Overall summary
Our judgments
Our inspection assessed how well Tyne and Wear 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 Tyne and Wear Fire and Rescue Service in November 2021. And in July 2022, 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 Tyne and Wear Fire and Rescue Service.
Read more information on how we assess fire and rescue services and our graded judgments.
HMI summary
It was a pleasure to revisit Tyne and Wear Fire and Rescue Service. 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 Tyne and Wear 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, although some progress has been made regarding equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI), the service should make sure its employees are confident in the core principles of EDI when working with people in its communities.
Since our inspection in 2021, the service has made changes to enhance performance. This has included appointing new leaders in some departments along with a new chief fire officer and a new deputy chief fire officer. As a result, we acknowledge that the work the service is doing to review and amend processes, policies and procedures is ongoing.
My principal findings from our assessments of the service over the past year are as follows:
- The service needs to make sure all departments can clearly align the work they do with what is in its ‘mission statement’ – to save life and reduce risk within the communities it serves.
- The service has improved its leadership development, introducing clear pathways that support and guide staff at all levels throughout their career.
- The service needs to support staff to fully understand the importance of EDI, and how this can improve how they work with people to reduce risk.
The service has made changes to improve the cultural direction of the organisation, making sure staff understand and demonstrate the expected behaviours. In October 2023, it commissioned a cultural review, and in December 2023, we completed a thematic inspection. The service has used feedback from these reviews to guide change.
We acknowledge the service is undergoing a period of change, which is affecting some areas of work. We will keep in close contact to monitor the effect of these changes.
Michelle Skeer
HM Inspector of Fire & Rescue Services
Service in numbers
Percentage of firefighters, workforce and population who identified as a woman as at 31 March 2023
Percentage of firefighters, workforce and population who were from ethnic minority backgrounds as at 31 March 2023
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
Tyne and Wear 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 identifies risk within its community risk profile
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. It has produced a robust community risk profile for 2023–26, which identifies risk within the service area. Datasets used to form the community risk profile include:
This document informs the service’s community risk management plan.
When appropriate, the service has held constructive dialogue with its communities and other relevant parties to understand risk and explain how it intends to mitigate it. For example, the service held consultation sessions in each of its five local authority areas. Each session included representation from the service’s executive leadership team to answer questions from the public. The service also invited councillors from the North Tyneside authority to consultation meetings with the chief fire officer.
The service surveyed people in its area, in relation to its new CRMP. It received 648 responses, 266 of which were from members of the public and 162 from staff members. In addition, it wrote to 127 local stakeholders about the CRMP. Of these, 12 responded with contributions to the consultation. Finally, during the consultation period, the service recorded 1,256 visits to the CRMP website page.
The CRMP doesn’t effectively influence activity
The CRMP isn’t the service’s only strategic document. Other strategic documents include the ‘TWFRS 2025 strategy’ and the ‘people and organisation strategy’.
We are pleased to see the service has included its prevention, protection and response departments as areas of focus in its CRMP. However, departments don’t always know which strategy to align their objectives to. As a result, their plans don’t set out how they intend to align workforce activity to the risk identified in the community risk profile.
The service doesn’t clearly set out its overall aims and objectives in its annual operating plans and department delivery plans. This means staff aren’t able to plan and prioritise work; therefore the scope of this work remains broad and lacks direction.
The service should make sure the workforce understands that the overall aim is to enhance its performance to reduce risk within the communities it serves.
The service should assure itself that risk information is available and up to date
The service collects some information about the highest-risk people, places and threats it identifies. But some of the information we reviewed was limited, inaccurate or out of date. For example, we identified that some site-specific risk information held conflicting evacuation plans for high-rise buildings that have compliance issues such as cladding. After we raised this, the service completed an immediate review to make sure the information was amended and accurate.
Additionally, some of the firefighters we spoke to were unable to show us that they could access risk information quickly to help them resolve incidents safely. Risk information isn’t always immediately accessible due to software delays on mobile data terminals.
The service plans to replace its existing mobilising system. It should make sure the new system provides timely access to risk information on mobile data terminals. And it should make sure risk information is up to date to increase public safety.
The service monitors and reviews operational and organisational learning
The service records and communicates risk information effectively. It routinely updates risk assessments and uses feedback from local and national operational activities to inform its planning assumptions. The service has assessed historical data to align resource placement with areas of increased activity. A rise in deliberate ignition fires and water rescue activity has prompted it to increase the number of fire engines in areas of risk. This will provide a more proportionate response across Tyne and Wear.
Additionally, the service now has a single point of contact for national operational learning and joint organisational learning. This person logs and reviews national learning, and then shares any associated action with colleagues using the operations learning portal. They also report learning to the monthly operational guidance review group.
Adequate
Preventing fires and other risks
Tyne and Wear 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 doesn’t have a clear strategy that directs prevention activity
We are pleased to see the service has considered prevention as part of its CRMP. It uses this to inform the public about how it prioritises and actions prevention activity. However, the CRMP doesn’t include what direct action the service will take to reduce the risks identified in its community risk profile. For example, in the community risk profile, the service highlights health, mobility, deprivation and substance misuse. But in the CRMP, it doesn’t stipulate what action the service will take to mitigate these risks.
The prevention department’s plan doesn’t align to the findings of the CRMP or to community risk. We found that some staff were unclear about the service’s strategic priorities, or about which of the service’s strategies the departmental plans should align to. This is due to the number of strategic documents and objectives. The service should be more efficient in its strategic plans and use the CRMP to direct activity.
Operational teams should target prevention work at community risk
The service uses a risk-based approach to prioritise its prevention activity towards people most at risk from fire and other emergencies. For example, it has a network of partners who make referrals and share risk information to identify vulnerabilities that could increase risk. The partners include:
- social care;
- domestic care providers;
- mental health trusts;
- community district nursing;
- Age UK;
- a home improvement agency; and
- Northumbria Police.
The service’s prevention team categorises, prioritises and completes work according to this risk information. It targets safe and well visits to those who have one or more identified vulnerabilities. Home Office data shows that, in the year ending 31 March 2023, the service carried out 21,424 safe and well visits, of which 1,646 were carried out by its partner organisations. However, operational staff could align their safe and well activity more closely to risk, particularly the risks outlined in the CRMP. And the service could do more to make sure this happens.
At the time of our inspection, 50 percent of the safe and well visits carried out by operational staff are targeted at risk using data provided by the prevention department. But the focus on vulnerability isn’t always accurate. The service is aware of this and is reviewing the data it uses to make sure it reflects risk. The remaining 50 percent of visits are based on crews’ local knowledge and on incidents that have occurred. Where an incident takes place, staff carry out ‘hot strike’ activity on surrounding properties to offer other residents a safe and well visit. This activity provides reassurance to the community after a fire has occurred.
Staff are competent and trained to complete safe and well visits
Staff told us they have the confidence and the right skills 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. The service has an effective quality assurance process in place for all staff, to identify areas for improvement.
Training to support operational staff could be improved. As part of the firefighter induction training package, the service gives recruits an overview of the prevention department. But staff told us they would benefit from further training in relation to the systems used to record information, and how to work more effectively with people in the community.
Responding to safeguarding concerns
Staff receive regular training in both adult and child safeguarding to make sure they can complete reports effectively. They told us they have the confidence to respond appropriately and promptly to safeguarding concerns.
Staff report safeguarding issues to on-duty station managers, who are available 24/7. Staff also have access to emergency contacts within the safeguarding departments for the five local authorities within the service area.
The service collaborates effectively with stakeholders
The service works with a wide range of other organisations to prevent fires and other emergencies. These include adult social care, district housing, Age UK, smoking cessation services, the NHS, GPs, care providers and charities such as Your Voice Counts.
In 2023, the service invited all the organisations it works with to a partnership conference. This was to raise awareness about the importance of fire safety and of making referrals to reduce risk within the community.
We found good evidence that the service routinely receives referrals from organisations that work with vulnerable members of the community. In the year ending 31 March 2023, it received 1,949 referrals to carry out a prevention visit. One of the organisations it works with is the NHS falls prevention team. Members of the service’s prevention team can provide specialist equipment to lower the risk of falls. The service is also running a pilot project with local hospitals to offer a safe and well visit to pregnant women.
The service has committed to enhancing its communication skills with vulnerable people who are deaf or hearing impaired, by training 18 prevention team members to use British Sign Language. Staff have learned key phrases to allow them to effectively communicate safety information to reduce risk.
The service routinely exchanges information with other public sector organisations about the people and groups at greatest risk. It uses this information to challenge planning assumptions and target its prevention activity. For example, the service has received a government grant to help it work with other organisations on the Safer Streets project. The service will work with Northumbria Police, six local authorities, Northumberland Fire and Rescue Service, housing associations and environmental agencies to share data to create a risk profile. This will help it identify and target antisocial behaviour to reduce fire-related incidents.
The service has interventions in place to tackle fire-setting behaviour
The service has a range of interventions to educate people with different needs who show signs of fire-setting behaviour. These interventions are suitable and effective and can be targeted at specific needs. They include risk-tiered interventions such as the Phoenix, Spark and Ignite projects. Members of the prevention team complete specialist training in fire-setting behaviour, so they can provide appropriate and proportionate preventative education.
The service routinely shares appropriate information with relevant organisations to support the prosecution of arsonists. It provides interventions to keep people safe from arson, such as fireproof letterboxes. Historically the service highlighted an issue with deliberate fires and a rise in antisocial behaviour in specific areas of Tyne and Wear. It has made changes to the duty system to target this particular risk by increasing the resources within those areas. Partnership work, which includes the Safer Streets project, makes sure work done to reduce secondary fires and tackle antisocial behaviour is proportionate to the number of deliberate fires.
The service has a strong partnership with the office of the police and crime commissioner. And it works with other organisations by taking part in the quarterly antisocial behaviour strategic board meeting. This meeting aims to tackle antisocial behaviour at a strategic level by working with leads from the local authorities, Northumberland Fire and Rescue Service, Northumbria Police and the local housing association. The board feeds into the antisocial behaviour co-ordination group at a tactical level and focuses on how to prevent and reduce antisocial behaviour.
The antisocial behaviour board uses data recorded by stakeholders – such as from incidents of deliberate ignition linked to fly tipping – to make sure its work is effective and targeted. This form of data-driven analysis, which is still very new, will identify areas of increased activity. The service has agreed to lead on it for the board.
The service should evaluate whether its prevention work is meeting the needs of the community
We found limited evidence that the service evaluates the effectiveness of its prevention activity. For example, the service has campaigns in place, but it doesn’t evaluate how effective these campaigns are in reducing risk aligned to the CRMP. The service uses social media to promote safety messages but isn’t able to evaluate the effectiveness of this form of communication.
Prevention campaigns are often reactive, which places additional demand on the service. A proactive and structured approach, along with a full evaluation of their impact, would allow the service to allocate sufficient resources and create a risk profile to further support future campaigns.
We acknowledge some of the positive changes the service is making to improve evaluation. In July 2023, the service produced a report on the effectiveness of its safe and well targeting. It is collating the findings and implementing the recommendations as a result. We look forward to seeing the outcome of this evaluation during our next inspection.
The service is effectively providing road and water safety messages
The service has invested in the appointment of an education and engagement manager within the prevention department. In addition to building relationships with communities, the department has worked on the design and provision of road safety educational packages. Initiatives such as Biker Down, cornering clinics, the young drivers’ roadshow and the pre-driver programme all aim to educate road users. And the Driving for Better Business programme includes a commercial approach to road safety.
The service has worked with staff in commercial premises along the River Tyne, training them in how to use a ‘throw bag’ as part of a water rescue. Along with the Don’t Drink and Drown campaign, this raises adults’ awareness about the dangers of water.
In addition, the service effectively works with schools, providing water safety training to make sure children are educated on how to keep themselves safe.
Adequate
Protecting the public through fire regulation
Tyne and Wear 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 doesn’t have a clear strategy that directs protection activity
We are pleased to see the service has considered protection as part of its CRMP. Through this, it informs the public about how it prioritises and provides protection activity. This has replaced the service’s community safety plan for the protection department. However, the CRMP lacks detail on the direct action the service will take to reduce the risks identified in its community risk profile.
We found that some staff were unclear about the service’s strategic priorities, or about which of its strategy documents protection actions should be aligned to.
The service is targeting risk effectively
The service’s risk-based inspection programme (RBIP) is focused on its highest-risk buildings. Using Community Fire Risk Management Information System (CFRMIS) software, the service categorises premises in accordance with risk. Aligning to National Fire Chiefs Council (NFCC) guidance, it considers ‘sleeping risks’ – such as hotels and premises where vulnerable people may be living, including care homes and high-rise residential buildings. It also considers other risk factors – such as high-risk premises – and compliance with previous inspections.
Operational crews support the protection department by completing operational health checks. These are visits to premises within the RBIP by operational crews. The crews visit premises to make sure they comply with fire safety regulations and to assess risk on behalf of the protection department. This allows protection staff to focus their time on the priority risks that have been highlighted to them that may require immediate action.
The protection department is in the process of developing and certifying members of its team to the required standard to complete fire safety audits. In the year ending 31 March 2023, the service had 11 staff in development, and 10 fully competent. Staff retention within protection departments is a national issue, but the service has adapted its working practices to support alternative ways to manage risk. To make sure the service can identify risk effectively, it trains crews to complete and support audit activity on an annual basis.
The service therefore hasn’t met its 2022/23 target RBIP audit requirement using protection resources alone. However, making good use of the resources it has available, it has met the target through a combination of audits by qualified staff and operational health check visits.
Service audits are completed to a good standard
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 RBIP;
- after fires at premises where fire safety legislation applies;
- after enforcement action has been taken; and
- at high-rise, high-risk buildings.
We found that the audits 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.
The service has an effective quality assurance process in place
The service carries out proportionate quality assurance of its protection activity. Each team member has four quality assurance reviews per year, covering both file review and site visits. This makes sure the service provides a good standard to the public.
The service has good evaluation tools in place to measure the effectiveness of its activity. This also makes sure all sections of its communities get appropriate access to the protection services that meet their needs. The service also has access to a legal adviser to make sure all enforcement activity is compliant and accurate.
The service uses enforcement powers and education proportionately
The service uses its full range of enforcement powers and, when appropriate, it prosecutes those who don’t comply with fire safety regulations. It reviews active cases to inform and educate where possible.
In the year ending 31 March 2023, the service issued 0 alteration notices, 434 informal notifications, 4 enforcement notices and 18 prohibition notices. Since 2023, the service has carried out one prosecution. It completed six prosecutions in the five years from 2018/19 to 2022/23.
Staff use their resources effectively
Using operational crews to carry out operational health check visits creates further capacity within the protection team and allows the service to target risk effectively. To meet the requirements of its RBIP, the service is training more staff to be qualified protection officers. It feels confident it has the required resources to meet the needs of the RBIP to enhance the safety of the public.
The service has implemented the North East region Building Safety Regulator department
Since our last inspection, the Building Safety Act 2022 and the Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022 have been introduced. This legislation is designed to better regulate and manage tall buildings.
The service provides regional leadership on the introduction of the Building Safety Regulator. It has seconded dedicated staff to carry out training and work on the North East region Building Safety Regulator. It expects these arrangements to have no effect on its other protection activity as this is a separate department.
The department has been funded by a government uplift grant that pays for inspectors who will oversee activity associated with the new legislation. The activity includes building assessment certificates and work aligned to high-rise residential buildings.
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.
The service works well with other organisations
The service works well with other enforcement agencies to regulate fire safety, such as licensing, trading standards, immigration, environmental health and the police. It shares information with other organisations. For example, the service recently worked with licensing and Trading Standards around ignition risks in relation to indoor foliage after a fatal fire in Madrid, Spain. The organisations completed an audit of the area’s bars and clubs and recorded non-compliance, which the service then acted on.
Representatives of the service attend meetings and work with partners, such as the NHS, local authorities, housing associations and building control.
The service has decreased its response to building consultations
The service doesn’t always respond to building consultations on time. This means it doesn’t consistently meet its statutory responsibility to comment on fire safety arrangements at new and altered buildings. The service has reduced its completion of building consultations from 92.6 percent in 2021/22 to 86.9 percent in 2022/23.
The service could work more effectively with businesses
The service could do more to work with local businesses and other organisations to promote compliance with fire safety legislation. During our inspection, we found limited evidence that the service supports businesses or communicates with them, other than via ‘hot strike’ activity. A hot strike provides safety information to surrounding businesses if a fire occurs within a nearby commercial premises.
This activity doesn’t monitor trends in commercial fires, or target safety advice as a result of those trends. The service should do more to understand trends in commercial fires and provide positive preventative advice to local businesses, to mitigate risk within the community.
The service is making changes to reduce unwanted fire signals
The service is taking action to reduce the number of unwanted fire signals, or false alarms. Operational crews used to be responsible for monitoring and reducing unwanted fire signals. But the service has transferred this responsibility to dedicated members of the protection team, to improve its overall approach. For example, it has reduced unwanted fire signals by approximately 40 percent in hospitals, by working directly with local hospital staff, identifying issues with vaping as the main cause.
The service should continue its work to reduce the impact of unwanted fire signals, as this will improve the availability of fire engines to respond to genuine incidents. It will also reduce the risk to the public of fire engines travelling at high speed to respond to these incidents.
Good
Responding to fires and other emergencies
Tyne and Wear 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
We are pleased to see the service has considered response as part of the CRMP. It uses this to inform the public about how it prioritises and provides response activity. However, the CRMP lacks detail about the direct action the service will take to reduce the risks identified in its community risk profile.
It was evident during our inspection that staff understood the CRMP to be the leading force for changes to the duty system. They only referred to it for this purpose. For example, the service recently aligned its duty system to reflect the increase in specialist rescues. The number of rescues from height and over water have increased, and as a result the service reviewed its resources. It assessed the risk and changed the duty system to make sure its water and height rescue capability is always available in key geographical areas. This is a positive focus on the reduction of risk in the community. However, some staff felt that changes to service duty systems are the main objective of the whole CRMP.
The absence of a dedicated response strategy means some staff are unclear on what the service’s strategic priorities are and which of the service’s strategy documents response actions should be aligned to.
The service has introduced a response standard
There are no national response standards for fire and rescue service performance for the public. But the service has set out its own response standards in its CRMP. It has highlighted the following as its newly implemented response standard as of 1 April 2024:
“Tyne & Wear fire and rescue service will attend any life risk emergency within 10 minutes of being requested and will aim to achieve this on 90% of occasions.
- Level 1 – Incidents which pose an immediate threat to human life or pose a risk of severe human injury.
- Level 2 – Incidents which pose a serious hazard and high-risk threat to life, the environment, society, property or heritage.
- Level 3 – Incidents which pose a potential serious hazard to human life, the environment, society, property or heritage.
- Level 4 – Incidents which pose a potential hazard to human life, the environment, society, property, or heritage.”
The service monitors overall response times through its performance management meeting. Should response times decrease, the monitoring process would highlight this to the executive leadership team for further investigation. Home Office data from the year ending March 2024 shows the service’s average response time to primary fires was 6 minutes and 35 seconds. This is faster than the average for predominately urban services of 7 minutes and 43 seconds.
The service is making improvements to support availability
The service aims to have 100 percent of fire engines available on 100 percent of occasions.
The service monitors the availability of its fire engines. In the year ending 31 March 2023, it had wholetime availability 92.2 percent of the time and its one on-call station was available 69.7 percent of the time. The service told us it is heavily reliant on overtime to make sure it works towards meeting its own target.
The service has recognised the effect this has had on the availability of fire engines. And with its workforce plan, it knows it needs to invest in future firefighters to become less reliant on overtime. At the time of our inspection, it had an ongoing recruitment campaign to improve both wholetime and on-call resource availability. We look forward to seeing the impact this investment has on the availability of fire engines.
The service has effective command arrangements
The service has incident commanders who are fully trained and whom it assesses regularly to make sure they are competent. We found clear evidence of training and development for all incident commanders. This includes revalidation, themed training days, national learning, partnership training and major incident training. This prepares the service to confidently, safely 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).
The service has a process to make sure incident commanders at operational incidents record outcomes on the risk management assurance database.
Control staff effectively contribute to the assurance process
We were pleased to see the service’s control staff integrated into its command, training, exercise, debrief and assurance activity. Staff were able to evidence their involvement in planning and participating in both internal and multi-agency exercises. Control staff gather feedback regarding each incident to contribute to the service’s debrief and learning processes. This is to improve communication throughout incidents.
The service has made progress on the implementation of national operational guidance
As part of our inspection, we reviewed a range of emergency incidents and training events. These included recent high-rise training events that were held in partnership with a local authority, which had provided an unoccupied high-rise building for the purpose. Training in high-rise premises allows crews to increase their knowledge and competence for this type of fire scenario. Additional training exercises included multi-agency, COMAH and other major incidents.
We were pleased to see the service has made some progress in making sure it routinely follows its policies so that staff command incidents in line with operational guidance. A strategic gap analysis has been done to make sure the service is conforming to national operational guidance in its policies and procedures, and continues to update them appropriately. The service updates internal risk information with the information it receives.
The service should make sure it effectively records and tracks how it uses learning from 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 hasn’t consistently prioritised the allocation of leaders to its assurance department. Staff told us that vacancies are created in this department when resources are required to support the response function. For example, a supervisory post has been vacant for 12 months during the last two years. This lack of consistency and focus on the importance of learning, in a constructive environment, is removing the opportunity for the service to improve.
The service has introduced a process for staff to feed back learning from incidents. However, during our inspection, we found evidence of the process not being followed. For example, we saw debriefs not taking place despite the service’s threshold for a debrief being met. It is evident that some staff aren’t committed to following the process effectively, and often don’t complete or return feedback forms. Staff told us that the service doesn’t always prioritise or make enough time available for debriefs.
We found the culture of the organisation was that staff are confident that they are responding to a good standard and that debriefing isn’t always necessary. The service should use every opportunity to assess actions and decisions to identify trends and improve the overall standard.
Where staff do follow the process, they don’t always act on the debrief findings to improve standards. This means that the same issues are often found at future incidents. This affects staff confidence in the overall process, and often leads to staff no longer contributing to the learning process.
The service should make sure staff understand why it collects information and why it creates a no blame culture towards learning. Debriefs should be timely and informative to make sure standards are met and improved. All actions following feedback should be acted on where necessary.
The service has committed to national learning. It has introduced a single point of contact for learning received through national operational learning and joint organisational learning. This person reviews and actions any submissions that are made in these areas. They share information via the internal operations learning portal and through the service’s operational guidance review group.
In the last 18 months, the service hasn’t submitted any learning of its own to either national operational learning or joint organisational learning. The lack of contributions is directly linked to the inconsistency of the service’s assurance process and learning outcomes.
The service communicates with the public using a range of methods
The service has good systems in place to inform the public about ongoing incidents. This helps keep them safe during and after incidents. These systems include using social media platforms to warn and inform people of incidents, and offer advice on how they can protect themselves. The service works in partnership with the local resilience forum (LRF) to share information, using other agencies if required.
Adequate
Responding to major and multi-agency incidents
Tyne and Wear Fire and Rescue Service is good 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 makes sure it is prepared for major and multi-agency incidents
The service has effectively anticipated and considered the reasonably foreseeable risks and threats it may face. It lists these risks in both local and national risk registers as part of its community risk management planning. For example, the service has planned for the risk of incidents at its regional airports, shopping centres, COMAH sites and the Tyne Tunnel.
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. These include attendance to wildfire incidents due to the rural nature of neighbouring services. Firefighters have access to risk information from neighbouring services.
The service also shares its mobilising system with Northumberland Fire and Rescue Service. This allows staff there to access risk information. A process is in place to mobilise fire engines on its behalf if required. But not all firefighters we spoke to were able to access risk information from over the border.
The service is prepared to respond to tall building fires
In our last inspection, we focused on how the service had collected risk information and responded to the UK Government’s building risk review programme for tall buildings.
In this inspection, we 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.
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. The service has given all operational crews the opportunity to do a live simulation exercise involving a high-rise building. Working in partnership with a local authority, the service has made sure crews and incident commanders at all levels have been exposed to this type of incident by securing the use of an unoccupied high-rise building for exercise purposes.
At this type of incident, a fire and rescue service would receive a lot of simultaneous fire calls. We found that the systems in place in the service are robust enough to receive and manage this volume of calls. The service has implemented an electronic system to support staff to manage and monitor this information. There are robust plans in place to allocate specialist roles within the control room to manage such an incident. They would do this by communicating with the immediate building evacuation teams and operational crews via the incident command unit. 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.
During our inspection, the service was able to show us newly acquired software that would further assist it in the rescue of members of the public in high-rise buildings. The software allows the service to see the external and internal layout of buildings and the surrounding area in a photographic format. The software allows the officer in charge and command teams to assess plans for the building. If required, these plans can be separated floor by floor to give a clear internal view. This allows the service to understand the complexities of the building and the best safety measures to use during the incident.
The software is supplied and maintained by a local authority at no cost to the service. This technology is still new, but we look forward to seeing how this can improve the service’s knowledge and response to high-rise buildings in our future inspections.
The service works with neighbouring fire and rescue services to be prepared for a cross-border response
The service supports other fire and rescue services responding to emergency incidents. It works closely with them and can form part of a multi-agency response. For example, it has responded to major incidents such as wildfires in more rural neighbouring areas. The service’s fire engines often support surrounding services with this type of incident.
Crews attend a variety of planned exercises and incidents to enhance their skills and knowledge. The service was able to evidence other exercises it has taken part in, with County Durham and Darlington Fire and Rescue Service, involving railways, road traffic collisions and breathing apparatus.
The service has seven national assets that can be deployed to other services to support major incidents. The staff we spoke to had a good knowledge of the processes related to the national co-ordination centre, which manages the request and deployment of these assets.
The service has a cross-border exercise plan with neighbouring fire and rescue services
The service has a cross-border exercise plan with neighbouring fire and rescue services, helping them work together effectively to keep the public safe. These exercises include the risks of major events at which the service could foreseeably give support or ask for help from neighbouring services.
For example, the service has carried out training with Northumberland Fire and Rescue Service in relation to both wildfire and marauding terrorist attacks. It has also trained with County Durham and Darlington Fire and Rescue Service using specialist equipment such as the high-volume pump.
During 2023/24, the service completed 32 exercises with neighbouring fire and rescue services. The service should continue to expose itself to risks across the border to enhance the safety of the public and attending firefighters.
The service understands and practises 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 membership of the North East JESIP group, Northumbria JESIP group and other subgroups such as the Manchester enquiry group.
The service holds multi-agency JESIP training days that include an exercise at its training centre. It provided us with details of a recent flooding exercise that it had made possible. Every three years, it retrains all level one commanders to make sure they are competent in this area. Our inspectors spoke with supervisory and middle managers who were all able to explain JESIP and how these benefit their role.
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. The LRF uses learning from multi-agency exercises and aligns this with an action tracker. This makes sure all services are informed and can update each other on learning requirements.
The service works effectively with other organisations
The service has good arrangements in place to respond to emergencies with its partner organisations that make up the Northumbria LRF. The chief fire officer chairs the forum, and the service is a valued partner. The service also has representation at strategic and tactical subgroups.
The forum improves co-operation between local responder organisations including neighbouring fire and rescue services, the police and local authorities. It assesses the risk of emergencies in the area and develops emergency plans and arrangements to respond effectively. The service further supports the forum by hosting the meetings at its headquarters building.
The service acknowledges and acts on national learning
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 service has dedicated a single point of contact to monitor all submissions and to review and share learning throughout the organisation using the internal learning platform.
Good
Making best use of resources
Tyne and Wear 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 £63.4 million. This is an 11 percent increase from 2023/24, which was £57.2 million.
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 should be clear to staff on the strategic priority to reduce risk
The service’s financial and workforce plans – including allocating resources to prevention, protection and response – consider some of the risks it has identified in its CRMP. But it could still make improvements.
The service has good integrated financial plans which align to its CRMP and operational plan. But it isn’t always easy to align the service’s financial plans to some of its other plans and strategies. Specific strategies, such as for fleet and ICT, are internally focused and don’t always align to the CRMP.
The service should make changes to how it implements plans, to make sure its strategic direction is clear and efficient. Staff told us they aren’t clear on how to allocate resources or design departmental plans, as they are unsure which of the service’s strategies and objectives is the priority.
The service would benefit from reducing the number of strategies and objectives to focus on the reduction of risk within its communities. This will allow staff to have a clearer focus on its strategic priorities.
Tyne and Wear Fire and Rescue Service builds its plans on sound scenarios. They are underpinned by financial controls that reduce the risk of misusing public money. This helps make sure the service is sustainable. It has recently reviewed and updated its code of corporate governance, to support good financial and internal controls.
The service is reviewing its resourcing gaps
The service has evaluated its mix of crewing and duty systems because of the risk it identified in the CRMP. It has analysed its response cover and can show it deploys its fire engines and response staff to manage risk efficiently.
Due to the increased incident attendance to rescues that involve water and height, the service introduced a day crewing shift system to its Wallsend community fire station. This created savings, which it reinvested to increase the water rescue capability, which is more closely aligned to the increased risk.
In its 2021–24 risk management plan, the service identified the need to improve its resource availability. It has since created 54 new firefighter posts and has a five-year plan to meet resource requirements.
The developing workforce changes have resulted in some weaknesses for the service. For example, it has found the number of vacant supervisory positions difficult to fill, with a total of 50 vacancies identified within the service. Recent promotion processes have filled 28 of these vacancies, and the service plans to advertise for external expressions of interest soon. Some staff told us firefighters aren’t always motivated to apply for supervisory posts.
The implementation of workforce planning, recruitment, development pathways and talent management will assist the service in making sure it identifies and monitors critical roles to mitigate organisational risk.
The service should evaluate staff productivity
The service should do more to make sure its workforce is as productive as possible. It should also monitor how effectively it uses its resource in line with the CRMP and its strategic priorities.
The service doesn’t understand how it uses its wholetime firefighters. It doesn’t collect data on how they spend their time across day and night shifts and therefore doesn’t make the most of its capacity. For example, it sets annual targets for safe and well visits, and the target for operational crews is 150 visits per year, per fire engine. This equates to approximately two visits per week. The target is flexible, and crews can action it at any point throughout the year. This means that although the service can monitor performance at a strategic level, and see if crews are meeting the annual target, it isn’t able to monitor the real-time capacity and capability of operational crews.
We were encouraged to see operational crews assisting with operational health check visits on behalf of the protection department. They also carry out site-specific risk information visits. But without an evaluation of this activity, the service can’t be sure that time spent is effective or efficient in meeting its CRMP.
The service collaborates extensively and effectively with other agencies
We were pleased to see the service meets its statutory duty to collaborate. It routinely considers opportunities to collaborate with other emergency responders. It maintains and supports Northumberland Fire and Rescue Service’s fleet, with a service level agreement in place that provides it with income.
The service is proactive in its approach to collaboration with other emergency services, such as Northumbria Police and the North East Ambulance Service. All 17 of its fire stations have some form of collaboration with these and other services. This provides income and strengthens working relationships.
Partnerships with charities and agencies include:
- Streetwise;
- Northumbria Blood Bikes;
- Urban Observatory weather stations – Newcastle University;
- RNLI – water safety ‘throw bag’ training package; and
- HM Prison and Probation Service.
We are satisfied that the service monitors, reviews and evaluates the benefits and results of its collaborations. For example, it told us that by sharing its premises, it generates £500,000 of income. It anticipates income will rise to around £800,000 once the Hebburn tri-service building is fully operational.
The service has made effective improvements to business continuity
We were encouraged to see the improvements the service has made since our last inspection. During our 2021 inspection, we found that there was an area for improvement around business continuity and the plans the service had in place.
It now 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 a range of plans for risks that include industrial action, the effect of weather on service provision, and loss of ICT. It also has specific business continuity plans for individual departments. Exercises to test these plans have included a no notice evacuation exercise of the service’s headquarters.
The business assurance manager uses the business continuity tracker to record and monitor learning and improvement. The senior leadership team also monitors all business continuity actions, to plan for future requirements. Business continuity is incorporated in the induction of new staff members to make sure they understand their responsibilities.
At the time of inspection, the service told us that it will need to consider the implications of the new Strikes (Minimum Service Levels: Fire and Rescue Services) (England) Regulations 2024. These regulations were made by and came into force under the previous Government. On 6 August 2024, the then Government announced its intention to repeal these regulations.
As a result of the work carried out by the service, we have closed this area for improvement.
The service has sound financial management
The service regularly reviews its expenditure, including non-pay costs. This scrutiny makes sure the service gets value for money. The executive leadership team regularly monitors budgets. For example, every month it reviews overtime expenditure compared with forecast overtime expenditure.
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. Since 2016/17, it has had a commercial savings tracker in place. This tracker sets out savings from commercial procurement for each financial year and tracks against previous contracts and baselines. The service has identified total procurement savings of £1.3 million since our last inspection:
- 2021/22 – £402,000
- 2022/23 – £707,000
- 2023/24 – £229,000 (estimate).
For example, the service told us that it has saved £80,000 by reviewing its contract arrangements for systems used to support mobile data terminal equipment and software.
The service has also told us that it has avoided increased costs of £65,000 per year by negotiating with the provider of its private finance initiative (PFI) contract. The total cost avoidance equates to £325,000 for the remaining time of the PFI contract.
Adequate
Making the FRS affordable now and in the future
Tyne and Wear Fire and Rescue Service is adequate 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 significant financial risks, for example through setting aside earmarked reserves. This includes £6.4 million for smoothing the impact of the PFI contract, an insurance reserve of £1.1 million, and a resilience reserve of £500,000.
The service carries out an annual review of its base budget. This helps it to direct funding to its strategic priorities and identify additional savings.
The assumptions underpinning the service’s financial plans are relatively robust, realistic and prudent. They take account of the wider environment and some scenario planning for future spending reductions. These include inflation, funding and pay.
At the beginning of the financial year, the service set a balanced budget for 2024/25. This includes increased income, procurement savings and reinvestment of other savings. It anticipates a cumulative budget shortfall of £3.3 million by 2027/28. This is based on worst case scenario planning. The service told us about some options for savings it could make in the future. It is confident that future budgets will be balanced over this period.
The service is using its reserves to fund its capital programme
The service has a sensible and sustainable plan for using its reserves. It aims for the general reserve to be maintained at £4.1 million, which is equivalent to 6.5 percent of its annual revenue budget.
This plan includes significant investment into the capital programme to cover areas such as ICT, fleet and estates. A large proportion of this expenditure will be for a new mobilisation system and updates to fire engines and mobile data terminals. Sufficient reserves are available to fund the capital programme until 2027/28. As the service’s PFI contract will end in 2029, the service anticipates that these savings will be used to help fund the capital programme in the future.
The service has effectively invested in both estates and fleet portfolios
The service planned and led a project to build a carbon neutral tri station in Hebburn. This has recently opened and will provide facilities for fire, police and ambulance, and other agencies and charities.
The building’s design and implementation take into account environmental considerations. It has an A+ energy rating. It uses heat source pumps and solar energy to contribute towards its efficiency. The service anticipates this will save around £60,000 per year in utility costs.
The service told us that it has completed a survey of its estates to reduce costs and increase capital receipts. For example, it told us that it sold the lease of a property it no longer used for £300,000, and it will no longer need to pay running costs of £30,000 per year.
The service has also invested £200,000 into its estates portfolio to upgrade and install dedicated hygiene facilities for women. This action meets its inclusion objective.
Between 2024/25 and 2027/28, the service has a four-year vehicle replacement programme. It plans to purchase three swift water rescue vehicles and one rope rescue vehicle. It has also purchased five hybrid officer fleet cars and seven electric vehicles for staff, to further reduce its carbon footprint.
It is important for these departmental strategies to continue to link to the CRMP.
The service should improve departmental collaboration
The service considers how technology and future innovation can be used to improve its effectiveness and reduce risk. However, during our inspection, we saw some evidence of a lack of consultation between departments. This means the service isn’t always identifying barriers and risks associated with these innovations. And it isn’t always identifying opportunities to further enhance innovation.
Staff told us there are more opportunities for departments to collaborate, to make sure they are effective and efficient. But the service doesn’t always exploit these opportunities. We found occasions where departments – such as HR, ICT, risk and resilience, and learning and development – could better understand each other’s capabilities to enhance project working. Better collaboration between departments would help to identify risks and barriers at an early stage of a project to ensure efficiency and effectiveness.
For example, a department purchased communication equipment that could connect the fire and rescue service to the police helicopter. But staff told us that consultation didn’t take place, and the service didn’t identify barriers such as communication permissions. This resulted in the equipment being unusable after purchase.
We acknowledge that the service is undergoing a period of change and investment, to modernise and update how it uses its technology to meet the requirements of the CRMP. However, it should make sure it consults each department and considers interdependencies, to provide value for money to the public.
The service has formed a new trading company
The service has formed a fire trading company called TWFRS Ltd. It offers a range of training courses for external commercial businesses.
In January 2015, the previous trading company – Impeller Ltd – was established. But in November 2019, this company went into voluntary liquidation. The service produced a report to highlight the lessons learned during this time. It has taken the report’s recommendations into account in the set-up and structure of the new trading company. For example, the trading company will follow the same financial controls used by the service.
The chief fire officer and the fire authority chair are company directors. They have employed a business development manager, and all associated costs are recharged to the trading company. Any service staff who work for the company will also have their full costs recharged to the trading company.
TWFRS Ltd has now started to generate small amounts of income. The service should continue to reassure itself that the trading company has the appropriate professional and business skills, and capacity, to succeed.
Adequate
Promoting the right values and culture
Tyne and Wear Fire and Rescue Service is adequate 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 culture within the service is improving
The service has organisational values, which its staff understand. We found staff at all levels of the service showing behaviours that reflect those values. This is also reflected in the staff survey results. These show that 95 percent of respondents (294 of 310) agreed that colleagues consistently model and maintain the service’s values. The service has since taken action to improve this further.
In July 2023, the service did a staff survey. Then in October 2023, as part of its commitment to cultural improvement, it arranged an independent cultural review. This review produced an action plan for improvement. The service brought together the feedback from these. Key areas identified for improvement were the need for:
- increased trust between staff and leaders;
- communication of the cultural improvement project with the workforce; and
- an employee engagement strategy.
The independent review coincided with changes within the executive leadership team. These changes include a new chief fire officer (September 2023) and a new deputy chief fire officer (October 2023). The executive leadership team has taken the opportunity to assess the culture and behaviours within the service to create a standard of expectations. The team is also attempting to break down any barriers to cultural improvement.
Findings from the independent cultural review include barriers such as a lack of visibility of leaders and a lack of understanding as to why decisions are made. As a result, the leadership team has created opportunities for staff to provide face-to-face feedback to leaders. The service now focuses on providing information and context on organisational decision making. During our inspection, staff told us the change in management has improved the culture of the service.
We were encouraged by some of the cultural improvements the service had made to address the above findings. It has created a culture team and has set up a programme of work including the introduction of culture conversations. These formal, regular conversations mean staff can talk to the organisation’s leaders about subjects that matter to them. But not all staff report these conversations as having the desired positive effect. Although it is encouraging that the conversations are taking place, some staff feel this is a “tick box exercise” and can’t see any tangible changes to the issues they raise.
While we acknowledge that these culture conversations will continue to develop, the service should make sure that its senior leaders have an opportunity to attend the initial conversations. It should also take action on existing concerns, before asking for further feedback. Where staff see change as a direct result of their contribution, this will strengthen the trust they have in the process. It will also allow senior leaders to have a better understanding of what issues are important to the workforce. This links to the area for improvement we have identified.
Furthermore, in support of our area for improvement, the service should do more to make sure staff feel safe to communicate any issues with managers. During our inspection, staff told us that while most leaders do act as role models, this isn’t always the case. For example, staff told us that some middle managers within the organisation are unapproachable and at times don’t demonstrate the service’s values or lead by example. This issue also came up in the cultural review and staff survey findings.
Overall, we saw the beginnings of a positive work culture throughout the service. Staff are starting to feel empowered and willing to challenge poor behaviours when they come across them. The service is making positive steps towards changing its culture. We look forward to seeing how the service makes progress in this area.
Well-being provision is important to the service
The service has well-understood and effective well-being policies in place, which are available to staff. A significant range of well-being support is available for both physical and mental health. For example, the service provides access to counselling, physiotherapy, mental health first aiders and trauma support. Employees from all departments across the service can access well-being provision.
The service has a dedicated trauma support team which positively supports the well‑being of the workforce. When staff attend a potentially traumatic incident, there is a system in place that triggers the offer of trauma support. The trauma team then contacts those individuals to assess their requirements for further support. The trigger for trauma support also applies to staff in the control department.
The service provides well-being workshops for staff to raise awareness on subjects such as menopause and mental health. The staff that we spoke to who attended these workshops found them educational and informative.
There are good provisions in place to promote staff well-being. These include the health and well-being hub. This is a dedicated intranet page which offers information, advice, support and signposting about health, fitness and well-being.
Of the respondents to the staff survey, 89 percent (294 out of 330) told us they discuss well-being with their line manager. However, 11 percent (36 out of 330 respondents) told us they have never discussed their well-being with their line manager. Well-being conversations should be consistent to make sure all staff have an equal opportunity to access well-being support.
Most staff reported that they understand and have confidence in the well-being support processes available.
In January 2024, the service appointed an occupational health unit manager. This manager is now reviewing the structure of the occupational health department. The aim is to incorporate the new well-being provisions along with occupational health within one department. This restructure of resources, to align services, aims to improve the overall provision to staff.
To make sure the organisation is consistent in its provision of occupational health during the restructure, the service is using a local authority to provide this support. Some staff told us that while this work is happening, they have encountered delays in accessing some elements of occupational health support.
We acknowledge the period of change the service is in and look forward to seeing further improvements during future inspections.
The service has effective fitness monitoring
The service continues to have effective and well-understood health and safety policies and procedures in place. During our last inspection, we identified an area for improvement in monitoring and recording the fitness of employees. We are pleased to see the changes that have taken place in this area.
The service has appointed a dedicated fitness adviser to oversee the management and development of all firefighters in relation to their fitness. The service has a comprehensive fitness policy in place which is based on the NFCC Firefit guidance. Where required, the adviser designs bespoke plans for any firefighter who is unable to meet the service standard. A Power BI reporting tool now also allows the service to monitor all fitness testing arrangements.
Health and safety reporting could be improved
During our inspection, some staff raised concerns about defects in a health and safety system that is in place. The software that records the testing of firefighter equipment, to identify faults and trends across the service, had failed to work for approximately six months. The service has a governance structure that is in place to report and oversee corporate risk-critical failures. However, the process didn’t effectively identify this issue. Firefighters who did report the failure felt senior leaders didn’t listen to them, and it therefore wasn’t reported effectively to the executive leadership team. This supports our identified area for improvement.
Once the issue was highlighted to the executive leadership team, leaders prioritised it and took immediate action to remedy the issue. The service assured us that a new system will be implemented in April 2025. It is essential for the organisation that risk-critical defects are reported and rectified immediately, to support the safety of both the public and firefighters attending incidents.
The service should create a culture in which staff have the confidence to report issues and that action will be taken as a result.
Service policies and procedures are readily available, and the service promotes them effectively to all staff. Of staff that responded to the survey, 96.4 percent (318 of 330) agree that the policies and procedures that are in place support them to work safely.
The service is effectively monitoring the management of absences
In November 2023, the service implemented a comprehensive attendance management policy and procedure to support managers when managing absence. The service’s performance action group, chaired by a member of the executive leadership team, also reports on and monitors attendance management.
In 2022/23, the average number of days not worked per firefighter due to long-term sickness increased by 17 percent compared to 2021/22.
In 2022/23, the average number of days not worked per firefighter due to short-term sickness increased by 32.9 percent compared to 2021/22.
The service has identified that the main cause of the increase in absence is poor mental health and stress. The service continues to promote well-being and offer support to employees via the health and well-being hub. The service should prioritise the restructure and provision of the occupational health unit to aim to reduce absence overall.
During the inspection, we reviewed the service’s performance monitoring action group statistics for 2023/24. These show a positive reduction in the number of absences for the service in quarters 1 and 2 compared to 2022/23.
Adequate
Getting the right people with the right skills
Tyne and Wear Fire and Rescue Service is adequate 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 community risk management plans. 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 is improving its workforce planning but should consider the wider impact
The service now has workforce planning in place. This makes sure skills and capabilities align with what it needs to effectively carry out its CRMP. For example, the service has recognised the need for investment in its operational resources, and a recruitment campaign is taking place to make sure it can meet the needs of the CRMP in the future.
The service has made a commitment to train two recruit courses per year for five years. But it also has to meet its ‘business as usual’ risk-critical training needs. During our inspection, we found that training instructors were working excessive hours to meet the objectives of the service’s plan. This demand has affected their well-being and has led to difficulties when resourcing this department. The service is aware of the need for more training staff and has recorded this issue on the corporate risk register.
The service should make sure the workforce plan is achievable with minimal impact on training instructors. It should give full consideration to their safety and well-being at work.
The service consistently scrutinises workforce and succession planning through quarterly workforce planning meetings to discuss requirements. It has appointed a new head of HR to support the progression of workforce planning. The planning meetings help the service identify gaps resulting from leavers, promotions and retirements, and where single points of failure may occur.
The service should put succession plans in place for risk-critical roles. Due to its recruitment campaign, a large proportion of firefighters will be new to their role and will be undergoing development to become fully competent firefighters. The service is aware of this and is assessing how this may affect its supervisory roles in the near future.
The workforce plan includes the need to identify and support talented individuals who hope one day to be promoted. The service has introduced supervisory development pathways to make sure individuals have the required skills prior to any promotion. However, staff told us that the appetite to apply for supervisory roles isn’t always there.
The service would benefit from improved training in non-operational skills
Some staff told us that they could access the training they need to be effective in their role. But the service mainly focuses its training on operational skills and doesn’t always consider wider support skills within its training plans. For example, operational crews would benefit from further training in prevention and protection, to understand how they can assist the service to meet the requirements of the CRMP.
We were encouraged to see that middle managers have received ACAS management training to cover subjects such as discipline and grievance. They have also received educational presentations in some areas of EDI, such as ‘Show Racism the Red Card’. However, we were told that less than 50 percent of staff members have undergone this training. It would be beneficial for all supervisory staff to be trained in these areas and in basic management skills. And all staff throughout the organisation should receive the same training in relation to EDI to support consistency.
The service monitors staff competence by using a risk-based competency skills calculator. This is aligned to the national operational guidance strategic gap analysis. The service regularly updates its understanding of staff skills and risk‑critical safety capabilities by monitoring risk-critical roles and capabilities at a strategic and local level.
For example, the service recognised that when some firefighters were promoted, this led to a shortage of skills in other areas such as competent drivers for fire engines. It has now introduced some horizon scanning and created a resource pool of qualified drivers to make sure staff have the necessary skills and capabilities to fill these gaps. Additionally, department managers monitor e-learning records and core competencies. This approach means the service can identify gaps in workforce capabilities and make plans for building resilience. It also means it can make sound and financially sustainable decisions about current and future need.
Learning and improvement should align to other processes
For learning and development to be meaningful, it should be informed by skill gaps and development needs, identified through personal development reviews (PDRs). Staff told us this isn’t always the case.
The service should make sure managers align the learning requirements identified within PDRs with other service processes and procedures. This should include the newly implemented career conversations, talent management processes and development pathways. This will make sure the service meets learning objectives and enhances individuals’ future objectives.
Adequate
Ensuring fairness and promoting diversity
Tyne and Wear Fire and Rescue Service requires improvement 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 improving the way it communicates with its workforce
In July 2023, the service completed a staff survey, and in October 2023, it organised an independent cultural review. These staff consultations have helped it to better understand its culture. As a result, it 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.
Since our last inspection, the service has reviewed how it collects and responds to staff feedback. It has introduced trend analysis and evaluation to its executive leadership team listening events. These events provide an open forum for staff to communicate with the organisation’s senior leaders on subjects that are important to them. Other initiatives such as the culture conversations also take place, along with the ‘you said we did’ ideas hub where staff can submit ideas for improvement.
The service has also considered how colleagues can communicate concerns privately and confidentially if required. It has introduced inclusion allies, who wear a lanyard to identify themselves to colleagues. These staff members have been trained in active listening and know how to signpost staff who may need assistance in any area of their lives. This is a positive change that supports the well-being of staff. The service would further benefit from promoting and evaluating its impact.
We are encouraged to see the changes the service has made since our last inspection. Staff feel confident to use the systems and processes that have been brought in. But some staff aren’t confident that the service is addressing the concerns they raise. They have limited confidence in the processes due to the lack of awareness of any action taken. As a result, they don’t think the processes are effective. The service should make sure it tells the workforce what action it takes.
The service has also committed to improving communication by appointing a new media and communications manager. It is essential that the service assesses the effectiveness of its various campaigns and approaches to communication.
The service is educating the workforce on bullying and harassment
Staff have a good understanding of bullying, harassment and discrimination, and the negative effect they can have on colleagues and the organisation.
In this inspection, 10 percent of respondents to the staff survey (34 out of 330) told us they had been subject to bullying or harassment. And 10 percent of respondents to the staff survey (32 of 330) said they had been subject to discrimination over the past 12 months.
Most staff are confident in the service’s approach and recognise what it is doing to tackle bullying, harassment, discrimination, grievances and disciplinary matters. As a result of the recent cultural review findings, the service has introduced an e-learning package for all staff, specifically designed to target bullying and harassment. This makes sure staff are trained and clear about what to do if they encounter inappropriate behaviour.
Additional monitoring of bullying and harassment is in place at a strategic level via the employment relations tracker. This tracker allows the service to scrutinise and monitor live cases. It allows the service to filter its cases by type, such as bullying and harassment, protected characteristics, and victimisation, to better understand trends and patterns.
The service has also provided ACAS training to middle managers, designed to further educate them in managing discipline and grievances. It plans to extend this training to supervisors in the future.
The service could continue to work on increasing the diversity of its workforce
The service needs to do more to make sure its recruitment processes are fair and accessible to applicants from a range of backgrounds. It advertises recruitment opportunities both internally and externally. These include advertising on social media and its website, as well as on the websites of the NFCC, the Asian Fire Service Association, and Women in the Fire Service UK. It should continue to encourage applicants from diverse backgrounds.
The service needs to do more to increase staff diversity. There has been little progress to improve ethnic minority and gender diversity. The proportion of firefighters who are from an ethnic minority background has increased from 3.6 percent (21 people) in 2021/22 to 4.1 percent (23 people) in 2022/23. However, the proportion of firefighters who identified as a woman has decreased from 8.9 percent (56 women) to 6.8 percent (41 women) over the same period. According to the Home Office data for 2022/23, the proportion of fire control staff who identified as being from an ethnic minority was zero.
For the whole workforce, in 2022/23, 3.8 percent were from an ethnic minority background, compared to 12.2 percent in their local population and 8.4 percent throughout all fire and rescue services. Some 24.5 percent identified as a woman, compared to an average of 19.4 percent throughout all fire and rescue services.
We are pleased to see the service is using equality data to review and further improve diversity within the service. It reviews this data in the workforce planning meeting. The service showed us how its latest recruit course better represented the community with a diverse range of recruits. This course had equal numbers of male and female recruits. The service also provided support for elements of neurodivergence by making sure training instructors were aware of any reasonable adjustment requirements throughout the training period. We therefore recognise that the service is working towards the required improvements in some areas.
The service needs to prioritise EDI throughout the organisation
The service has taken steps to improve its approach to EDI. But it still needs to do more. Greater emphasis from senior leaders would help prioritise EDI so that staff throughout the organisation understand its value and importance. Detailed strategies, policies, action plans and practice should reflect this. In its 2025 strategy, the service included a strategic objective around inclusion. But the objective lacks detail on how the service plans to improve EDI, and departments are unclear on their responsibilities.
The service has recruited a new EDI lead to promote and encourage change throughout the organisation. This is positive. Greater strategic leadership would help make sure the EDI team has the capacity and capabilities it needs to achieve the service’s objectives. We found the EDI team to be under-resourced due to the long-term absence of team members. As a result, it isn’t able to have the desired impact toward achieving the strategic objectives. The service should make sure the department has the required capabilities and capacity to appropriately prioritise this area of work. This will also help it continue to comply with the Equality Act 2010.
The service has employed a community engagement officer within its prevention team to directly improve how it communicates and works with the public. The service should use all its resources to work with, and promote itself in, more diverse areas of the community to reduce the risk of fire and other emergencies. Many of the operational crews didn’t understand positive action or the benefits of diversity within the workplace. And some staff told us that working with people in the service’s communities isn’t always a priority for operational crews and is considered the responsibility of the support teams.
The service states that it consults with staff network groups about its decisions. But when speaking with staff, we were unable to evidence this. Staff told us they didn’t know if these groups still existed, or what information or improvements are produced as a result.
Although the service has a process in place to assess equality impact, it doesn’t properly assess or act on the impact on each protected characteristic. During the inspection, we reviewed the service’s equality impact assessments (EIAs) and found inconsistency in their quality. We were pleased to see the service has provided EIA training to managers. But it has limited quality assurance in place to review completed EIAs to make sure managers measure impact proportionately.
The service doesn’t have a dedicated EDI learning package
During our inspection, we were unable to evidence that the service was providing basic education on EDI. In 2022, the service withdrew its internal EDI package as it was out of date and required improvements. It replaced this with supplemental learning packages to target topics such as bullying and harassment, health and well‑being for managers and unconscious bias. While this education is important and valued by employees, the lack of overarching dedicated EDI training may be why not all staff fully understand EDI. Some staff told us they are afraid of offending other people, and lack confidence and knowledge in this area.
Requires improvement
Managing performance and developing leaders
Tyne and Wear 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 could do more to improve how it reviews performance
The service has an inconsistent process in place for performance and development. During our inspection, we found that some staff don’t feel the PDR process is meaningful. Staff told us that the process doesn’t always provide further opportunity to develop their skills or contribute towards the service’s promotion process.
Staff survey results show that 93 percent of respondents (306 out of 330) have had a formal PDR in the last 12 months. This shows that staff are compliant with the process. But of this number, only 52 percent (160 of 330 respondents) felt the PDR was useful. Some staff told us that managers don’t review the learning objectives they set within PDRs, and don’t always provide the requested training.
The system isn’t effective or efficient in allowing staff to produce and complete a quality PDR. Staff describe the process as “clunky” and told us it doesn’t promote or motivate them to be confident in its use or its monitoring of performance against objectives. The service is aware of this and plans to make changes soon.
The service should further improve the fairness and transparency of its promotion process
The service needs to do more to make sure its promotion and progression processes are fair. The feedback from the staff survey and independent cultural review, both in 2023, showed that some staff perceive the promotion process to be unfair and not transparent. Of the respondents to our survey, 40 percent (131 of 330) felt the promotion process was unfair.
During our inspection, we found inconsistencies within the process. For example, the service uses an anonymous sift to process applications, but staff told us this could be further improved. For example, some operational applications are reviewed for skills and qualifications before the anonymous sift. In addition, the HR department doesn’t manage or oversee this process to make sure of fairness and consistency. We found that HR isn’t always involved in recruitment, promotions, and selection processes.
We acknowledge the service is making changes to the structure of the organisation and how it applies this to its processes and procedures. But it should use the HR function to its fullest capacity. The service should acknowledge the interdependencies of all departments – such as HR, learning and development, and performance management – to make sure the promotion process is effective and applied consistently and fairly.
In response to the survey findings, the service has already taken positive steps and has initiated actions towards improving the promotion process. It has:
- appointed a new head of HR;
- prioritised workforce planning;
- updated policies and procedures; and
- implemented development pathways.
These changes should support the promotion process to be consistent, transparent and fair.
The service has communicated these changes to staff via the executive leadership team listening events and by using digital media such as vlogs produced by the chief fire officer. It is essential that the service communicates changes effectively. This will assure staff that it is acting on feedback, and in turn will positively affect staff perception of the overall promotion process.
The service is taking steps to improve the diversity of its leadership
The service has taken some steps to improve the diversity of its executive leadership team. But it knows it needs to do more, especially within the middle management cohort.
The service has implemented processes such as talent management, career conversations and development pathways. These will help it identify and support potential talent and diversify the workforce in the future.
The service is making progress in developing leadership and high-potential staff at all levels
The service has recently implemented succession-planning processes. These will allow it to manage high-potential staff into leadership roles. The service’s policy states that talent management career conversations will be separate from PDRs. These conversations will focus on longer-term potential and the objectives of the individual. We found that the talent management process is very new, and the service is doing the necessary work to progress it.
In support of the talent management process, the service has introduced development pathways at all levels, for both operational and support staff. These pathways will allow staff to develop the skills and behaviours they need before applying for a promotion. All leadership development pathways align to the NFCC leadership framework, NFCC core learning pathways and the Core Code of Ethics.
We acknowledge that the service is undergoing a period of change. At the time of our inspection it was implementing the talent management process and reviewing its PDR process. But when promoting and developing staff members, it should make sure they have confidence in these processes and their interdependency. We look forward to seeing the progress the service makes in this area in our next inspection.
The service has considered the December 2022 Leading the Service and Leading and Developing People Fire Standards and how it will implement them.
Adequate