Overall summary
Our inspection assessed how well Royal Berkshire 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 Royal Berkshire Fire and Rescue Service in June and July 2022. And in January 2023, 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 Royal Berkshire 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 revisit Royal Berkshire 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 Royal Berkshire 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, it needs to review whether it is allocating the right resources to its prevention, protection and response functions to provide the best service to the public.
I am pleased to see that the service has addressed many of the areas for improvement we identified in our previous inspection. This includes recommendations relating to unwanted fire signals, and gathering and recording risk information.
My main findings from our assessments of the service are as follows:
- The service continues to provide an effective prevention, protection and response service to the public, working well with other fire and rescue services and organisations such as the police, local authorities and health providers.
- The service is working hard to transform its estate and technology and make sure staff are productive at work, which is supporting the service to improve its ways of working and provide a more efficient service to the public.
- Staff are proud to work for the service and feel able to raise concerns, which are addressed appropriately as the service has a positive culture, looks after its people, and supports them to put the community at the heart of what they do.
Overall, Royal Berkshire Fire and Rescue Service is providing a good service to the public. It is effective in preventing fires and responding to incidents. It is aware of the areas where it can make improvements. We look forward to returning to the service for its next inspection.
Roy Wilsher
HM Inspector of Fire & Rescue Services
Service in numbers
Percentage of firefighters, workforce and population who identified as a woman as at 31 March 2024
Percentage of firefighters, workforce and population who were from ethnic minority backgrounds as at 31 March 2024
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
Royal Berkshire Fire and Rescue Service is good 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 continues to identify and understand the risks in its area
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. For example, to help it understand current and future risk, the service refers to data on responses, demographics and its built environment. This informs its consideration of a wide range of risks, including those relating to climate change, technological advances, and social, cultural and economic factors.
The service has continued to consult with and hold constructive dialogue with its communities and other relevant parties to understand risk and explain how it intends to mitigate it. For example, it received 662 responses to its online consultation with the public and organisations it works with for its latest community risk management plan (CRMP). It has also spoken to a wide range of community members and staff in the service to understand their views on the plan. This included using social media to advertise the consultation, developing an easy read version of the plan with a community group and holding online engagement sessions.
The service has an effective CRMP
The service refers to its CRMP as the CRMP 2023 to 2027.
Once it has assessed risks, the service records its findings in an easily understood CRMP. 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, it has increased its water rescue resources in the east of the county to mitigate water-related risks, such as those arising from flooding and heatwaves (when water rescues increase).
The service gathers, maintains and shares a good range of risk information
The service routinely collects and updates the information it has about the highest-risk people, places and threats it has identified. In our 2022 inspection, we identified an area for improvement relating to gathering and recording relevant and up-to-date site‑specific risk information. The service has made good progress in addressing this, and as a result we have closed this area for improvement.
We sampled a broad range of the risk information the service collects, including operational risk information for high-rise premises and industrial sites. We also reviewed the information the service collects on short-term risks related to personal lifestyle factors, such as needing to store oxygen in the home.
This information is readily available for the service’s prevention, protection and response staff. This means these teams can identify, reduce and mitigate risk effectively. For example, the service gives firefighters pre-agreed tactical plans for high-risk premises to help them make better decisions when responding to a fire or other incident there. Where appropriate, it shares risk information with other organisations. This includes those involved in safeguarding vulnerable people, such as the police and social services.
Staff at the locations we visited, including firefighters and emergency control room staff, were able to show us that they could access, use and share risk information quickly to help them resolve incidents safely. The service uses a manual process to update its control system with information from its central database. It should make sure that this process is completed routinely, and accurately reflects the relevant information.
The service builds its understanding of risk from operational activity
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, it has considered the recommendations of the Grenfell Tower Inquiry to make improvements to how it responds to incidents, through a dedicated built environment project. And the service has increased its wildfire resources in response to the increase in climate-related fires.
Good
Preventing fires and other risks
Royal Berkshire Fire and Rescue Service is good 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 continues to have a good prevention strategy
The service’s prevention strategy is clearly linked to the risks it has identified in its CRMP. It monitors important performance indicators on both a monthly and a quarterly basis. To address a fall in the number of safe and well visits being completed, it has temporarily recruited two more prevention safety advisors.
The service’s teams work well together and with other relevant organisations on prevention, and they share relevant information when needed. The service uses information to adjust its planning assumptions and direct activity between its prevention, protection and response functions. For example, following our last inspection in 2022, the service has introduced an effective fire incident review procedure, which has led to important learning. This has included helping staff work with a range of other organisations to identify the most vulnerable people in the community. The new procedure addresses an area for improvement we identified in our last inspection, which said that the service should develop a clear process for post-incident prevention activity. As a result, we have closed this area for improvement.
The service is targeting its activity towards the most vulnerable people
The service continues to use a risk-based approach to clearly prioritise its prevention activity towards people most at risk from fire and other emergencies. Those identified as being at highest risk are prioritised for a visit within either 48 or 72 hours, depending on the risk level. In the year ending 31 March 2024, the service carried out 5,260 safe and well visits. Of these, 86.7 percent were for the most vulnerable people.
The service uses a broad range of information and data to target its prevention activity at vulnerable individuals and groups. It does this through receiving referrals from other organisations, such as social care and health services, which it has trained to recognise people who are more vulnerable to fire. In the year ending 31 March 2024, it received 2,980 referrals for prevention visits from other agencies. It also adapts its station plans to reflect different local risks and help it identify people who might not be known to these organisations.
It carries out a range of interventions, which it adapts to the level of risk in its communities. Of the safe and well visits carried out by the service, 556 led to a referral to another agency for extra support to reduce the risk of the household or individual living at the address.
Staff are trained to carry out safe and well visits
Staff told us they have the right skills and confidence to make safe and well visits. These visits cover an appropriate range of hazards that can put vulnerable people at greater risk from fire and other emergencies. Training is available on the service’s electronic learning system for all staff to complete, and some staff have received additional training on topics such as mental health.
The service responds well to safeguarding concerns
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 either online or face-to-face training on how to raise a safeguarding concern. A central safeguarding officer is also available to provide advice to staff if they need it.
The service works well with others to prevent fires and other emergencies
The service works with a wide range of other organisations to prevent fires and other emergencies. These include initiatives such as Biker Down, a workshop for motorcyclists, and a mentoring programme (Ignite) with the Thames Valley Violence Prevention Partnership for young people not in education, employment or training.
We found good evidence that the service routinely refers people at greatest risk to organisations that may better meet their needs. These organisations include Age UK to prevent falls and provide assistive technologies. Arrangements are also in place to receive referrals from others. And the service acts appropriately on the referrals it receives.
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.
The service tackles fire-setting behaviour
The service has a range of suitable and effective interventions to target and educate people with different needs who show signs of fire-setting behaviour. It continues to provide its FireSafe programme to children and young people who show these signs.
When appropriate, the service routinely shares information with relevant organisations to support the prosecution of arsonists. It participates in local problem-solving tasking meetings (involving the police and council representatives) to make sure they share relevant information about antisocial behaviour hotspots.
The service completes effective evaluation of its activities
The service now 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. This was an area for improvement we identified in our 2022 inspection. The service has worked hard to address this and has completed evaluations of its safe and well activity and safety education. As a result, we have closed this area for improvement.
Prevention activities take account of feedback from the public, other organisations and other parts of the service. For example, the service contacts a sample of people who received safe and well visits two weeks and three months after the visits, to assess whether they have changed their behaviour because of the advice given.
The service uses feedback to inform its planning assumptions and change future activity, so it focuses on what the community needs and what works. To support this, it also has a robust internal quality assurance procedure which is regularly completed by managers.
Good
Protecting the public through fire regulation
Royal Berkshire 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 has a clear risk management plan for protection
The service’s protection strategy is clearly linked to the risks it has identified in its CRMP.
Staff across the service are involved in this activity, effectively exchanging information as needed. For example, firefighters recently identified potential fire safety risks when responding to an incident. They immediately informed trained protection staff, who attended and confirmed that there were safety issues requiring intervention. And when protection staff identify building safety concerns, the information is added to mobile data terminals so that response staff are aware of these concerns, should an incident happen at the relevant location.
The service then uses information to adjust planning assumptions and direct activity between its protection, prevention and response functions. This means resources are properly aligned to risk. Following a fire in a high-rise building, prevention, protection and response staff worked together to provide residents with reassurance and advice. And in the year to 31 March 2024, the service completed 721 fire safety audits for premises across its area.
The service is working to align its activity to risk
The service’s risk-based inspection programme is now more focused on the service’s highest-risk buildings. The service has reviewed the risk level of premises in its area. It told us that it has now identified 799 premises as high or very high risk, requiring a review every one to three years. It planned to complete 298 high-risk audits in 2024/25. In the year to 31 March 2024, the service completed 186 high-risk audits of the 270 it aimed to carry out.
The audits we reviewed had been completed in the timescales the service has set itself. The service monitors its performance through monthly meetings. It has determined that it needs to focus more resources on the risk-based inspection programme.
The service carries out 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; and
- 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. For example, high-rise premises can be easily identified on the system used to mobilise fire engines. The information provided includes the type of evacuation that applies to each building (stay put, full evacuation and/or sequential evacuation).
The service has a good quality assurance process
The service carries out proportionate quality assurance of its protection activity. It has a dedicated quality assurance officer, and the quality assurance process aligns with National Fire Chiefs Council guidance. It involves observing protection audits, and reviewing records of these, every quarter.
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 should make sure it follows up on the actions it sets out in its equality impact assessments to reduce the impact on parts of its communities.
The service uses its enforcement powers but should make sure it is reducing risk
The service uses its range of enforcement powers, and when appropriate, it prosecutes those who don’t comply with fire safety regulations. It has a dedicated team to support prosecution activity.
In the year ending 31 March 2024, the service issued three alteration notices, 222 informal notifications, 17 enforcement notices, five prohibition notices and didn’t carry out any prosecutions. It completed six prosecutions in the five years from 2019/20 to 2023/24.
The service doesn’t always follow up its enforcement action, only recording 30 satisfactory audits following enforcement action in relation to the 247 enforcement actions issued in the year ending 31 March 2024. Home Office data for the same year shows that 68.7 percent of the audits the service completed (495 out of 721) resulted in a satisfactory outcome. The service should assure itself that its use of enforcement powers prioritises the highest risks and includes proportionate activity to reduce risk.
The service has enough staff to meet its revised plans
The service has enough qualified protection staff to meet the requirements of its recently revised risk-based inspection programme. In 2023/24, it had 16 competent staff and 5 staff in development. This helps it provide the range of audit and enforcement activity needed.
Staff get the right training and work to appropriate accreditation. We heard that staff would appreciate more structured continuous professional development and that the service had acknowledged this feedback.
The service can adapt to new legislation
Since our last inspection, the Building Safety Act 2022 and the Fire Safety (England) 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. Two members of staff have carried out training related to this, and will work with other services in the south-east region to manage the expected additional workload. It expects these arrangements to have a manageable impact on its other protection activity.
The Fire Safety (England) 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.
We found 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 share fire safety information
The service continues to work closely with other enforcement agencies to regulate fire safety and it routinely exchanges risk information with them. We were told that high-risk premises were identified by partners including local authorities and the Environment Agency. And during our file review, we saw that the service had shared information with relevant local organisations.
The service responds to building consultations
The service responds to most building consultations on time. This means it consistently meets its statutory responsibility to comment on fire safety arrangements at new and altered buildings. In 2023/24, the service completed 93.6 percent of building consultations in the required timescales. It received 780 building regulation consultations and responded to 730 within the relevant timescales.
In 2023/24, it also responded to 95.3 percent of licensing consultations received (224 out of 235) within the required time.
The service provides useful information to businesses
The service continues to work proactively with local businesses and other organisations to promote compliance with fire safety legislation. It holds online information sessions monthly for groups of local businesses.
The service has made good progress to reduce unwanted fire signals
An effective risk-based approach is now in place to manage the number of unwanted fire signals. The service completed thorough consultation with the community, businesses and other interested parties during 2024 to understand the impact a change in approach to unwanted fire signals might have on them. As a result of this consultation, the service made positive changes to its approach and began to challenge calls that could be false alarms from September 2024.
In the first months of the new procedure, the service has been closely monitoring how many calls of this type it receives and responds to. It told us that it believed it had reduced the number of false alarm calls it responded to by checking during an initial call if a fire was the cause. We look forward to seeing the service’s full evaluation of the changes it has made. 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.
This was an area for improvement identified in our 2022 inspection. The service has worked hard to understand and reduce the impact of these calls. As a result, we have closed this area for improvement.
Good
Responding to fires and other emergencies
Royal Berkshire Fire and Rescue Service is good 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 adapts its response plans to meet risks it has identified
The service’s response strategy is linked to the risks it has identified in its CRMP. The service identified an increase in water rescue related incidents in the east of the county and has increased its water rescue capability in this area. It bases its aerial ladder platforms in a central location where there are more high-rise buildings.
The service isn’t meeting 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 CRMP. It aims to respond to incidents within 10 minutes on 75 percent of occasions. It doesn’t always meet this standard, and told us that in 2023/24 it achieved this target for 72.3 percent of occasions. This figure has been decreasing year on year since 2020/21, when the service responded to 78.2 percent of incidents within 10 minutes.
The service’s response times are closely monitored
Home Office data shows that in the year ending 31 March 2024, the service’s response time to primary fires was 8 minutes and 20 seconds. This is slower than the average for predominantly urban services, which is 7 minutes and 43 seconds.
The service closely monitors its response times in relation to its standard. It knows that since the first quarter of 2023/24 most of the increase in its response times has been due to extended drive times and increased call handling times.
One of the service’s CRMP objectives is to review the response model. To complete this review during 2025, it has increased the amount of resources available. This work should make sure the service’s deployment of fire engines and response staff, as well as its working patterns, allow it to respond flexibly to fires and other emergencies. It should also make sure that the service can meet the standards of response and availability it sets itself. Without such a review, the service’s performance could further decline.
Fire engine availability isn’t in line with the service’s expectations
To support its response strategy, the service aims to have:
- its wholetime fire engines available on 99 percent of occasions; and
- its on-call fire engines available on 50 percent of occasions.
The service doesn’t always meet this standard. In 2023/24, the service’s wholetime fire engines were available 97.4 percent of the time. And its on-call fire engines were available 40.6 percent of the time. These figures have remained broadly the same over recent years.
The service understands the challenges it faces in increasing the availability of its on‑call fire engines. It has recently adapted its overnight resourcing plan, and has recruited more staff for its on-call station with the lowest fire engine availability. This work, together with the service’s plan to review its response model and its close monitoring of response times, addresses an area for improvement we identified in the 2022 inspection. This said that the service should monitor and review its response model with reduced availability of its fire engines and in line with its CRMP. As a result of the service’s work to address it, we have closed this area for improvement.
The service has good command of incidents
The service has trained incident commanders, who are assessed regularly and properly. A programme of regular exercises and operational monitoring supports incident commanders to be confident in their role. 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).
Control staff are included in the service’s exercises and debriefs
We were pleased to see the service’s control staff integrated into its command, training, exercise, debrief and assurance activity. We were told about recent high‑rise and multi-agency exercises the service had organised that involved control staff throughout. And control staff told us about how learning from debriefs is shared with them to support improvements.
The service is supporting the control team to develop a maintenance of competency plan to make sure its staff have the right skills. We look forward to seeing the outcome of this work.
Risk information is readily available for staff to use
We sampled a range of risk information on the service’s central database, its mobile data terminals and the system it uses to mobilise fire engines. This included the information in place for firefighters responding to incidents at high-risk, high-rise buildings and the information held by fire control.
During our 2022 inspection, we found that the service’s mobile data terminals functioned slowly, preventing quick access to this information for staff responding to an incident. An area for improvement said that the service should make sure these terminals were reliable so that firefighters could readily access up-to-date risk information. The service has worked hard to update the mobile data terminals, and as a result we have closed this area for improvement.
The information we reviewed was up to date and detailed. Staff could easily access and understand it. Encouragingly, it had been completed with input from the service’s prevention, protection and response functions when appropriate.
The service is good at evaluating operational performance
As part of the inspection, we reviewed a range of emergency incidents and training events on which there had been debriefs. These included high-rise incidents and exercises. We found that the officers carrying out the debriefs had been well trained in partnership with Thames Valley Police. Learning is shared on the service’s intranet, in operational bulletins and via email.
The service has responded to learning from these incidents to improve its service for the public. For example, it has used learning from recent water rescue incidents to communicate safety messages via digital screens on school buses.
The service has implemented national operational guidance
We were pleased to see the service routinely follows its policies to make sure that staff command incidents in line with operational guidance. It updates internal risk information with the information it receives. This is done in alignment with the other fire and rescue services in the Thames Valley to make sure there is consistency.
When necessary, the service is contributing towards, and acting on, learning from other fire and rescue services or operational learning gathered from emergency service partners.
The service keeps the public informed about incidents
The service has good systems in place to inform the public about ongoing incidents and help keep them safe during and after incidents. This includes continuing to be part of the Thames Valley Local Resilience Forum’s warn and inform group, and reviewing how it provides specialist communication support out of standard hours.
Good
Responding to major and multi-agency incidents
Royal Berkshire 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 continues to be well 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 community risk management planning. For example, we reviewed the plans in place for responding to incidents that would require mass evacuation from hospitals and high-rise buildings. They included an appropriate level of detail to support the service to respond effectively.
It is also familiar with the significant risks neighbouring fire and rescue services may face, and which it might reasonably be asked to respond to in an emergency, such as flooding or wildfires. Firefighters have access to risk information from neighbouring services.
The service should address all the Grenfell Tower Inquiry recommendations
In our last inspection in 2022, 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 respond to a major incident at a tall building, such as the tragedy at Grenfell Tower.
We found the service has well-developed policies and procedures in place for safely managing this type of incident. Staff at all levels understand them, and robust training and exercises have taken place to test them.
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 to deal with sharing fire survival guidance information aren’t robust enough to receive and manage this volume of calls. The service has now tested an electronic system for sharing fire survival guidance information. But this was still in development at the time of our inspection in October 2024. The procedures haven’t been updated with the new electronic system for sharing information, and most staff haven’t been trained in its application.
The service still relies on a paper-based system to record fire survival guidance information. These systems 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. Using this kind of system could compromise the service’s ability to safely resolve a major incident at a tall building.
The service works well with other fire and rescue services
The service continues to support other fire and rescue services responding to emergency incidents. For example, the service has a specialist marauding terrorist attack team, trained and equipped to provide a response to such an incident in the region. It is intraoperable with these other services and can form part of a multi‑agency response.
The service has successfully deployed to other services and has used national assets.
Staff take part in cross-border exercises
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. We were encouraged to see the service uses feedback from these exercises to inform risk information and service plans. In 2023/24, the service arranged six exercises with neighbouring services. One of these was in a derelict high-rise building in Reading and involved all the Thames Valley emergency services.
The service’s staff have a good understanding of 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 includes the regular organisation of multi-agency exercises. In 2023/24, the service arranged 45 multi-agency exercises, which was a big increase on the previous year, when 15 took place.
We sampled a range of debriefs the service had carried out after multi-agency incidents and/or exercises. We were encouraged to find that the service is identifying any problems it has with applying JESIP and taking appropriate, prompt action with other emergency services. For example, it has shared knowledge about the complex response arrangements that would be required at a COMAH (Control of Major Accident Hazards) site in its area.
The service works well with other organisations to prepare for major incidents
The service has good arrangements in place to respond to emergencies with partners that make up the Thames Valley Local Resilience Forum (LRF). These arrangements include an operational information note aligned to the LRF’s emergency response arrangement for a major incident.
The service is a valued partner in the LRF, chairing the risk group, and learning and assurance group. It is also a member of the forum’s executive group, warn and inform group, and training and exercise group. The service has recently introduced an internal co-ordination group for its different LRF representatives. This helps make sure that the work they are doing is efficient and effective. The service’s LRF partners have used learning from this to create similar internal groups.
The service takes part in regular training events with other members of the LRF and uses the learning to develop planning assumptions about responding to major and multi-agency incidents.
The service uses national learning to support its plans
The service makes sure it knows about national operational updates from other fire and rescue services and joint organisational 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 operational learning and assurance board monitors a joint organisational learning action plan, making sure the service implements local, joint and national learning.
Adequate
Making best use of resources
Royal Berkshire 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 2024/25 is £46.0 million. This is a 9.5 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 needs to review how it allocates its resources
The service’s financial plans continue to be consistent with the risks and priorities it has identified in its CRMP. Over the term of this CRMP, the service has six priority objectives. These aim to achieve improved efficiency and more effective use of resources, and savings can then be reinvested in the service.
However, the service could improve how it allocates staff to prevention, protection and response. For example, it has identified low staffing levels in prevention as a potential barrier to achieving its aims. The service is carrying out a review to determine what resources it needs to manage the changing risks it faces. To ease pressure in the short term, it has recruited staff to temporary posts.
The service sometimes uses its resources well to manage risk, but there are some weaknesses that need addressing. For example, in its current CRMP, the service states it needs 14 frontline fire engines to provide the right cover to meet its planning assumptions 24 hours a day. It relies too much on pre-arranged overtime to make sure it can provide this number of fire engines. The service’s current review of its needs should establish whether this assessment is accurate. While this is ongoing, it has recruited an additional 10 firefighters above its usual levels with the aim of reducing its extensive use of overtime.
The service hasn’t fully evaluated its mix of crewing and duty systems. As we found in our previous inspection, some staff still reported that they had unmanageable workloads, while others felt they had spare capacity when compared to other personnel. The service is aware of this. As one of the priorities in its current CRMP, it plans to analyse its response cover, and evaluate whether it deploys its fire engines and response staff to manage risk efficiently.
The service continues to build its financial plans on sound scenarios. They help make sure the service is sustainable and are underpinned by financial controls that reduce the risk of misusing public money. The service is good at reviewing its risk register regularly and adapting its plans accordingly. It shares these plans with Royal Berkshire Fire Authority, which continues to provide overview and scrutiny.
The service is working to increase productivity and improve ways of working
We were encouraged to see the improvements the service has made since our last inspection in 2022. We were pleased to see that the service’s arrangements for managing performance clearly link the use of resources to its CRMP and its strategic priorities. Its station and hub plans continue to align with the CRMP, and are tailored to mitigate local risk.
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 introduced a productivity board that is evaluating a number of projects, which should help to increase staff productivity. These have included improving several of the service’s IT systems and automating some previously manual processes.
The service understands how it uses its wholetime firefighters. It has collected initial data on how they spend their time across day and night shifts. It plans to collect this data again soon to assess the impact some of its productivity projects have made, and intends to make the most of its staff capacity. In our last inspection, we identified an area for improvement for the service to have effective measures in place to assure itself that its workforce was productive and that its time was used as efficiently and effectively as possible. As a result of the service’s work to address it, we have closed this area for improvement.
The service works well with others to make savings
We were pleased to see the service continues to meet its statutory duty to collaborate. It routinely considers opportunities to collaborate with other emergency responders. It shares some of its estate with Thames Valley Police and South Central Ambulance Service. And it continues to share a fleet maintenance team with Hampshire and Isle of Wight Fire and Rescue Service.
Collaborative work is aligned to the priorities in the service’s CRMP. For example, joint procurement activity with fire and rescue services across the Thames Valley is reducing costs and improving responses to incidents. Using the same equipment and procedures helps staff command incidents effectively.
The service comprehensively monitors, reviews and evaluates the benefits and results of its collaborations. It is providing project support to the Thames Valley Emergency Services Collaboration board. Notable results from its evaluation activity include:
- managing attendance at cross-border incidents more efficiently through using the same breathing apparatus, leading to estimated savings of approximately £25,000 across the three Thames Valley fire and rescue services; and
- carrying out forced entry to incidents on behalf of South Central Ambulance Service, instead of Thames Valley Police, helping to improve the response to incidents across all emergency services.
The service has good business continuity arrangements
The service has good continuity arrangements in place for areas in which it considers threats and risks to be high. It regularly reviews and tests these threats and risks so that staff know the arrangements and their associated responsibilities. The service has agreed a contract with an external provider to provide a minimum level of cover in the event of industrial action. It has tested this arrangement both for the provision of Thames Valley Fire Control Service and the crewing of its fire engines.
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, the finance team works closely with budget holders to review and challenge expenditure. This is done through monthly meetings to review expenditure. The finance team then provides quarterly financial reports to the strategic performance board. The service also has governance and assurance processes in place, both internal and external, which support the financial management of the budget.
The service has made savings and efficiencies, which have caused minimal disruption to its operational performance and the service it gives the public. It has reviewed its store management and estimates it will have saved £49,000 in 2024/25 through improved processes. And it hopes to make savings on its overtime costs with changes to its nighttime staffing.
The service is taking steps to make sure it achieves efficiency gains through sound financial management and best working practices. It is doing this in important areas such as estates, fleet and procurement. It uses procurement frameworks and joint procurement to get the best possible purchasing power. For example, it uses an energy procurement framework to manage its energy costs. And the service told us that by using the Home Office’s procurement evaluation framework, it saved £500,000 in 2022/23 and £300,000 in 2023/24.
It has also maintained its membership of the Fire & Rescue Indemnity Company. This has reduced the cost of the service’s annual insurance premiums by approximately 20 to 25 percent. The service also expects to be able to share in a payback process with the company’s 13 other fire and rescue service members due to a lower than expected number of claims.
Adequate
Making the FRS affordable now and in the future
Royal Berkshire 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 financial risks through good reserve management and controlled borrowing, and by making conservative budget assumptions. In its risk register, it has identified the risk that increases in inflation might bring, and it reviews its budget position monthly. The service maintains a budget contingency reserve. It used this to deal with the impact of a higher-than-budgeted pay award in 2024/25 and to help balance the 2024/25 revenue budget.
The underpinning assumptions are relatively robust, realistic and sensible. They take account of the wider external environment and some scenario planning for future spending reductions. These include anticipating the increased cost of employer pension contributions, and building this into the base budget.
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 2024/25 revenue budget included £565,000 of identified savings. This included savings from changes to operations, improved ways of working and contract renegotiations.
When we last inspected in 2022, the service recognised that the property element of its capital programme wasn’t fully funded from 2024/25 onwards. Since that inspection, the service has put in place the funding it needs to support its estates plans. It has done this using a grant from the Salix Finance Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme, its development fund, capital sales receipts, funding from the revenue budget and controlled borrowing.
The service uses its reserves appropriately
The service has a sensible and sustainable plan for using its reserves. This plan includes replenishing any reserves that have been used whenever there is a surplus in the revenue budget. For example, in 2023/24 the budget contingency reserve was replenished with £573,000. This forms part of the service’s contingency planning, so it is able to manage any unexpected financial pressures.
The service has good plans for its fleet and estates
We were encouraged to see the improvements the service has made since our last inspection. Its revised strategy includes investments of £22 million in its estate between 2024 and 2028. One of its major projects is the rebuilding of its training centre at Whitley Wood, which will help the service to maintain the competence of its operational staff. It has also been replacing its fire engines through a joint procurement process with the other Thames Valley fire and rescue services, making sure the age of the fleet remains low.
The service’s estate and fleet strategies have clear links to its CRMP. Both strategies exploit opportunities to improve efficiency and effectiveness. For example, the service is fitting LED lighting in many of its buildings, as well as ground source heat or solar systems to support sustainability and reduce energy costs. It has also invested in a vehicle tracking system to optimise the use of its fleet.
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 is investing in change projects and new technologies
The service actively considers how changes in technology and future innovation may affect risk. It has recently invested in updating its intranet to use Microsoft 365 software, to make sure it is able to make the most of opportunities presented by integrated technology in the future. It also looks to exploit opportunities to improve efficiency and effectiveness presented by changes in technology. Using Microsoft 365 has resulted in the service being able to make financial savings by not needing to use other, bespoke systems to manage its activities.
The service has put in place the capacity and capability it needs to achieve sustainable transformation, and it routinely looks for opportunities to work with others to improve efficiency and provide better services in the future. To help it make the changes it needs, it has a dedicated transformation fund of £900,000 and has recruited staff to specific project management roles. These include positions overseeing the development of the service’s facilities, and IT projects such as the implementation of Microsoft 365 and new HR and finance systems.
Recognising that it has faced more major incidents such as flooding and heatwaves in recent years, the service is also investing in how it manages its external communications for these high-impact infrequent incidents.
The service generates some income from external sources
The service actively considers and exploits opportunities for generating extra income. It receives income from leasing buildings, and land for telecoms masts.
Where appropriate, the service has secured external funding to invest in improvements to the service it gives the public. This includes decarbonisation funding of £900,000, which has been match funded by the fire authority, for improvements to the service’s buildings such as renewed double glazing, solar panels and ground source heat pumps.
Good
Promoting the right values and culture
Royal Berkshire 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
The service has a good culture, and staff demonstrate positive behaviours
The service continues to have well-defined values, which staff understand. These have been reviewed since our last inspection and align with the Core Code of Ethics. The service has a behavioural competency framework for staff to use, which is based on the National Fire Chiefs Council leadership framework. We found staff at all levels of the service showing behaviours that reflect service values. Staff talk about putting the community at the heart of what they do, and describe the service’s culture as positive.
Most staff think that senior leaders act as role models. In response to staff feedback, the service has developed an action plan to increase the trust staff have in leaders. In our staff survey, 69 percent of respondents (133 out of 194) agreed or tended to agree that the service’s senior leaders consistently model its values. In our last inspection (Round 2), 87 percent (173 out of 200) agreed or tended to agree that senior leaders consistently modelled the service’s values.
There is a positive working culture throughout the service, with staff empowered and willing to challenge poor behaviours when they come across them. Some staff have completed active bystander training, which has increased their confidence in knowing how to challenge inappropriate behaviours. And a new scheme encourages operational staff and support staff to spend time in each other’s workplaces, breaking down barriers and supporting inclusion.
The service looks after the mental and physical well-being of its workforce
The service continues to have well-understood and effective well-being policies in place, which are available to staff. A significant range of well-being support is available to support both physical and mental health. For example, the service provides an occupational health service and an employee assistance programme. It also signposts private healthcare options and promotes the use of the Fire Fighters Charity. And it offers trauma support to all its staff after incidents through a team of blue light champions.
The service has recently extended its maternity policy to provide 52 weeks of full pay. It also has physical education supervisors to support staff in maintaining their physical fitness. And fitness tests are carried out every six months. The service is working with other emergency services in the Thames Valley to develop an early screening tool for mental health.
There are good provisions in place to promote staff well-being. The service provides a wide range of well-being information on its intranet pages and in its all-staff newsletters. It monitors data on absences to identify any notable trends at an early stage. The service has merged its health and safety and well-being teams to improve work and make it more efficient. This includes work on reducing the risk from contaminants, as well as providing access to health services such as sight and hearing tests. At the time of our inspection, the service was advertising to recruit an additional two members of staff into this team.
In our staff survey, 88 percent of respondents (191 out of 218) agreed or tended to agree that they felt able to access the services available to support their mental well-being. Most staff reported they understand and have confidence in the well-being support processes available.
The service has a good health and safety culture
The service continues to have effective and well-understood health and safety policies and procedures in place. It has used automation to improve some of its online processes to investigate accidents at work. It reviews its health and safety policies annually and analyses and presents performance data quarterly to both the senior leadership team and the fire authority. It is working hard to reduce the potential impact of contaminants on staff health. This includes investing in different types of smoke hoods (which should help block particulates) and having clean and dirty storage areas in both fire engines and fire stations.
These policies and procedures are readily available, and the service promotes them effectively to all staff. In our staff survey, 94 percent of respondents (204 out of 218) agreed or tended to agree that the service had policies and procedures in place to make sure they could work safely. 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. Its policy is clear, and the system has automated updates in place for managers to make sure that appropriate breaks are taken.
The service has improved the way it manages absence
We found there are clear processes in place to manage absences for all staff. This was identified as an area for improvement in the last inspection. The service has provided clear guidance for managers, and most managers have received training. Following consultation with managers, the service developed a toolkit on the absence management process. Managers are now more confident in using the process. The service manages absences well and in accordance with policy. It audits the process regularly to check for compliance, and has introduced a working group to analyse data on absences and make recommendations for further improvements. As a result of the service’s work, we have closed this area for improvement.
In 2023/24, the average number of days not worked per firefighter due to both long‑term and short-term sickness decreased by 7 percent and 19.1 percent respectively compared to 2022/23. As described in ‘Making best use of resources’, some staff report having unmanageable workloads. The service reviews the impact of work-related stress in its absence reporting process, and plans to review its workforce model to balance workloads better.
Good
Getting the right people with the right skills
Royal Berkshire 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 has improved its workforce planning
The service has improved its workforce planning. It now has a sophisticated dashboard to display workforce data. This includes the categorisation of roles according to the specialisms required to fill the post. This will help the service with its succession planning.
The service makes sure skills and capabilities align with what it needs to effectively carry out its CRMP. For example, it has recently recruited an additional ten firefighters to build resilience and make sure it can staff all the wholetime fire engines it has identified it will need to respond to incidents in its area.
Workforce and succession planning is subject to consistent scrutiny in the form of regular meetings to discuss requirements. The workforce planning group continues to meet quarterly to review skills and assess expected changes to the workforce in the coming year.
The service has also restructured its learning, resourcing and development teams. This will help make sure that it has the right staff in place to complete timely recruitment processes, develop internal promotion processes and provide essential training. The changes have already helped the service to improve its process for booking training courses. Staff told us that this had had a positive impact for them.
The service understands its workforce’s skills and capabilities
Most staff told us that they could access the training they need to be effective in their role. This wasn’t just focused on operational skills. The service’s training plans make sure they can maintain competence and capability effectively. For example, staff can access leadership courses and training courses on topics such as safeguarding and mental health, as well as core operational courses. The service has increased the number of training exercises it carries out, which is helping to increase the confidence of operational staff in responding to major and multi-agency incidents.
The service monitors staff competence through its operational qualification planner and its online training system. It regularly updates its understanding of staff skills and risk-critical safety capabilities. 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. But we heard that managing two different systems could make the overall monitoring of skills and qualifications more difficult. The service should aim to simplify this approach.
The service promotes a culture of learning and improvement
The service promotes a culture of continuous improvements throughout the organisation, and it encourages staff to learn and develop. For example, operational and protection staff have a clear development assessment pathway and can access courses before they are placed in a particular post. But the service hasn’t extended this approach to other parts of the service, as we hoped it might after our last inspection.
We were pleased to see that the service has a range of resources in place. It has recently brought in the use of virtual reality headsets to help provide more realistic incident command training packages. The service continues to develop staff through its annual training bursary scheme and by using external experts to provide learning on topics such as leadership and management, and equality, diversity and inclusion.
Most staff told us they can access a range of learning and development resources. In our staff survey, 76 percent of respondents (165 out of 218) agreed or tended to agree that they could access the right learning and development opportunities when they needed to. This allows them to do their job effectively.
Good
Ensuring fairness and promoting diversity
Royal Berkshire 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 encouraging and acting on staff feedback and challenge
The service has developed several ways to work with staff on issues and decisions that affect them. These include methods to build all-staff awareness of fairness and diversity, as well as targeted initiatives to identify matters that affect different staff groups. Annual staff surveys and a new internal communications channel encourage staff to provide feedback about different topics. The service posts videos and holds online meetings for staff about upcoming changes to ways of working.
The service has taken some action to address matters staff have raised. For example, following recent staff feedback, the senior leadership team has restarted a programme of planned station visits. And staff have received these actions positively.
Representative bodies and staff associations reported that they would like better communication with the service.
The service is tackling 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 our staff survey, 17 percent of respondents (38 out of 218) told us they had been subject to bullying or harassment, and 13 percent (28 out of 218) to discrimination over the past 12 months.
Most staff are confident in the service’s approach to tackling bullying, harassment and discrimination, grievances and disciplinary matters. Staff are encouraged to raise issues with their line managers, and a confidential reporting line is available. The service has made sure all staff are trained and clear about what to do if they encounter inappropriate behaviour. Staff who have done the active bystander training talk about it helping them to challenge poor behaviours.
The service is addressing disproportionality 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 service is carrying out analysis at each stage of its recruitment processes to understand the data on the protected characteristics of the applicants who succeed. This helps it understand if there are any barriers for under-represented groups.
The service has put considerable effort into developing its recruitment processes so that they are fair and potential applicants can understand them. It holds sessions to help people who are interested in joining the service as a firefighter to understand more about the application process. The service told us that 67 people signed up to attend one of these sessions, with 42 percent identifying as being from an under‑represented group.
The recruitment policies are comprehensive and cover opportunities in all roles. The service advertises recruitment opportunities both internally and externally, and considers how diverse the recruitment panel is. This has encouraged applicants from diverse backgrounds, including for middle and senior management roles.
The service is seeing some improvements in the diversity of its workforce
The service has made some improvements to increasing staff diversity at all levels of the organisation. The proportion of firefighters that identified as being from an ethnic minority background has increased from 3.7 percent (16 people) as at 31 March 2023 to 4.5 percent (19 people) as at 31 March 2024. The proportion of firefighters who identified as a woman has increased from 6.8 percent (30 people) to 7.8 percent (33 people) over the same period.
For the whole workforce, as at 31 March 2024, 7.8 percent identified as being from an ethnic minority background compared to 35.7 percent in their local population and a rate of 8.6 percent throughout fire and rescue services in England. A total of 25.6 percent identified as a woman, compared to a rate of 20.2 percent throughout fire and rescue services in England. Most women within the service work in support or control roles.
The service has taken steps to improve diversity. For example, it has extended its internship programme due to its success in increasing the diversity of the workforce. It has extended its maternity pay offer to provide 52 weeks’ full pay, and it is investing in both its estates and uniform to make sure they are inclusive. The wider workforce supports this.
The service promotes equality, diversity and inclusion
The service continues to improve 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 has a dedicated officer to monitor the work the service does to improve equality, diversity and inclusion. And it targets its consultation work to encourage a diverse range of respondents. The service told us that 14.3 percent of its CRMP consultation responses were from under-represented groups.
The service has some staff networks, such as a neurodiversity network, to support people from minority groups. For example, the neurodiversity staff network has developed a ‘work with me passport’ and guidance to help colleagues understand the different adjustments neurodivergent staff might need. An equality, diversity and inclusion group meets quarterly to provide an opportunity for staff to raise issues or discuss ideas. However, there is some frustration among staff that the focus of these networks is limited, and a feeling that they could provide a wider range of support.
Although the service has a process in place to assess equality impact, it doesn’t consistently assess or act on the impact on each protected characteristic. Some of its stations are awaiting an upgrade to their facilities for women. The plan for these upgrades needs to be communicated clearly to staff so they know when improvements will be completed.
We reviewed a range of equality impact assessments the service had carried out. Some included actions to support the service to reduce the impact on groups with some protected characteristics. The service has a central tracker to monitor these actions. It is the responsibility of different managers to make sure the actions are completed. We heard that managers had heavy workloads and that these actions weren’t always a priority. The service should review the resources and support it provides to the workforce to complete any equality action plans.
Good
Managing performance and developing leaders
Royal Berkshire Fire and Rescue Service is adequate 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 is improving how it manages individuals’ performance, but more still needs to be done
There is a good performance management system in place. The service has updated its policy for this, and improved the form that is completed as part of the individual annual review process. Some managers reported that they had been trained in the process recently. And some staff were clear about the objectives that had been set for them for the year ahead. But some staff still reported not having had a performance conversation with their manager in the last year.
In our staff survey, 79 percent of respondents (173 of 218) said they had had a development review in the last 12 months.
As at 31 March 2024, 70 percent of support staff, 84 percent of wholetime firefighters, 87 percent of on-call firefighters and 83 percent of control staff had had a personal development review.
Staff don’t always think the system is fair or useful. For example, some staff have used the process to request training courses for their development over the last two years. But they reported that they hadn’t received any follow-up communication about these requests.
In our last inspection, we identified improving staff understanding and application of the performance development review process as an area for improvement. Given the service’s limited progress in addressing it, this area for improvement remains.
The service has fair promotion and progression processes
The service has a fair promotion and progression policy for operational staff. It is comprehensive and clear so that all staff can understand it. The service has invested in coaching and mentoring schemes for staff to support them in this process.
The service also has effective succession-planning processes in place, which allow it to effectively manage the career pathways of some of its staff, including roles needing specialist skills. This includes categorising all roles in the service to understand which would be more difficult to recruit to if they become vacant.
It manages selection processes consistently. The application and interview processes align with the service’s values. And it uses temporary promotions appropriately to fill short-term resourcing gaps.
The service is actively diversifying its leadership for the future
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. These include advertising opportunities externally, using a wide range of online platforms to advertise, and exploring the possibility of accepting direct management entrants to the service. The service also advertises opportunities as both grey book (operational) and green book (non-operational) roles where possible.
The service needs to do more to identify and develop high-potential staff at all levels
The service needs to improve the way it actively manages the career pathways of staff, including those with specialist skills and those with potential for leadership roles.
It has some talent management schemes in place to develop leaders and high‑potential staff, such as its development assessment pathways and promotion processes. But these don’t apply to all staff. The service has trialled a new approach to talent development with a small selection of staff. This involved developing managers’ skills in coaching and providing feedback, as well as exploring a new rating system for use in annual performance development reviews. This is yet to be rolled out further as the service intends to consult with all staff groups on what would be appropriate for wider use. The service plans to have a process in place for all staff by 2026/27.
The service should consider putting in place more formal arrangements to identify and support members of staff at an early stage to become senior leaders. We identified this as an area for improvement in our last inspection. Given the service’s limited progress in addressing it, this area for improvement remains.
The service has considered the December 2022 Leading the Service and Leading and Developing People fire standards and how it will implement them.
Adequate
