

We found evidence that it referred people at greatest risk to organisations that may better meet their needs. These organisations include adult social care and local authority hoarding officers who work with people to educate them on the dangers of hoarding and help them to clear their houses. Arrangements are also in place to receive referrals from others. In 2021/22, 1,984 of the service’s prevention visits were referrals from other agencies, including the NHS, district nurses and occupational therapists. The service acts appropriately on the referrals it receives.

The service also has a dedicated partnership officer in place. And it uses an evaluation tool to make sure partnerships are providing the expected outcomes.

Cheshire East Council has commissioned the service to provide key stages two and four road safety education in schools. The service has dedicated resources to carry out this work. The Cheshire Safer Roads Group told us that it is keen to continue this arrangement.

The service routinely exchanges information with other public sector organisations about people and groups at greatest risk. It uses this information to challenge planning assumptions and target prevention activity. For example, Cheshire Constabulary provides the service with details of geographic areas where arson has taken place. This allows the service to provide a targeted prevention response.

The service’s process to tackle fire-setting behaviour could be improved

The service has a limited range of interventions to target and educate people with different needs who show signs of fire-setting behaviour. We found that the service had put fire-setting training for staff on hold.

When appropriate, the service routinely shares information with relevant organisations to support the prosecution of arsonists. It helps the police with fire investigations and with prosecuting deliberate fire setters. The service shares details of deliberate fires with Cheshire Constabulary. It has ten fire investigators, with additional officers trained in scene observation and preservation. It also has an arson reduction officer who meets regularly with the police.

The service evaluates its prevention activity effectively

The service has good evaluation tools in place to measure how effective its activity is and to make sure all sections of its communities get appropriate access to the prevention services that meet their needs. For example, the service carried out an evaluation of SAWVs that targeted people aged over 65 after it found an increase in fire fatalities and injuries involving people aged under 65. The evaluation identified six contributory risk factors, which are:

1. heavy smokers;
2. heavy drinkers of alcohol;
3. people that live in rented accommodation;
4. people that live alone;
5. single parents with young children; and
6. people with a disability (in receipt of incapacity benefit).

As a result, the service has introduced SAWVs for people aged under 65. It uses the New Cheshire Data database to identify them.

Prevention activities take account of feedback from the public, other organisations and other parts of the service. For example, the service’s IRMP consultation included feedback from the public and partner organisations such as the police and ambulance services.

The service uses feedback to inform its planning assumptions and change future activity so it can focus on what the community needs and what works.

Protecting the public through fire regulation

Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service is good at protecting the public through fire regulation.

All fire and rescue services should assess fire risks in certain buildings and, when necessary, require building owners to comply with fire safety legislation. Each service decides how many assessments it does each year. But it must have a locally determined, risk-based inspection programme for enforcing the legislation.

We set out our detailed findings below. These are the basis for our judgment of the service’s performance in this area.

Main findings

The service’s protection strategy is linked to its IRMP

The service’s protection strategy is clearly linked to the risks it has identified in its IRMP.

Staff across the service are involved in this activity, effectively exchanging information as needed. For example, inspecting officers and firefighters carry out inspections of premises, working with local businesses to share information and advise on how they can comply with fire safety regulations. Firefighters and inspecting officers also carry out joint high-rise building inspections. The service then uses this information to adjust planning assumptions and direct activity between its protection, prevention and response functions. This means resources are properly aligned with risk.

Protection activity is clearly linked to local risk

The service’s risk-based inspection programme is focused on the service’s highest-risk buildings. The service uses a regional model based on national guidance to identify high-risk premises. Under this model, all the premises in Cheshire are given a score based on:

• life risk;
• economic risk;
• heritage risk;
• environmental risk; and
• firefighter safety.

The service includes the 2,480 premises with the highest scores in its risk-based audit programme. This is an increase from its previous risk-based audit programme in 2020/21, which included a total of 389 premises.

But we found that the service wasn’t achieving its ambitious risk-based audit programme. It wasn’t consistently auditing the targeted buildings within the two-year time frame it set itself. But we are aware that the service has plans in place to address this.

The service carries out consistent, good quality audits

We reviewed a range of audits that the service had carried out at different buildings across its area. These included audits carried out:

• as part of the service’s interim risk-based inspection programme;
• after fires at premises where fire safety legislation applies;
• after enforcement action had been taken; or
• at high-rise, high-risk buildings.

The audits we reviewed were completed to a high standard in a consistent, systematic way and in line with the service’s policies. The service makes relevant information from its audits available to operational teams and control room operators through temporary risk information notices. We saw an example of information that had been shared with firefighters and control room staff about a building that had been prohibited from use.

The service has an effective quality assurance process in place

The service carries out proportionate quality assurance of its protection activity. Each inspecting officer is assessed every year. During our inspection, we also saw evidence of files that had been quality assured by managers.

It has good evaluation tools in place to measure how effective its activity is and to make sure all sections of its communities get appropriate access to the protection services that meet their needs.

The service is good at taking enforcement action when appropriate

The service consistently uses its full range of enforcement powers, and when appropriate, it prosecutes those who don’t comply with fire safety regulations. We saw good evidence of the service taking enforcement action against responsible persons who had failed to comply with fire safety regulations. The service provides 24-hour access to specialist protection advice for staff and other organisations such as the police and ambulance services.

In the year ending 31 March 2022, the service issued 1 alteration notice, 28 enforcement notices and 10 prohibition notices and undertook 1 prosecution. It completed eight prosecutions in the five years from 2017/18 to 2021/22.

The service should make sure it allocates enough resources to meet its protection strategy

The service doesn’t currently have enough qualified protection staff to support its audit and enforcement activity. It has too few qualified Level 4 inspecting officers. This is affecting the service’s ability to meet its risk-based inspection programme target. But the service is aware of this and has a detailed training plan in place. The plan is intended to make sure that the service has the right number of trained and qualified inspecting officers to meet current and future demands.

The service has also experienced a high turnover of protection staff. As a result, it has introduced an inspecting officer wage supplement to improve staff retention.

The service has adapted well to new legislation

Since our last inspection, the Building Safety Act 2022 and the Fire Safety Regulations 2022 have been introduced to bring about better regulation and management of tall buildings.

The service is supporting the introduction of the Building Safety Regulator. It has carried out significant work with all responsible persons for the 21 tall buildings in Cheshire. All 21 buildings have had a joint inspection with the local authority. The service has been involved in making sure that 17 of the 21 buildings have sprinklers fitted. During our inspection, we also found evidence of the service providing training to landlords on the changes in fire safety legislation.

The Fire Safety Regulations 2022 introduced a range of duties for the managers of tall buildings. These include a requirement to give the fire and rescue service floor plans and inform them of any substantial faults to essential firefighting equipment, such as firefighting lifts.

The service has good arrangements in place to receive this information. When it doesn’t receive the right information, it takes action. And it accordingly updates the risk information it gives its operational staff.

The service works well with others to improve fire safety

The service works closely with other enforcement agencies to regulate fire safety, and it routinely exchanges risk information with them. Effective partnerships include working with the:

• local authorities to jointly inspect houses of multiple occupation;
• Care Quality Commission to inspect care homes;
• licensing authority to inspect public houses and clubs; and
• Health and Safety Executive to address unsafe practices that could lead to fires.

The service also has a dedicated heritage officer to work with the people responsible for heritage sites.

To help improve fire safety in businesses, the service has established legal partnerships with five businesses through the primary authority partnership scheme and has applied for a sixth. It has a fully funded primary authority partnership officer to help with this work.

Building consultations are dealt with promptly

The service responds to most building consultations on time. This means it generally meets its statutory responsibility to comment on fire safety arrangements at new and altered buildings. In 2021/22, the service responded to 96.6 percent of building consultations and 92.7 percent of licensing consultations within the required time frame.

The service works well with businesses to promote fire safety

The service proactively works with local businesses and other organisations to promote compliance with fire safety legislation. It has held several business fire safety events at its headquarters and community events for the National Farmers Union and various veterinary networks. Firefighters carry out fire safety inspections at low and medium-risk premises.

The service has a dedicated business support team that is responsible for providing advice to businesses, submitting referrals to other organisations and carrying out post-fire visits.

The service has effectively reduced unwanted fire signals

An effective risk-based approach is in place to manage the number of unwanted fire signals. The service has a call-challenging process in place to limit unnecessary fire engine deployments. It has a clear procedure to deal with repeat calls to the same premises, which includes an initial investigation that can result in an action plan or full fire safety audit being carried out.

The service gets fewer unwanted calls because of this work. During 2021/22, it didn’t attend 74 percent of unwanted fire signals. Fewer unwanted calls mean fire engines are available to respond to a genuine incident rather than responding to a false one. It also reduces the risk to the public if fewer fire engines travel at high speed on the roads.

Responding to fires and other emergencies

Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service is adequate at responding to fires and other emergencies.

Fire and rescue services must be able to respond to a range of incidents such as fires, road traffic collisions and other emergencies in their areas.

We set out our detailed findings below. These are the basis for our judgment of the service’s performance in this area.

Main findings

The service aligns its resources to the risks identified in its IRMP

The service’s response strategy is linked to the risks it has identified in its IRMP. Its fire engines and response staff, as well as its working patterns, are designed and located to help the service respond flexibly to fires and other emergencies with the appropriate resources. For example, it uses a range of firefighter duty systems to maximise the efficiency and effectiveness of its workforce. It uses rapid response rescue units to aid the response to road traffic collisions. It has also replaced a fire engine and an aerial appliance (which allows firefighters to work at height) with a high-reach fire engine (which can project water and foam at height while the delivery is controlled from the ground).

The service consistently meets its response standard

There are no national response standards of performance for the public. But the service has set out its own response standards in its IRMP. It aims to respond to 80 percent of life-risk incidents within 10 minutes of receiving a 999 call.

The service consistently meets its standards. Home Office data shows that in the year ending 30 June 2022, the service’s response time to primary fires was 9 minutes and 46 seconds. This is faster than the average for predominantly rural services. The service told us that it achieved its targeted response time on 85 percent of occasions.

The service has good wholetime availability, but on-call availability could be improved

To support its response strategy, the service aims to have 100 percent wholetime fire engine availability and to have 85 percent on-call fire engine availability. During 2021/22, wholetime fire engines had 99.9 percent availability. But the service doesn’t always meet its challenging standard for on-call availability. During 2021/22, on-call fire engines had 66 percent availability. In one month during the same period, individual on-call fire engine availability was as low as 12 percent at one station.

Staff have a good understanding of how to command incidents safely

The service has trained incident commanders, who are assessed regularly and properly. During 2021/22, all incident commanders were suitably qualified. In this inspection, we found that all incident commanders, including those who were temporarily in the role, were appropriately trained in addition to being qualified. Level 1, 2 and 3 incident commanders are assessed every two years. Level 4 incident commanders aren’t assessed in incident command but undertake multi-agency gold incident command training once per year. This helps the service safely, assertively and effectively manage the whole range of incidents it could face, from small and routine ones to complex multi-agency incidents.

As part of our inspection, we interviewed incident commanders from across the service. They were familiar with risk assessing, decision-making and recording information at incidents in line with national best practice, as well as the Joint Emergency Services Interoperability Principles (JESIP).

Fire control staff have limited involvement with the service’s exercise, debrief and assurance activity

We were disappointed to find that the service’s control staff weren’t always included in its training, exercise, debrief and assurance activity. Control staff told us that they aren’t regularly involved in the scheduling or planning of exercises. They said they have very little involvement in service debriefs.

But staff also told us that the service plans to improve control’s involvement in exercises and debriefs through a liaison role that is due to be introduced soon. We look forward to seeing improvements in this area in the future.

The service should make sure that risk information is accurate and up to date

We sampled a range of risk information at wholetime and on-call stations, including the information in place for firefighters responding to incidents at high-risk, high-rise buildings and the information held by fire control.

The information we reviewed wasn’t always up to date or detailed. For example, key information was missing, such as floor plans or details of hazardous substances. Additionally, at the time of inspection, 62 of 1,679 of the service’s site-specific risk information files were past their review date. Staff couldn’t always easily access or understand the information. And it hadn’t always been completed with input from the service’s prevention, protection and response functions when appropriate.

The service’s monitoring and sharing of operational learning needs to improve

As part of this inspection, we reviewed a range of emergency incidents and training events. These included domestic and commercial property fires and an incident that involved hazardous materials.

We were encouraged to see that the service is contributing towards, and acting on, learning from other fire and rescue services or operational learning gathered from emergency service partners. For example, following learning shared by another service, it has made changes to its breathing apparatus procedures.

The service has a dedicated operational learning group to manage joint and national operational learning. Learning is shared with staff through a quarterly operational learning bulletin.

But while the service has made some progress, the following area for improvement identified in 2021 remains: “The service should ensure it has a more effective system for learning from operational incidents.” The service doesn’t always act on learning it has, or should have, identified from incidents. This means it isn’t routinely improving its service to the public.

For example, the service’s policy states that hot debriefs should be carried out after every incident, and structured debriefs should be carried out for major incidents and for incidents that involve more than eight fire engines or where there has been equipment failure or multiple fatalities. The operational assurance training team manager can use their discretion to include incidents that are outside these criteria. We reviewed incident records for a range of incidents that should have resulted in structured debriefs. We found that the service wasn’t always carrying out structured debriefs in line with its policy. But we found that hot debriefs frequently took place.

We also found examples of incidents that involved fatalities and firefighter injuries where firefighters hadn’t been involved in a structured debrief and didn’t know if one had taken place at all. And we found examples of lengthy time delays in sharing operational learning following incidents.

The service is good at keeping the public informed about incidents

The service has good systems in place to inform members of the public about ongoing incidents and help keep them safe during and after incidents. This includes using social media and the service’s website. The service can respond to media requests 24 hours a day.

The service also works well with the local resilience forum to share information to warn and inform the public. Incident information is shared with partners through the Resilience Direct online system.

Responding to major and multi-agency incidents

Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service is adequate at responding to major and multi‑agency incidents.

All fire and rescue services must be able to respond effectively to multi-agency and cross-border incidents. This means working with other fire and rescue services (known as intraoperability) and emergency services (known as interoperability).

We set out our detailed findings below. These are the basis for our judgment of the service’s performance in this area.

Main findings

The service is prepared for major and multi-agency incidents

The service has effectively anticipated and considered the reasonably foreseeable risks and threats it may face. These risks are listed in both local and national risk registers as part of its IRMP. The identified risks include flooding, severe weather, industrial incidents and terrorist threats.

It is familiar with some of the significant risks in neighbouring fire and rescue services, which it might reasonably be asked to respond to in an emergency. But it has more to do. We sampled several over-the-border risk information files and found that many had key information missing, such as building plans and identified hazards. The service should consider how it quality assures this information.

The service’s ability to respond to major and multi-agency incidents could be improved

In our last inspection, we focused on how the service had collected risk information and responded to the Government’s building risk review programme for tall buildings.

In this inspection, we have focused on how well prepared the service is to actually respond to a major incident at a tall building, such as the tragedy at Grenfell Tower.

The service has policies and procedures in place for this type of incident. Staff at all levels understand them, and training and exercising have taken place to test them. The service has carried out several high-rise building exercises in collaboration with Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service.

At this type of incident, a fire and rescue service would receive a high volume of simultaneous fire calls. We found that the systems in place in the service were robust enough to receive and manage this volume of calls. Staff in the emergency control room, at the incident and in assisting control rooms can share, view and update the actions that result from the individual fire calls.

But the service relies too heavily on paper-based systems. It doesn’t have an electronic method of sharing fire survival guidance information. Fire survival guidance information is passed from fire control to the incident ground via radio messages. The information is recorded on paper at the incident ground and shared as needed. But updated information on casualty rescues isn’t routinely passed back to fire control. And the major incident logs that we reviewed lacked detail and consistency.

These processes are too open to operator error. They also mean that staff in the emergency control room, at the incident and in assisting control rooms can’t share, view and update actions in real time. These systems could compromise the service’s ability to safely resolve a major incident at a tall building. This is an area for improvement.

The service works well with other fire and rescue services

The service supports other fire and rescue services responding to emergency incidents. For example, it has mutual assistance agreements in place with its neighbouring fire and rescue services. It is intraoperable with these services and can form part of a multi-agency response.

The service has successfully deployed to other services and has used national assets. It recently sent assets to South Yorkshire to help in a wide-scale flooding incident.

Cross-border exercising with other fire and rescue services is limited

The service has a cross-border exercise plan with neighbouring fire and rescue services, helping them work together effectively to keep the public safe. The plan includes the risks of major events at which the service could foreseeably give support or ask for help from neighbouring services. But the service’s learning from these exercises to inform risk information and service plans is limited. In 2021/22, it only carried out three exercises with neighbouring fire and rescue services. These included high-rise exercises in Merseyside and Manchester.

The service is familiar with JESIP

The incident commanders we interviewed had been trained in and were familiar with JESIP.

The service could give us strong evidence that it consistently follows these principles. This included an example of a multi-agency exercise that involved sharing information through tactical and strategic command groups and with government bodies through a government liaison officer.

But the service isn’t taking the opportunity to carry out robust debriefs after multi-agency incidents and exercises. This means it may not be identifying any problems it has with applying JESIP. This could compromise the service’s ability to respond effectively with other emergency organisations when major incidents do occur. We found examples of multi-agency incident debriefs that didn’t include other agencies.

The service is an active member of the Cheshire Resilience Forum

The service has good arrangements in place to respond to emergencies with partners that make up the Cheshire Resilience Forum. These arrangements include access to comprehensive control of major accident hazards (COMAH) site information.

The service is a valued partner of the Cheshire Resilience Forum and contributes to the tactical and strategic co-ordinating groups. It takes part in regular training events with other members of the forum and uses the learning to develop planning assumptions about responding to major and multi-agency incidents. A series of live and desktop exercises have been carried out since our last inspection. The local authorities commission the exercises, which include COMAH sites and high-rise building fires.

The service shares and contributes to national learning

The service makes sure it knows about national operational updates from other fire and rescue services and joint operational learning from other organisations, such as the police service and ambulance trusts. It uses this learning to inform planning assumptions that it makes with partner organisations.

The service receives information from and contributes to both national and joint operational learning. It passes identified learning to its operational learning group to act on. This may involve changes being made to training, procedures or guidance.

Making best use of resources

Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service is adequate at making best use of its resources.

Fire and rescue services should manage their resources properly and appropriately, aligning them with their risks and statutory responsibilities. Services should make best possible use of resources to achieve the best results for the public.

The service’s revenue budget for 2023/24 is £51.7m. This is an 11 percent increase from the previous financial year.

We set out our detailed findings below. These are the basis for our judgment of the service’s performance in this area.

Main findings

The service’s staffing levels don’t support its objectives

Financial plans continue to be consistent with the risks and priorities the service has identified in its IRMP. However, it could improve how it allocates staff in prevention, protection and response.

But the service doesn’t have enough qualified protection staff to carry out its strategic plan. In particular, it doesn’t have the number of Level 4-qualified inspecting officers it needs to carry out its risk-based inspection programme. The service is aware of this and has put plans in place to address staff training and qualifications. We look forward to seeing the results during our next inspection.

Staffing levels in the prevention department are also making it difficult for the service to meet its SAWV target. Recruitment into the department has been put on hold while a departmental review is carried out. The review is due to be completed by April 2024. We look forward to seeing the results during our next inspection.

The service has evaluated its mix of crewing and duty systems. It has analysed its response cover and can show it deploys its fire engines and response staff to manage risk efficiently. The service uses four different firefighter duty systems, including on-call, nucleus (staffed by wholetime firefighters in the daytime and on-call firefighters overnight), day crewing and wholetime. The service has recently changed the staffing model for Wilmslow fire station. The move from a nucleus to a day-crewing duty system is intended to maximise fire cover while providing efficiency savings.

A lack of drivers in some locations is affecting fire engine availability. The service is aware of this and is exploring options to increase driver training courses.

The service builds its plans on sound scenarios. They help make sure the service is sustainable and underpinned by financial controls that reduce the risk of misusing public money. The service uses priority-based budgeting that reflects the needs of the IRMP. Members of the finance department are involved in IRMP planning and regularly attend IRMP development meetings.

Workforce activity is monitored to make sure that time is used productively, but the service relies heavily on the use of overtime

We were pleased to see that the service’s arrangements for managing performance clearly link resource use to its IRMP and its strategic priorities. The service monitors and reports performance at all levels of the organisation. Performance is reported to senior leaders and fire authority members through the service’s performance and overview committee.

The service understands how it uses its wholetime firefighters. It collects data on how they spend their time across day and night shifts. It makes the most of its capacity. For example, the service maximises firefighter working hours and productivity.
Its station management framework provides a structure for managing and monitoring station performance. The framework details what work should be carried out each day. Firefighters have a detailed workday routine that includes practical training, prevention and protection work. Station workday routines vary depending on duty systems and the local risk profile.

The service is taking steps to make sure the workforce’s time is as productive as possible. This includes putting in place new ways of working. For example, it has identified a two-hour gap in the work plan during night shifts. The service plans to use this additional capacity to complete activity that would normally be completed during the day shift, such as e-learning. This will provide additional capacity during the day shift to complete more SAWVs.

But the service relies on high levels of pre-arranged overtime to fill gaps in staffing. During 2021/22, the service’s pre-arranged overtime cost was £1,232 per head of workforce, which is higher than the England rate of £835. It is also an increase from £504 per head of workforce in 2019/20.

The service explores opportunities to collaborate with others

We were pleased to see the service meets its statutory duty to collaborate. It routinely considers opportunities to collaborate with other emergency responders. The service has the highest collaborative spend of all fire and rescue services in England. It shares a headquarters with Cheshire Constabulary and has established a substantial emergency service collaboration with the force. This involves shared support functions, including;

• business intelligence
• strategic change
• finance
• estates
• information technology
• legal services
• information management
• procurement.

Collaborative work is aligned with the priorities in the service’s IRMP. For example, it works with the local authorities in the service area to provide road safety education in schools. And prevention teams work with social services and early help teams to support vulnerable people.

The service had plans to work with the ambulance service to provide a cardiac response (where Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service would respond to emergency medical calls where a person is suffering from suspected cardiac arrest). But these were rejected on a national level by the Fire Brigades Union. The service intends to revisit this proposal.

The service monitors, reviews and evaluates the benefits and results of its collaborations. As a result of its findings, it has brought several functions, which were provided through the emergency service collaboration, back in-house. Both organisations acknowledged that some joint functions weren’t mutually beneficial. The service told us that other joint functions may also return in-house.

Industrial action business continuity arrangements need to improve

The service has gaps in its continuity arrangements for areas in which it considers threats and risks to be high. Its plans to provide an effective response to fires and other emergencies during periods of industrial action aren’t clear. For example, it can’t say how many fire engines would be available in the event of industrial action. However, the service acknowledges that the number would be below the Home Office’s expectation of 25 percent of normal fire engine availability. This is an area for improvement.

Cheshire, Lancashire, Manchester and Cumbria fire and rescue services share a fire control service, which is North West Fire Control (NWFC). We were encouraged to see the improvements Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service has made with NWFC business continuity. We found that NWFC had tested fall back arrangements to a secondary control room and had been involved in testing industrial action business
continuity plans. Business continuity plans for NWFC are now included as a standing agenda item on its risk management board.

The service regularly reviews and tests its plans. This means staff are fully aware of the arrangements and their associated responsibilities.

The service shows sound financial management

There are regular reviews to consider all the service’s expenditure, including its non-pay costs. And this scrutiny makes sure the service gets value for money. For example, Cheshire Fire Authority reviews expenditure on a regular basis through its performance and overview committee meetings.

The service has made savings and efficiencies, which have caused minimal disruption to its operational performance and the service it gives the public. An example is the change of duty system at Wilmslow fire station from nucleus to day crewing. The service told us that this change will create revenue budget savings in the future, with minimal effect on operational performance. The service plans to complete a review of the project to identify the costs and associated benefits. Also, the service’s fire engines are staffed to the minimum of four firefighters as standard.

The service is taking steps to make sure it achieves efficiency gains through sound financial management and best working practices. It is taking steps to make sure that important areas such as estates, fleet and procurement are well placed to achieve efficiency gains. As part of its joint procurement arrangements with the police, the service uses national procurement frameworks to achieve the best possible purchasing power. The service has also reviewed how it purchases new parts for its fleet and now uses a wider range of suppliers. This has reduced the cost of repairs.

Making the FRS affordable now and in the future

Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service is good at making the service affordable now and in the future.

Fire and rescue services should continuously look for ways to improve their effectiveness and efficiency. This includes transforming how they work and improving their value for money. Services should have robust spending plans that reflect future financial challenges and efficiency opportunities, and they should invest in better services for the public.

We set out our detailed findings below. These are the basis for our judgment of the service’s performance in this area.

Main findings

The service understands its future financial challenges

The service has a sound understanding of future financial challenges. It plans to mitigate its main or significant financial risks. For example, it has plans to cover high rates of inflation, including the pay award to firefighters, through making savings.

The underpinning assumptions are relatively robust, realistic and prudent. They take account of the wider external environment and some scenario planning for future spending reductions. These include government funding, business rates, council tax and pay inflation. The service considers funding uncertainties and includes these in its strategic risk register.

We were pleased to see that the service has identified savings and investment opportunities to improve the service to the public or generate further savings. The service’s 2023/24 budget includes £935,000 of identified savings. These savings include reducing staff costs by changing the crewing system at one station. Savings of around £1m are required in 2024/25. The service is carrying out a fire cover review, which will help it further develop its savings plan. Its priority-based budgeting approach supports the identification of future savings.

The service has a clear plan in place for the use of reserves

The service has a sensible and sustainable plan for using its reserves. It currently aims for the general reserve to be maintained at £2.2m, which is equivalent to around 5 percent of its annual budget requirement. Earmarked reserves are reviewed annually, and the service has clear plans for their use.

The service’s estate and fleet strategies are clearly linked to its IRMP

We were encouraged to see the improvements the service has made since our last inspection. The service’s estate and fleet strategies have clear links to its IRMP. The IRMP is used to inform the service’s short and medium-term fleet and estate requirements. Both strategies exploit opportunities to improve efficiency and effectiveness.

The service’s fleet strategy aims to reduce its support fleet by making vehicles available for multiple roles and multiple users. The service is keen to expand its use of electric vehicles and has more than 20 electric support vehicles already in use.

The service told us that it has made good progress in reducing its carbon emissions at the new fire station in Chester. New housing has been purchased to support the move of Wilmslow fire station to a day-crewing duty system. And the service is reviewing some of its refurbishment plans to make sure they offer value for money.

The service regularly reviews these strategies so that it can properly assess the effect any changes in estate and fleet provision or future innovation have on risk.

The service invests in technology to support change and improve efficiency

The service actively considers how changes in technology and future innovation may affect risk. It also seeks to exploit opportunities to improve efficiency and effectiveness presented by changes in technology. Its mobile data terminals are 4G enabled. As a result, information can be updated almost anywhere, including at incidents. Prevention, protection and response staff are also given laptops or tablets that are 4G enabled, helping them to work on the go.

The service has put in place the capacity and capability it needs to achieve sustainable transformation, and it routinely seeks opportunities to work with others to improve efficiency and provide better services in the future. The service, in collaboration with Cheshire Constabulary, has developed an in-house IT system. The system is used by prevention, protection and response staff to record SAWVs and fire safety audits.

External funding and income generation are limited

The service actively considers and exploits opportunities for generating extra income. In the past, it has used external companies to identify funding opportunities. But the service found it had little return from this approach.

Where appropriate, it has secured external funding to invest in improvements to the service it gives the public. This includes securing a contract with Cheshire East Council to provide road safety education in schools and creating a primary authority partnership officer role that is fully funded by the primary authority partners

Promoting the right values and culture

Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service is good at promoting the right values and culture.

Fire and rescue services should have positive and inclusive cultures, modelled by the behaviours of their senior leaders. Services should promote health and safety effectively, and staff should have access to a range of well‑being support that can be tailored to their individual needs.

We set out our detailed findings below. These are the basis for our judgment of the service’s performance in this area.

Main findings

Values are accepted and maintained throughout the service

The service continues to have well-defined values, which staff understand. Of those that completed our staff survey, 98 percent (311 out of 318) said that they were aware of the service’s statement of values.

We found that staff at all levels of the service showed behaviours that reflect service values. Our staff survey showed that 93 percent (288 out of 311) of staff felt that their managers consistently model and maintain the service’s values. This increases to 96 percent (300 out of 311) when describing colleagues.

The service has incorporated the Core Code of Ethics in its core values and code of conduct for employees.

Most staff felt that senior leaders act as role models. For example, the people we spoke to during our inspection felt that senior leaders model the values of the service and are approachable. Of those that completed our survey, 68 percent (212 out of 311) felt that senior leaders consistently model and maintain the service’s values. But this is a reduction from 83 percent (302 out of 362) since our last inspection.
Many members of staff told us that senior leaders aren’t always visible on stations.

There is a positive working culture throughout the service, with staff feeling empowered and willing to challenge poor behaviours when they come across them. They have confidence that their concerns will be taken seriously, and concerns can be raised anonymously through Safecall, an independent reporting line.

Staff have access to appropriate services to support mental and physical health

The service continues to have well-understood and effective well-being policies in place, which are available to staff. A wide range of well-being support is available to support both the physical and mental health of firefighters and support staff. For example, the service has a dedicated mental health adviser, trauma risk management advisers and a fitness adviser. Staff also have access to professional counselling. A dedicated area on the service’s intranet called ‘Who do I turn to?’ also directs staff to available support services.

There are good provisions in place to promote staff well-being. This includes mental health first aid, suicide awareness, mental health roadshows and mental health champions. Of those that completed our survey, 93 percent (293 out of 316) said that they feel able to access services to support mental well-being.

Most staff told us they understand and have confidence in the well-being support processes available. The service’s trauma risk management support service is frequently used. But some staff explained that sometimes, following a traumatic incident, crews only receive a phone call or email, with no follow-up action. Many staff felt that this wasn’t enough.

The service has a positive health and safety culture

The service has effective and well-understood health and safety policies and procedures in place. Of those that completed our staff survey, 95 percent (300 out of 316) felt that the service has a clear procedure to report all accidents, near misses and dangerous occurrences.

The service’s health and safety working committee monitors health and safety performance against targets every three months. It reports the service’s performance to fire authority members annually.

We were pleased to see that the service has improved its provision of health and safety training for staff. The service has a detailed health and safety training plan in place. But although progress has been made, we saw that the plan is behind schedule due to staffing shortages.

Health and safety policies and procedures are readily available, and the service promotes them effectively to all staff. Accident statistics are monitored, with learning from accidents shared through an operational assurance bulletin. Staff have confidence in the health and safety approach the service takes.

The service monitors staff who have secondary employment or dual contracts to make sure they comply with the secondary employment policy and don’t work excessive hours. The working hours of those on dual contracts are closely monitored and recorded on the service’s availability system. But the service relies on individuals to declare any secondary employment and associated working hours.

Absence management needs to improve

We found there were clear processes in place to manage absences for all staff. There is clear guidance for managers, who are confident in using the process. Sickness absence is monitored and reported at the service’s attendance management board and at the performance and overview committee, which is attended by senior leaders and fire authority members. Managers are appropriately trained to manage and record staff absences effectively.

We were disappointed to see that, overall, the service has seen a 71 percent increase in the average number of days/shifts lost per firefighter due to short-term staff sickness absences and a 22 percent increase in the average number of days/shifts lost per firefighter due to long-term sickness absences in the year ending 31 March 2022. The service is aware of this and is investigating why this increase has occurred.

Getting the right people with the right skills

Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service is good at getting the right people with the right skills.

Fire and rescue services should have a workforce plan in place that is linked to their CRMPs. It should set out their current and future skills requirements and address capability gaps. This should be supplemented by a culture of continuous improvement, including appropriate learning and development throughout the service.

We set out our detailed findings below. These are the basis for our judgment of the service’s performance in this area.

Main findings

The service needs to improve its workforce planning and reduce its use of temporary promotion

The service has workforce planning in place. This aims to make sure skills and capabilities align with what it needs to effectively carry out its IRMP. For example, the service uses retirement profiles, recruitment and changes to duty systems to monitor staff levels and future demands. The service effectively uses the promotion process to address gaps in workforce capability. It carries out promotion processes annually and these are dictated by the workforce plan.

But on 31 March 2022, there were 75 members of staff on temporary promotion. This is 9 percent of the workforce. Temporary promotions can result in high staff rotation and can affect consistency in roles.

Workforce and succession planning is subject to consistent scrutiny in the form of regular meetings to discuss requirements. But we found that a lack of fire engine drivers was affecting fire engine availability and increasing the use of overtime.

The service effectively monitors workforce skills and capabilities

Most staff told us that they can access the training they need to be effective in their roles, including management skills. The service’s training plans make sure it can maintain competence and capability effectively. For example, of those that completed our survey, 87 percent (276 out of 318) said that they can access the right learning and development opportunities when needed.

The service has good systems in place to monitor the skills and capabilities of its workforce. It uses a competency management system to make sure that operational crews with the right skills and attributes are in the right location.

The service uses a database and tracker to give a live overview of the annual training plan and help its development. Each head of department regularly updates their understanding of staff skills and risk-critical safety capabilities by using a workforce planning toolkit. This approach means the service can identify gaps in workforce capabilities and resilience. It also means it can make sound and financially sustainable decisions about current and future needs.

The service supports staff with learning and development

The service promotes a culture of continuous improvement throughout the organisation, and it encourages staff to learn and develop. For example, staff can request additional training through the appraisal process. But some staff told us that additional training requests made in this way are rarely granted.

The service has an effective operational assurance process in place. Managers complete audits of fire crews at incidents. Learning is recorded and sent to the service’s operational learning group. This is shared with staff, other fire and rescue services and other organisations where appropriate.

We were pleased to see that the service has a range of resources in place. These include e-learning packages and a newly developed training centre to train and assess staff in a wide range of areas, such as the use of breathing apparatus, dealing with road traffic collisions, and incident command. The service also has purpose-built specialist training facilities at Lymm fire station.

Most staff told us they can access a range of learning and development resources. These include e-learning on subjects such as equality, diversity and inclusion, health and safety and safeguarding. This allows them to do their jobs effectively and safely.

Ensuring fairness and promoting diversity

Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service is good at ensuring fairness and promoting diversity.

Creating a more representative workforce gives fire and rescue services huge benefits. These include greater access to talent and different ways of thinking. It also helps them better understand and engage with local communities. Each service should make sure staff throughout the organisation firmly understand and show a commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion. This includes successfully taking steps to remove inequality and making progress to improve fairness, diversity and inclusion at all levels of the service. It should proactively seek and respond to feedback from staff and make sure any action it takes is meaningful.

We set out our detailed findings below. These are the basis for our judgment of the service’s performance in this area.

Main findings

The service is good at acting on staff feedback and challenge

The service has developed several ways to work with staff on issues and decisions that affect them. This includes methods to build all-staff awareness of fairness and diversity as well as targeted initiatives to identify matters that affect different staff groups. Staff surveys are used to collect feedback in a range of areas, including well-being, leadership, culture, and bullying and harassment. But the outcomes of staff surveys aren’t shared quickly enough. Other examples of feedback processes include a staff suggestion scheme and a dedicated, third-party reporting line.

The service has taken action to address matters staff have raised. For example, prevention staff told us that the service has worked with them throughout the departmental review. As a result of feedback, the service plans to introduce a person-at-risk team to deal with complex cases. Staff have received these actions positively. Representative bodies and staff associations also reported that the service works with them well. Many of the staff we spoke to told us that they feel confident that they could report unacceptable behaviour.

Staff are confident in the service’s approach to dealing with bullying, harassment and discrimination

Staff have a good understanding of what bullying, harassment and discrimination are and their negative effects on colleagues and the organisation.

In this inspection, 12 percent (37 out of 318) of staff told us they have been subject to bullying or harassment and 11 percent (34 out of 318) to discrimination over the past 12 months. Of these, 65 percent (24 out of 37) didn’t report the bullying or harassment and 68 percent (23 out of 34) didn’t report the discrimination. The main reason for this was that staff felt that no action would be taken.

But most staff told us they are confident in the service’s approach to tackling bullying, harassment and discrimination, grievances and disciplinary matters. Representative bodies agree that the service has appropriate processes in place to eliminate bullying, harassment and discrimination. The service has made sure all staff are trained and clear about what to do if they encounter inappropriate behaviour.

The service acts positively to improve diversity in recruitment

There is an open, fair and honest recruitment process for staff or those wishing to work for the fire and rescue service. The service has an effective system to understand and remove the risk of disproportionality in recruitment processes. For example, the equality steering group meets quarterly to discuss objectives, impact and data. The steering group reports to the performance and overview committee under the headings:

• people
• partnerships
• community
• organisations.

This includes the reporting of the latest recruitment diversity details, the current workforce profile and the top 5 percent of earners.

The service has put considerable effort into developing its recruitment processes so that they are fair and potential applicants can understand them. It has an attraction and recruitment group consisting of members from service delivery, corporate communications, training and human resources. The group develops positive action and recruitment campaigns. But the service doesn’t involve any of the staff profiles groups in recruitment planning.

The service’s recruitment policies are comprehensive and cover opportunities in all roles. The service advertises recruitment opportunities both internally and externally, including through Women in the Fire Service UK, the Asian Fire Service Association, the National Fire Chiefs Council, social media platforms and national newspapers. This has encouraged a greater number of applicants from diverse backgrounds, although this is limited in middle and senior management roles.

The service has made some improvements to increasing staff diversity at all levels of the organisation. In 2021/22, 10 percent of new joiners self-declared as being from an ethnic minority background.

The proportion of firefighters that are from an ethnic minority background has increased from 1.7 percent (11 people) in 2017/18 to 4 percent (26 people) in 2021/22. The proportion of female firefighters has increased from 6 percent (40 people) to 9.1 percent (60 people) over the same period.

For the whole workforce, in 2021/22, 3.6 percent are from an ethnic minority background compared to 9 percent in their local population and 8 percent throughout all fire and rescue services. And 19.7 percent are women, compared to an average of 18.6 percent throughout all fire and rescue services. Most women in this service work in support staff roles.

The service has taken steps to improve diversity. For example, it has hosted an Asian Fire Service Association event, attended career events, visited local mosques and attended PRIDE events to improve recruitment diversity. The workforce supports this.

The service has recognised it has an opportunity to improve workforce diversity due to an estimated 35 percent turnover in uniformed staff members by March 2026.

The service promotes equality, diversity and inclusion in its workforce

The service has improved its approach to equality, diversity and inclusion. It makes sure it can offer the right services to its communities and can support staff with protected characteristics. For example, it engages with several community groups, including the:

• Phoenix LGBT+ youth group;
• Chester FC Community Trust; and
• Alsager Swans Swimming Club for the Disabled.

The service has a 2021–24 equality, diversity and inclusion strategy that clearly sets out the roles and responsibilities needed to carry out the strategy and adhere to the fire authority’s commitment to cultural improvement. The strategy also states that there will be a zero-tolerance approach to bullying, prejudice and any form of discrimination.

A range of workforce and public demographic data is used to target under-represented groups and improve workforce diversity, with the aim of attracting, recruiting and retaining the best people for every role. The service uses the intranet and internal communication releases to explain to staff why it collects this information.

The service engages well with its staff network groups. These are:

• Firepride (the LGBT+ staff and volunteer network);
• Limitless (the women’s network);
• REACH (the cultural heritage network); and
• Divergence (the neurodiversity network).

Network members attend an equality steering group that is chaired by the chief fire officer and attended by heads of departments and members of the fire authority. Each staff network is assigned a senior leader as a sponsor to help carry out actions as needed.

Staff are required to carry out mandatory equality, diversity and inclusion e-learning, including on the topics of:

• equality essentials;
• the Core Code of Ethics;
• dyslexia awareness;
• transgender awareness:
• disability;
• race; and
• sexual awareness.

The service regularly carries out positive action as a part of its recruitment campaigns. People from under-represented groups that were unsuccessful during previous recruitment processes are contacted and encouraged to take part in taster days.

The service has a process in place to carry out equality impact assessments on each protected characteristic. It provides staff with training, guidance and online toolkits to make sure assessments are consistent. All of the assessments are quality assured by the service’s equality, diversity and inclusion adviser before being signed off by the head of department. But many of the assessments that we examined didn’t have completion or review dates. There was also no version control. The service would benefit from a robust quality assurance process.

Managing performance and developing leaders

Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service is good at managing performance and developing leaders.

Fire and rescue services should have robust and meaningful performance management arrangements in place for their staff. All staff should be supported to meet their potential and there should be a focus on developing staff and improving diversity into leadership roles.

We set out our detailed findings below. These are the basis for our judgment of the service’s performance in this area.

Main findings

The service has improved its management of individual performance

There is a good performance management system in place, which allows the service to effectively develop and assess the individual performance of all staff. For example, we were pleased to see that, since our last inspection, the number of staff who have completed the service’s appraisal process has increased from 30 percent to 89 percent. The service is also trialling an electronic version of the appraisal process that is due to be introduced soon.

Through our staff survey, most staff reported that they have regular discussions with their manager and that these are meaningful. Each staff member has individual goals and objectives and regular performance assessments. Staff feel confident in the performance and development arrangements in place.

The service needs to do more to assure the workforce that promotion and progression processes are fair

The service has put considerable effort into developing its promotion and progression processes so that they are fair and all staff can understand them. But, of those that completed our survey, only 55 percent (175 out of 318) felt that promotion processes are fair. The promotion and progression policies are comprehensive and cover opportunities in all operational roles, but they contain limited guidance for support staff.

The service has succession-planning processes in place, which allow it to effectively manage the career pathways of its staff, including roles needing specialist skills.

It manages selection processes consistently. Promotion processes are carried out annually and are dictated by the service’s workforce plan. The service uses temporary promotions appropriately to fill short-term resourcing gaps. We were pleased to see that the service has reduced the average length of temporary promotions since our last inspection. But the number of staff on temporary promotions has increased from 39 as of 31 March 2020 to 75 as of 31 March 2022.

Reasonable adjustments are offered for all promotion processes. This is made clear in the promotion process guidance document, job adverts and in correspondence with candidates. We saw examples of reasonable adjustments, including providing candidates with the interview questions written on cards. This helps individuals who prefer to read the questions as opposed to listen to them.

Although the service’s promotion policy states that candidates will be given feedback, staff told us that this often doesn’t happen.

The service could do more to diversify leadership

The service knows it needs to go further to increase workforce diversity, especially in middle and senior management. It has put in place plans to address this, which include hiring independent, external expertise. During a recent senior leadership recruitment process, the service hired an external human resource adviser and a former chief fire officer to give independent advice to the fire authority on candidates’ performance. But this process hasn’t been formally evaluated.

The service’s recruitment campaigns are kept open for a reasonable amount of time, and it is willing to extend the closing date to attract more candidates.

At the time of inspection, the service was planning a promotion process to fill the deputy chief fire officer vacancy. It had decided only uniformed staff would be allowed to apply. This could prove to be a missed opportunity to improve the diversity of the senior leadership team.

The service develops leadership and high-potential staff at all levels

The service has effective succession-planning processes in place, which allows it to actively manage staff careers, with the aim of diversifying the pool of future and current leaders.

There are talent management schemes to develop specific staff. The service has a development scheme, called the high potential development scheme, in place to help identify staff with high potential. The programme speeds up development from firefighter to station manager. The development process involves several areas of work experience, including operational training and protection work. Each potential promotion will require the candidate to pass the promotion selection process. To qualify, candidates must have graduated with an upper second-class honours degree within the last five years.

The service has also created a toolkit (called the fire staff career change toolkit) and a detailed fire staff career directory to help staff with their career progression. These set out the possible career routes available to staff and details the different roles and responsibilities in the service. The information provided about roles includes:

• the role’s purpose;
• the environment and location;
• qualifications and training;
• co-worker and customer interaction;
• everyday duties;
• skills used in the role; and
• challenges.

The toolkit provides guidance for staff to create a career change action plan in conjunction with the staff appraisal process. The toolkit and directory are intended to increase staff diversity and make the most of talent, while also improving staff retention.

Further information

Download the PDF report

Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service 2023-2025

More about Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service

You can find more about Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service on our dedicated service page.

Our work

Find out more about HMICFRS’s work and other inspection areas.

Other services

Find out how well other services have performed during their FRS assessment.

Inspection programme and framework

Detailed information about the inspection methodology.

Useful links

Fire and rescue national framework for England 
National Operational Guidance website
National Fire Chiefs Council website