Overall summary
Our judgments
Our inspection assessed how well West Midlands Fire 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 West Midlands Fire Service in March 2022. And in January 2023, we published our inspection report with our findings on the service’s effectiveness and efficiency and how well it looks after its people.
This inspection contains our third assessment of the service’s effectiveness and efficiency, and how well it looks after its people. We have measured the service against the same 11 areas and given a grade for each.
We haven’t given separate grades for effectiveness, efficiency and people as we did previously. This is to encourage the service to consider our inspection findings as a whole and not focus on just one area.
We now assess services against the characteristics of good performance, and we more clearly link our judgments to causes of concern and areas for improvement. We have also expanded our previous four-tier system of graded judgments to five. As a result, we can state more precisely where we consider improvement is needed and highlight good performance more effectively. However, these changes mean it isn’t possible to make direct comparisons between grades awarded in this round of fire and rescue service inspections with those from previous years.
A reduction in grade, particularly from good to adequate, doesn’t necessarily mean there has been a reduction in performance, unless we say so in the report.
This report sets out our inspection findings for West Midlands Fire Service.
Read more about how we assess fire and rescue services and our graded judgments.
HMI summary
I am grateful for the positive and constructive way in which West Midlands Fire Service worked with our inspection staff. I acknowledge the challenges the service faced at the time of our inspection. It was dealing with unforeseen changes in key leadership positions, and media stories that speculated on both the service and its governance arrangements. Our inspection team was still able to apply the same methodology we use for all our inspections.
I am satisfied with some aspects of the performance of West Midlands Fire Service in keeping people safe and secure from fire and other risks. However, it needs to improve in some areas so it can provide a consistently good service. For example, it needs to make sure there are appropriate scrutiny, challenge and forecasting in place. This is so it can be sure it gives the public value for money and is sustainable in the future. The service should also make sure it provides training in a consistent way and improve the way it develops leaders.
The service hasn’t made the progress we expected since our 2022 inspection. Some areas have deteriorated, such as risk-critical training and managing personal performance. There are plans in place to improve these areas, but at the time of our inspection, they weren’t fully in effect. We look forward to seeing how this work progresses.
My principal findings from our assessments of the service over the past year are as follows:
- The service needs to make sure its financial assumptions and plans are robust and scrutinised so they support a sustainable future.
- The service needs a consistent approach to its risk-critical training to make sure its staff and the public are safe.
- The service has a dynamic risk-based inspection programme, well informed by data, which helps it make sure fire safety staff carry out audits on the highest‑risk premises.
- The service consistently meets its five-minute response standard, which is based on survivability research, to make sure it provides a fast response for the public.
- The service’s processes for organisational learning aren’t effective and need to be improved.
- The service has good welfare provisions in place, and there is a supportive culture among staff.
Overall, since our last inspection, which was in 2021/22, the service hasn’t made the progress we expected. There are improvements it needs to make, and some areas have deteriorated. We will keep in close contact with the service to monitor these aspects of its performance.
We acknowledge the turbulent time the service has been through over the past 12 months. We were pleased to see that it was still carrying out its core functions and supporting its staff.
Lee Freeman
HM Inspector of Fire & Rescue Services
Service in numbers
Percentage of firefighters, workforce and population who identified as a woman as at 31 March 2024
Percentage of firefighters, workforce and population who were from ethnic minority backgrounds as at 31 March 2024
References to ethnic minorities in this report include people from White minority backgrounds but exclude people from Irish minority backgrounds. This is due to current data collection practices for national data. For more information on data and analysis in this report, please view the ‘About the data’ section of our website.
Understanding the risk of fire and other emergencies
West Midlands Fire Service is good at understanding risk.
Each fire and rescue service should identify and assess all foreseeable fire and rescue-related risks that could affect its communities. It should use its protection and response capabilities to prevent or mitigate these risks for the public.
We set out our detailed findings below. These are the basis for our judgment of the service’s performance in this area.
Main findings
The service uses a comprehensive range of data to inform its understanding of risk
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. These include global, corporate, local and national risk registers. The service also uses Met Office climate reports, census data, incident history, Care Quality Commission data and food hygiene scores to give it a full picture of risk in the communities it serves.
When appropriate, the service has consulted and held constructive dialogue with its communities and other relevant parties to understand risk and explain how it intends to mitigate it. For example, it uses a platform called WMnow, which helps it consult a diverse range of people in the community. In its most recent consultation process, the service received more than 5,600 responses from the public and partner organisations.
The service has an effective community risk management plan
Once it has assessed risks, the service records its findings in an easily understood community risk management plan (CRMP). This plan describes how the service intends to use its prevention, protection and response activities to mitigate or reduce the risks and threats the community faces both now and in the future. For example, changes in technology mean that during safe and well visits, the service now gives safety advice and guidance about charging lithium-ion batteries.
The CRMP is a live document, which the service updates annually. The CRMP spreads over a rolling three-year period. This makes sure the service keeps up to date with trends to inform its risk profile.
The service gathers, maintains and shares a good range of risk information, but it should improve the accuracy of the information
The service routinely collects information about the highest-risk people, places and threats it has identified. But some of the information we reviewed was limited or inaccurate. For example, we found that the service had recorded the incorrect risk level for some premises, according to its definition. We also found that tactical plans were missing for some high-risk premises, such as buildings in which industrial chemicals were manufactured.
We sampled a broad range of the risk information the service collects. This included short-term and temporary risk information, and information on residential tall buildings and premises that would need a multi-agency response.
This information is readily available for the service’s prevention, protection and response staff. This means these teams can identify, reduce and mitigate risk effectively. For example, when brass shut-off valves were stolen from firefighting equipment at a building in the service’s area, the service informed the fire safety team and put risk information on the system. It also made changes to increase the response it would provide in the event of an incident at that building.
Some staff at the locations we visited, including firefighters and staff in fire control, showed us that they could access, use and share risk information quickly to help them resolve incidents safely.
Although guidance on gathering risk information is available to staff, training is inconsistent. Most staff learn how to gather risk information from a colleague while on the job.
The service uses some operational activity to build a better understanding of risk
The service records and communicates risk information effectively. It sometimes updates risk assessments and uses feedback from local and national operational activities to inform its planning assumptions. For example, after a fatal incident at a lake, the service reviewed its water rescue capability. At the time of our inspection, it had plans to increase its capacity to provide faster response times.
Good
Preventing fires and other risks
West Midlands Fire 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’s prevention plan links to its CRMP, but the service should have a more consistent approach to prevention activity
The service’s prevention strategy is clearly linked to the risks it has identified in its CRMP. The service has a prevention plan, which has eight priorities. These priorities are linked to the strategic goals in the service’s ‘Our Strategy 2024‑‑2027’. This strategy states that the service targets its prevention activity at those in the community who are most vulnerable to fire and other emergencies.
We found that some prevention work happened in isolation. For example, there is an inconsistent approach to prevention work on water and road safety. Some stations are involved, but others aren’t.
We found some evidence of the service’s prevention, protection and response functions exchanging relevant information. They do this through various boards and meetings.
The service targets its safe and well visits at those most at risk from fire and other emergencies
The service uses a risk-based approach to target some prevention activity towards people most at risk from fire and other emergencies.
Staff in the service’s contact centre use a scoring matrix to triage prevention work. The service deals with low-risk and medium-risk cases by phone. In high-risk or very high-risk cases, operational crews or dedicated prevention staff carry out face-to-face safe and well visits. In some cases involving complex needs, the service carries out these visits with representatives from local authorities or social care partner organisations.
The service also gives training to partner organisations to help them improve the quality of referrals they make to the service. This helps it make sure it targets its safe and well visits at the most vulnerable.
It uses a broad range of information and data to target its prevention activity at vulnerable individuals and groups. The service’s scoring matrix includes a multiplier for certain categories. These include:
- living in social rented accommodation;
- being a single occupant;
- being unemployed; and
- living in an area of high deprivation.
These categories are associated with being at a higher risk from fire and other emergencies.
Home Office data shows that in 2023/24, the service carried out 100 percent of its safe and well visits in properties with at least one person with a vulnerability or risk factor.
The service carries out a range of interventions, which it adapts to the level of risk in its communities. These include:
- safe and well visits;
- fire safety training; and
- fire safety education in schools for key stages 2, 3 and 4.
Advice and guidance are also available on the service’s website.
Staff are trained to carry out safe and well visits to a consistent standard
Staff told us they have the right skills and confidence to make safe and well visits. These visits cover an appropriate range of hazards that can put vulnerable people at greater risk from fire and other emergencies. Safe and well visits cover a range of topics linked to fire risk, such as smoking, alcohol, medication, mental health, mobility, hoarding, living alone, lifestyle and home security.
Each command area has dedicated prevention officers. They can support and guide operational crews with queries about prevention.
We found that staff completed safe and well visits consistently, but there was a lack of quality assurance in place to help bring about improvements. Following a restructure, the service now has a process for prevention staff to quality assure visits. At the time of our inspection, this process wasn’t fully in effect.
Staff understand how to identify and report safeguarding concerns
Staff we interviewed told us about occasions when they had identified safeguarding problems. They told us they felt confident and trained to act appropriately and promptly when following the service’s reporting processes.
All staff are trained to level 1 safeguarding every 2 years. This training takes place online. At the time of our inspection, the service was planning to improve the training it gave some dedicated prevention staff by adding level 2 and 3 safeguarding training.
The service works well with partner organisations to support those most at risk from fire and other emergencies
The service works with a wide range of other organisations to prevent fires and other emergencies. These include:
- substance misuse charities;
- the NHS;
- West Midlands Ambulance Service;
- local and housing authorities; and
- care agencies.
We found good evidence that the service routinely refers people at greatest risk to organisations that may better meet their needs. These organisations include the NHS, local authority housing associations and care agencies.
Arrangements are also in place to receive referrals from others. The service has proactive partnerships in place with Age UK, which shares a site at Solihull fire station. Clouds End and Enabling Spaces train prevention staff about hoarding and make referrals to the service.
In 2023/24, 7,163 of the service’s prevention visits led to onward referrals. In the same period, the service carried out 15,310 prevention visits that had been referred to the service by other agencies.
The service routinely exchanges information with other public sector organisations about people and groups at greatest risk. It uses this information to challenge planning assumptions and target prevention activity. At the time of our inspection, it was trialling the use of an occupational therapist to attend some safe and well visits, when relevant. We look forward to seeing how this work progresses.
The service carries out some programmes to address fire-setting behaviour, and it has made changes to improve its work in this area
The service has some involvement in targeting and educating people who show signs of fire-setting behaviour. It has school education packages for key stages 3 and 4, as well as universal and targeted interventions aimed at those who deliberately set fires.
At the time of our inspection, the service’s fire-setting behaviour programme had recently undergone internal scrutiny. This was so the service could determine how to improve it by targeting and carrying out education more effectively. Prevention staff will carry out the programme, and the service will continue to monitor the outcomes.
The service should improve the way it evaluates some prevention activity
We found some evidence that the service evaluates how effective its activity is or makes sure all its communities get appropriate access to prevention activity that meets their needs. For example, the service carries out pre- and post-evaluation surveys with road safety participants as part of its Every Choice Counts programme. However, it isn’t clear how the service uses this information to inform its approach to road safety.
The service doesn’t routinely use the feedback it receives to improve what it does. At the time of our inspection, the service had recently changed the way it evaluated its water safety and fire-setting programmes. It was too early to see the outcomes of those changes. With limited evaluation, the service is missing opportunities to improve some prevention work for the public.
Adequate
Protecting the public through fire regulation
West Midlands Fire 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
There is a clear link between the service’s CRMP and protection plan
The service’s protection plan is clearly linked to the risks it has identified in its CRMP.
Staff across the service are involved in this activity, effectively exchanging information as needed. Fire safety advisors support reactive work that operational crews identify a need for. This allows fire safety inspectors to concentrate on auditing high‑risk premises.
The service then uses information to adjust planning assumptions and direct activity between its protection, prevention and response functions. This means resources are properly aligned to risk.
The service has a dynamic risk-based inspection programme, which it targets at the highest-risk buildings
The service’s dynamic risk-based inspection programme is focused on the highest‑risk buildings. It is well informed by data. The service constantly updates the programme according to the relevant data. This makes sure fire safety inspectors only audit the highest-risk premises. National datasets are updated every three months, and these updates are automatically added to the service’s inspection programme.
Operational crews also carry out safe and strong visits, the results of which instantly update a building’s risk score.
The audits we reviewed had been completed in the timescales the service has set itself.
The service carries out good-quality audits to a consistent 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 risk-based inspection programme;
- after fires at premises where fire safety legislation applies;
- after enforcement action had been taken; or
- at high-rise, high-risk buildings.
The audits we reviewed were completed to a high standard in a consistent, systematic way and in line with the service’s policies. The service makes relevant information from its audits available to operational teams and fire control operators. It does this by sharing temporary risk information.
For example, we found evidence showing that when firefighting equipment installed at a building was tampered with, the service shared risk information that led it to increase the response it would provide in the event of an incident at that building.
The service has effective quality assurance in place
The service carries out proportionate quality assurance of its protection activity. Staff told us that the service quality assured 5 percent of all audits. This is highlighted on the service’s recording system. There is also an additional level of quality assurance: the internal legal team checks all notices and prohibitions to make sure they contain all the relevant information.
The service has good evaluation tools in place to measure how effective its activity is and to make sure all sections of its communities get appropriate access to the protection services that meet their needs.
The service carries out enforcement when necessary
The service consistently uses its full range of enforcement powers, and when appropriate, it prosecutes those who don’t comply with fire safety regulations. We found good evidence of the service using a supportive process before taking enforcement action. It records good rationale for this process.
Staff told us about an incident in which the service needed to take enforcement action at a public house. They also emphasised the importance of the service’s positive partnerships with the police and local authority housing standards departments.
In the year ending 31 March 2024, the service issued 1 alteration notice, 295 informal notifications, 7 enforcement notices and 6 prohibition notices, and it carried out 6 prosecutions.
The service has allocated enough resources to protection, but it could make improvements in this area
The service has enough qualified protection staff to support its risk-based inspection programme and other protection activity, but it could make improvements in this area.
As at 31 March 2024, the service had 47 competent protection staff and 33 protection staff in development. At the time of our inspection, the competent staff were mentoring those in development. The service knew that the number of audits it completed would decrease as a result of the mentoring process. The service knows this situation will improve when more staff become competent.
During office hours, the service uses its staff in development to help it provide a 30‑minute response time both for post-incident fire safety advice and for when the public or operational crews raise concerns. They also provide out-of-hours cover alongside station commanders with fire safety qualifications.
Staff get the right training and work to appropriate accreditation. This is in line with the national competency framework.
The service can adapt to new legislation
Since our last inspection, the Building Safety Act 2022 and the Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022 have been introduced to bring about better regulation and management of tall buildings.
The service is supporting the introduction of the Building Safety Regulator. The service has seconded seven staff to carry out training and work on:
- raising the safety standards of all buildings;
- regulating higher-risk buildings; and
- helping professionals in design, construction and building control.
It expects these arrangements to have a limited impact on its other protection activity. However, they have caused problems with succession planning. The service has seconded some of its most experienced staff to the Building Safety Regulator. As a result of this, and due the fact that it takes a long time for fire safety inspection officers to become competent, workforce planning has been difficult for the service.
The Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022 introduced a range of duties for the managers of tall buildings. These include a requirement to give the fire and rescue service floor plans and inform them of any substantial faults to essential firefighting equipment, such as firefighting lifts.
We found that the service has good arrangements in place to receive this information. When it doesn’t receive the right information, it takes action. And it accordingly updates the risk information it gives its operational staff.
The service works well with partners to carry out joint enforcement
The service works closely with other enforcement agencies to regulate fire safety and it routinely exchanges risk information with them. At tall buildings, it has carried out joint visits and enforcement with some housing authorities. The service also prohibited the use of a house in multiple occupation, which could result in a joint prosecution.
The service is making improvements in its response to building and licensing consultations
We found that the service didn’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. In 2023/24, the service responded to 74.3 percent of building consultations (1,142 out of 1,538) and 81.3 percent of licensing consultations (596 out of 733) within the required timeframe.
The service has made changes so that this work is no longer dealt with by an individual team. The workload is now spread among more people. The service is already seeing some improvements in its response rates.
The service gives good fire safety support to businesses
The service proactively works with local businesses and other organisations to promote compliance with fire safety legislation. It is an active member of primary authority schemes, which allow businesses to get assured compliance advice and guidance.
The service also publishes on its website advice and guidance for businesses, and fire safety advisors give support after incidents.
The service is reducing the number of unwanted fire signals it attends
An effective risk-based approach is in place to manage the number of unwanted fire signals. The service has a call-challenging process in place in fire control. It also contacts repeat offenders to reduce the number of false alarms it attends. For example, the service contacted a housing association about a high number of false alarms in a short period of time. After written correspondence with the directors of the association, the service has attended fewer false alarms.
Fewer unwanted calls mean fire engines are available to respond to a genuine incident rather than responding to a false one. It also reduces the risk to the public if fewer fire engines travel at high speed on the roads.
Good
Responding to fires and other emergencies
West Midlands Fire Service is good at responding to fires and other emergencies.
Fire and rescue services must be able to respond to a range of incidents such as fires, road traffic collisions and other emergencies in their areas.
We set out our detailed findings below. These are the basis for our judgment of the service’s performance in this area.
Main findings
The service aligns its resources to effectively respond to risks
The service’s response strategy is linked to the risks it has identified in its CRMP. Its fire engines and response staff, as well as its working patterns, are designed and located to help the service respond flexibly to fires and other emergencies with the appropriate resources.
At some stations, the service has put in place risk-based crewing. This allows fire control and operational crews to adjust the crewing for specific incidents.
The service also uses a dynamic cover tool, which is a system to determine the best location for resources during large-scale incidents. This helps it meet the response standards it has set.
The service consistently meets its response standards
There are no national response standards of performance for the public. But the service has set out its own response standards in its CRMP.
The service has set attendance times for four categories of incidents:
- category 1 (high risk): 5 minutes
- category 2 (medium risk): 7 minutes
- category 3 (low risk): 10 minutes
- category 4 (secondary fire): 20 minutes.
The service consistently meets its standards. In 2023/24, over the 4 categories, it had an average attendance time of 5 minutes and 28 seconds.
Home Office data shows that in the year ending 31 March 2024, the service’s average response time to primary fires was 6 minutes and 52 seconds. This is faster than the average for predominately urban services.
The service’s approach to resource location supports its response standards
The service has a mixture of wholetime and wholetime day-crewed stations. This means fire engines are always in use. But we found that fire engine availability wasn’t 100 percent. In 2023/24, the overall availability of fire engines was 94.1 percent.
However, the service supports its response strategy by using a dynamic cover tool. This allows it to relocate its resources throughout the day and night to make sure it can consistently meet its response standards and give the public a fast service.
Staff understand how to command incidents safely
The service has trained incident commanders, who are assessed regularly and properly. They take part in training, exercises, assessments and continuing professional development. This helps the service safely, assertively and effectively manage the whole range of incidents it could face, from small and routine ones to complex multi-agency incidents.
As part of our inspection, we interviewed incident commanders from across the service. They were familiar with risk assessing, decision-making and recording information at incidents in line with national best practice, as well as the Joint Emergency Services Interoperability Principles (JESIP).
Fire control is integrated into the service, but the service could do more to help all staff learn from incidents
The service has a joint fire control with Staffordshire Fire and Rescue Service.
We were pleased to see fire control staff integrated into the service’s command, training and exercises. After incidents, fire control staff submit electronic debriefs. Certain incident types automatically trigger reminders to fire control staff to complete these debriefs. However, the service could do more to make sure staff have the opportunity to attend structured debriefs. This would allow all staff to learn from incidents.
We found that fire control staff received appropriate training. This training aligns with national operational guidance. They also carry out regular business continuity exercises.
Most staff can access risk information, but the service should improve the accuracy of the information
We sampled a range of risk information, including initial, site-specific and short-term risk information. We also sampled the information in place for firefighters responding to incidents at high-risk, high-rise buildings and the information held by fire control.
Most of the information we reviewed was up to date and detailed. However, we found that some of the information was inaccurate or didn’t link to the relevant file. For example, when we tried to access tactical plans for a building, we found it contained different information.
We found that most staff could easily access the risk information and they understood it. When appropriate, it is shared with the service’s prevention, protection and response functions.
The service should improve the way it learns from incidents, exercises and training
As part of the inspection, we reviewed a range of emergency incidents and training events. These included exercises on a large, national infrastructure development, as well as major incidents and domestic fires.
The service routinely follows its policies to make sure that staff command incidents in line with operational guidance. It updates internal risk information with the information it receives.
We were disappointed to find that the service didn’t always follow its debriefing policies or act on learning it had, or should have, identified from incidents. This means it isn’t routinely improving its service to the public.
For example, after a fatal fire, the service didn’t carry out a debrief. According to the service’s policy, fatal fires are a trigger for learning.
After a major fire at the David Wood Foods bakery, the service identified learning. However, we didn’t find evidence that the service had carried out any actions as a result.
And we found that after an exercise on the HS2 development, the service started but didn’t complete a debrief process.
We found only limited evidence that the service contributes to and acts on learning from other fire and rescue services or operational learning gathered from emergency service partners.
The service has good processes for keeping the public informed
The service has good systems in place to inform the public about ongoing incidents and help keep them safe during and after incidents. This work includes:
- giving media training to flexi-duty officers;
- having communications team capability 24 hours a day, 7 days a week;
- having established procedures for a communications officer to attend the incident management room; and
- using social media channels and the service’s website.
Good
Responding to major and multi-agency incidents
West Midlands Fire 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 is prepared to respond to major and multi-agency incidents
The service has effectively anticipated and considered the reasonably foreseeable risks and threats it may face. These risks are listed in both local and national risk registers as part of its community risk management planning. The service has plans in place to respond to marauding terrorist attacks at the regional airport, COMAH sites and sporting venues.
The service 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 wildfires and wide-area flooding. Firefighters have access to risk information from neighbouring services.
The service is ready to respond to major and multi-agency incidents at tall buildings
In our last inspection, we focused on how the service had collected risk information and responded to the Government’s building risk review programme for tall buildings.
In this inspection, we have focused on how well prepared the service is to respond to a major incident at a tall building, such as the tragedy at Grenfell Tower.
We found that the service has well-developed policies and procedures in place for safely managing this type of incident. Staff at all levels understand them, and robust training and exercises have taken place to test them.
At this type of incident, a fire and rescue service would receive a high volume of simultaneous fire calls. We found that the system in place in the service is robust enough to receive and manage this volume of calls. Staff in fire control and those at the incident can share, view and update the actions that result from the individual fire calls.
The system the service uses is in the form of an app. During our inspection, we saw it working seamlessly in a live exercise. This involved a simulated fire ground, and we saw information being passed from fire control to incident commanders.
At the time of our inspection, the service was working on a similar app that would support incidents that involve mass casualties. We look forward to seeing how this work progresses.
The service works well with other fire and rescue services
The service supports other fire and rescue services responding to emergency incidents. For example, it has supported neighbouring services with wildfire and wide‑area flooding incidents. The service also has:
- marauding terrorist response capability;
- detection, identification and monitoring equipment;
- water rescue teams;
- hazardous material advisors; and
- a national inter-agency officer to support multi-agency and multi-service incidents.
These functions are interoperable and can form part of a multi-agency response.
The service has successfully deployed to other services and has used national assets such as high-volume pumps for wide-area flooding. It has also supported other services in wildfire incidents by providing firefighting teams and equipment.
The service could improve cross-border exercises
The service has a cross-border exercise plan with neighbouring fire and rescue services. The plan includes the risks of major events at which the service could foreseeably give support or ask for help from neighbouring services.
The service told us that it had an exercise schedule for its operations and response teams, with the aim of completing ten cross-border exercises a year. It told us that in 2024/25, it met that aim.
The service uses some, but not all, learning from these exercises to inform risk information and service plans.
There is a good understanding of JESIP across the service
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. E-learning about JESIP is available to all staff, and staff at station commander level and above receive face-to-face training. Both types of training are updated every three years.
We also found evidence of exercises with other emergency services that involved simulating changes in emergency locations across the West Midlands.
We found some evidence that the service takes part in debriefs after multi-agency incidents and exercises, but it doesn’t always identify learning. This means it may not be identifying opportunities to improve the way it applies JESIP. This could compromise the service’s ability to respond effectively with other emergency services when major incidents do occur.
The service works well with partners
The service has good arrangements in place to respond to emergencies with partners that make up the West Midlands local resilience forum (LRF). These arrangements include working closely with counter-terrorism units to make sure there are effective plans in place in case of an incident.
The service is a valued partner, and the chief fire officer chairs or vice chairs the LRF. The service’s head of response is a vice chair of a general working group, and the service has nominated attendees at several sub-groups and committees at strategic and tactical levels.
The service takes part in regular training events with other members of the LRF. It uses the learning to develop planning assumptions about responding to major and multi-agency incidents.
The service could do more to share learning nationally
The service has a process for making 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. However, we found limited evidence of the service sharing learning with other services or organisations.
Good
Making best use of resources
West Midlands Fire 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 £140.4 million. This is a 4.1 percent increase from the previous financial year.
We set out our detailed findings below. These are the basis for our judgment of the service’s performance in this area.
Main findings
The service has some plans to allocate resources according to risk, but financial controls need to improve
The provisional outturn (the actual result rather than the budgeted figures) for the 2023/24 revenue budget showed an underspend of £6.1 million. This was unexpected and we found that the service didn’t understand it. For the same year, there was also an underspend in the capital programme. As a result, the fire and rescue authority has made the budget decisions for 2024/25 on the basis of an inaccurate financial position.
We found a lack of informed internal challenge and scrutiny in the service. As a result, there hasn’t been enough appropriate oversight of financial plans and expenditure.
The service recognises that financial controls need to be improved so that it uses public money well. Since the 2023/24 provisional outturn, the service has made some improvements. Budget holders now receive better support from the finance team. The service has also reintroduced monthly finance reporting to the senior leadership team. The service has identified that staff need finance training to improve their financial awareness. We look forward to seeing the results of this work in our next inspection.
The service has allocated enough resources to prevention, protection and response, but its financial plans aren’t always consistent with the risks and priorities it has identified in its CRMP. This is because although the service has introduced ten new priorities, which were agreed by the senior leadership team, not all these areas were funded. The service has been able to use some of the underspend to support priorities such as improving risk-critical training and some computer systems. But this isn’t due to robust financial planning.
The service has evaluated its mix of crewing and duty systems. It has analysed its response cover and can show it deploys its fire engines and response staff to manage risk efficiently. The service has introduced risk-based crewing at some fire stations. This allows it to give a more specific response to some incidents. It is also more efficient.
The service has also reviewed its water rescue capability. At the time of our inspection, it planned to increase its resources in that area so it could respond to incidents more quickly.
The service told us it purposely operated below operational establishment (without a full staff). It said it used overtime, in the form of voluntary additional shifts, because this offered better value and flexibility. However, the service tries to cover so many shifts in this way, not all shifts are filled.
The service should improve the way it monitors workforce productivity and the performance of all departments
Some of the service’s arrangements for managing performance link resources to its CRMP and its strategic priorities. The service has 25 strategic performance indicators, which the senior leadership team and fire and rescue authority review each quarter. However, we found that the service didn’t have indicators to monitor some of its core functions, such as fire safety. The fire safety department does, however, monitor fire safety internally. At the time of our inspection, the service had plans to add fire safety to the strategic performance indicators.
The service has started to understand the way it uses its wholetime firefighters. It collects data on how they spend their time during day and night shifts. There is guidance for operational crews, who have some flexibility in their work. However, we found that the service had only recently introduced this guidance, and it wasn’t using it to bring about better ways of working.
After requests from staff, the service removed targets for prevention activity. However, because of a decrease in the amount of prevention work operational crews carried out, it had to reintroduce the targets. We also found an inconsistent approach to the way the service recorded productivity. Some staff use a three-monthly planner to monitor activity, rather than using the recently introduced process.
Collaboration takes place, but the service should consistently evaluate the benefits
The service collaborates with some other emergency responders and local authorities. The service has a joint fire control with Staffordshire Fire and Rescue Service. It also shares parts of its headquarters and some stations with West Midlands Police and some local authorities.
The service carries out an annual review of the joint fire control. This makes sure each fire and rescue service pays an appropriate amount based on its use of the control room.
However, we found that the service was inconsistent in the way it monitored, reviewed and evaluated the benefits and results of its collaborations. It needs to do more to consistently evaluate its collaborative activity so it can make sure that work benefits the community.
There are good continuity arrangements in place, and the service regularly carries out exercises based on these
As we found in our last inspection, the service still 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.
We found plans in place for prolonged and short strike action, action short of a strike, and events affecting the supply of goods or services. We also found that fire control regularly carried out exercises based on continuity plans related to system failures or the evacuation of the main control room.
In business continuity exercises, the service uses its dynamic cover tool. It inputs variables, such as the number of fire engines available and changes in response times. This shows what cover would look like across the area, and the best location for deploying resources.
The service’s contract and procurement management processes are well managed
Since receiving the provisional outturn of the 2023/24 revenue budget, the service has improved its approach to reviewing expenditure, including its non-pay costs. Budget holders told us about the support they received from the finance team. Each month, the service reviews actual revenue expenditure and compares it with forecast revenue expenditure.
The service has made savings and efficiencies, which have caused minimal disruption to its operational performance and the service it provides to the public. For example, it carried out a review of the specification for flexi-duty officers’ response cars. This was to give staff what they needed, rather than what they wanted. The service told us this resulted in savings of about £500,000.
The service is taking steps to make sure it achieves efficiency gains through good procurement management and best working practices. It is doing this in important areas such as estates, fleet and procurement. It uses national procurement frameworks to get the best possible purchasing power. For example, it uses the Crown Commercial Service’s framework for purchasing fuel and energy.
The service told us it also saved about £140,000 by not replacing a foam distribution unit in a like-for-like way as part of its vehicle replacement programme.
Adequate
Making the FRS affordable now and in the future
West Midlands Fire Service requires improvement 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 has faced challenges with understanding its financial position, and it needs to make improvements
Since our last inspection, the service has identified a problem with the accuracy of its budget forecasting and management. The provisional outturn for 2023/24 showed an unexpected revenue budget underspend of £6.1 million. The service didn’t identify this level of underspend until after the 2024/25 revenue budget was set. The outturn for 2022/23 was also considerably different to the forecast figures.
In 2023/24, there was also an underspend in the capital programme. This mainly related to the vehicle replacement programme. The service has revised its forecast expenditure for the vehicle replacement programme downwards from about £7 million to about £2.6 million.
This inaccurate forecasting has affected the service’s understanding of its financial position and its approach to mitigating its main financial risks. At the time of our inspection, the medium term financial plan (MTFP) showed that the service needed additional savings of £1.9 million to avoid a revenue budget deficit in 2024/25. However, the service told us that it would instead use some of the underspend from 2023/24 to balance the budget.
The 2024/25 revenue budget includes identified savings of £5 million. The service told us it was confident that it would achieve these identified savings.
The MTFP also shows an anticipated revenue budget deficit of £2.8 million in 2025/26, increasing to £4.4 million in 2026/27. At the time of our inspection, limited plans were in place to meet these future savings requirements. The service has introduced zero based budgeting for 2025/26. It anticipates that it will identify savings through this process.
The service’s scenario plans and assumptions aren’t always accurate, robust or transparent. The MTFP states that in 2024/25, the pay award assumption is 3 percent. But the service told us that the actual assumption it had made and budgeted for was 5 percent. This additional 2 percent hasn’t been reported or documented.
Since it first identified a problem with the accuracy of its budget forecasting and management, the service has reintroduced monthly reporting to the senior leadership team. However, the service knows it still needs to improve the accuracy of these reports. At the time of our inspection, it wasn’t confident about the accuracy of the operational staffing data from the finance system.
The service also needs to better manage its ridership factor. This means monitoring the number of days, outside annual leave, that operational staff are unavailable for operational duties. This will help improve its planning and forecasting.
Ahead of 2025/26, the service put in place a more formal internal process for budget‑setting.
It anticipates that these arrangements will improve the internal challenge and scrutiny of its financial plans. We look forward to seeing the results of this work in our next inspection.
The service has plans for using its reserves
The service has a sensible and sustainable plan for using its reserves. At the time of our inspection, the service told us it held earmarked reserves of £24 million, and that the unearmarked general fund contained £4 million. It is carrying out a review of its earmarked reserves to make sure it allocates all reserves to support its priorities.
The service’s estate strategy doesn’t help it bring about improvements
The service has estate and fleet strategies. However, when changes in fleet and estate provision present opportunities to improve efficiency and effectiveness, it doesn’t always make the most of them.
In our last inspection, we identified an area for improvement that the service should make sure that its estates management programmes are clearly linked to the CRMP. In this inspection, although we found that there was a new strategy in place, the service had made limited progress against this area for improvement.
We found that the entire estate was overdue a review. At the time of our inspection, this was taking place, but the service couldn’t carry it out fully until it had completed a fire cover review. As such, this remains an area for improvement.
The service doesn’t manage its investments in technology well enough
The service actively considers how changes in technology and future innovation may affect risk.
The service has invested in systems to improve its efficiency. These include its resourcing system and its training recording system. However, we found that several of the service’s systems weren’t working as well as they should. The resourcing system didn’t alert staff who were available to cover staffing shortfalls. And staff weren’t confident in some of the data on the finance system.
The service also has a system for recording training, but it isn’t user-friendly. At the time of our inspection, the service was making improvements to this system. However, in the meantime, using the system took up a lot of crew and watch managers’ time.
Staff also told us that systems didn’t always interface with each other. This makes it difficult for staff to create or access reports to support their decisions.
The service knows the capacity and capability it needs so it can achieve sustainable change. It has made risk-critical training a priority and has provided extra resources and funding to support this work. It is also working with several system providers to find solutions to problems.
The service generates some income
At the time of our inspection, the service estimated that in the year ending 31 March 2025, it would generate about £4 million of income. This includes income from the joint fire control, shared estates, and giving fire safety training to some businesses.
However, the service has put on hold work on actively exploiting more opportunities for generating extra income. This is so it can focus on improving its financial management arrangements.
Requires improvement
Promoting the right values and culture
West Midlands Fire 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 service has a supportive culture, and staff feel listened to
The service has well-defined values, which staff understand. We found most staff at all levels of the service showing behaviours that reflect service values. It was encouraging to see that despite the recent instability in the service and the negative media coverage, there was a supportive culture throughout the workforce.
Some staff told us that the instability and a lack of transparency at a senior level had created some mistrust in the workforce. In our staff survey, 52 percent of respondents (230 out of 442) agreed that senior leaders consistently modelled and maintained the service values.
However, we found that senior leaders had continued their visits across the service and remained visible. Staff told us that they were starting to feel listened to.
There is a positive working culture throughout the service, with staff empowered and willing to challenge poor behaviours when they come across them. Some staff told us they felt confident enough to challenge inappropriate behaviour, and that the service actively promoted this in training for new recruits.
There is good support for staff well-being
The service continues to have well-understood and effective well-being policies in place, which are available to staff. A range of well-being support is available to support both physical and mental health.
An occupational health doctor and nurse help support GP referrals, and counselling sessions are available over the phone or face-to-face. Many of the staff we spoke to were highly positive about the support that was available.
There are good provisions in place to promote staff well-being. These include:
- verbal advice and guidance;
- an employee assistance programme;
- counselling that is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week;
- support from organisations such as Enable and Able Futures;
- mental health buddies;
- a GP referral process; and
- traumatic incident support.
Most staff told us they understood and had confidence in the well-being support processes available.
In our staff survey, 90 percent of respondents (418 out of 467) agreed that they could access services to support their mental well-being. And 91 percent (427 out of 467) agreed that the service would offer well-being services after a workplace incident.
The service has a good culture in relation to health and safety
The service continues to have effective and well-understood health and safety policies and procedures in place. It makes sure staff receive health and safety training that is specific to fire and rescue services. The health and safety team supports staff, giving expert advice and guidance when necessary.
Health and safety policies and procedures are readily available, and the service promotes them effectively to all staff. In our staff survey, 96 percent of respondents (447 out of 467) agreed that they understood the policies and procedures the service had in place to make sure they could work safely.
The service monitors staff who have secondary employment or dual contracts. This is to make sure they comply with the secondary employment policy and don’t work excessive hours. The resourcing system is based on working and rest times, which staff can’t change. We found instances in which staff hadn’t been contacted to provide cover, despite being available. However, we didn’t find that staff were working more hours than they should.
The service should improve the way it manages absence and give line managers better support in this area
The service has an absence policy, and most staff, including managers, understand it. However, the service should do more to manage long-term absence more effectively.
Strategic oversight and monitoring are in place for absence, but work on actively reducing absence levels is limited. We found that an attendance management governance working group was in place, but it was no longer holding meetings.
Adequate
Getting the right people with the right skills
West Midlands Fire Service requires improvement 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 needs to improve its workforce planning
The service does some workforce planning, but it doesn’t take full account of the skills and capabilities it needs to effectively carry out its CRMP. We found limited evidence that the service’s planning allows it to fully consider workforce skills and overcome any gaps in capability.
The recruitment team and workforce planning team carry out some planning, but this focuses on operational staff. Some staff also told us they weren’t confident in the reporting system that the service used to determine the number of staff it needed for operational activity.
The service needs to do more to improve the way it considers its future needs. The service told us there was no succession-planning process in place. This means it can’t effectively plan for the future or make sure its workforce has the right skills.
The service needs to make sure it provides risk-critical training consistently
The service now treats risk-critical training as a high priority, but it still needs to make improvements.
In our last inspection, we identified an area for improvement that the service should assure itself that its records of competence for risk-critical skills are accurate and up to date. The service now has better oversight of risk-critical skills. It uses a Microsoft Power BI dashboard to monitor the percentage of staff who are competent. As a result, we have closed this area for improvement. However, the service needs to do more work to monitor all the training it provides.
The service uses a distributed training model to allocate training to stations. Station‑based assessors and subject-matter advisors support the training.
However, we found that the service was inconsistent in the way it determined whether firefighters had passed assessments. Some staff have been able to wear breathing apparatus at incidents despite having failed the relevant assessment, while others haven’t.
The service told us it takes a holistic approach to competence, which involves examining staff records and performance. This is instead of removing staff from activities if they fail assessments. But we found a lack of personal development reviews being carried out across the workforce. Because of inadequate systems, some staff record learning on spreadsheets. This doesn’t support a holistic approach.
The service has been improving the system it uses to record training, as well as its approach to providing training and assessments. However, at the time of our inspection, these improvements weren’t fully in effect. We look forward to seeing the improvements in this area.
The service needs to improve access to learning and development
Although the service provides some learning and development, it doesn’t meet the needs of its staff, or indeed of the service. For example, it has an inconsistent approach to risk-critical training. Some staff told us there was an “assessment culture” in the service, rather than a culture of learning.
The service has a comprehensive career development leadership pathway in place, which is aligned to the National Fire Chiefs Council leadership framework. But some non-operational staff told us they felt that career development opportunities were limited. Some staff also told us they found it difficult to access risk-critical training courses.
Only some staff told us that they could access the range of learning and development resources they need to do their job effectively. This is likely to affect what the service can offer the public. In our staff survey, 60 percent of respondents (282 out of 467) agreed that they could access the right learning and development opportunities.
Requires improvement
Ensuring fairness and promoting diversity
West Midlands Fire Service is adequate 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 has systems for asking the workforce for feedback, but not all staff are confident in using them
The service has developed several ways to work with staff on issues and decisions that affect them. These include methods to build all-staff awareness of fairness and diversity, as well as targeted initiatives to identify matters that affect different staff groups. The service carries out staff surveys, and principal officers carry out station and department visits. It also has an anonymous reporting method, which staff can use if necessary.
Staff commented positively about the way in which the service consulted with them after recent restructures. Staff also told us they felt that the service was now listening to them.
The service has taken action to address problems that staff have raised. At the time of our inspection, the service was making changes to training. It was also reversing its policy on risk-based crewing at late-shift stations due to the results of a review of these arrangements. Staff had reacted positively to these actions.
Representative bodies and staff associations told us that the service communicates with them well.
The service still needs to make improvements so it can make sure staff are confident in using feedback systems. In our staff survey, 58 percent of respondents (273 out of 467) agreed that they felt confident in the mechanisms for providing feedback to all levels. And only 53 percent (249 out of 467) agreed that their ideas or suggestions would be listened to.
The service sets behavioural expectations during induction training
Staff have a good understanding of what bullying, harassment and discrimination are, and their negative effects on colleagues and the organisation.
In this inspection, 18 percent of respondents to our staff survey (82 out of 467) told us they had felt bullied or harassed at work in the past 12 months. Of these staff, 45 had reported their concerns, but only 5 of those felt that the action had made a difference. The remaining 9 felt it was either too early to tell, or they didn’t feel that a change had been made.
In our staff survey, 16 percent of respondents (75 out of 467) told us they had felt discriminated against in the past 12 months. Of these staff, 28 had reported their concerns. Almost all of those 28 people felt that it was either too early to tell if reporting it had made a difference, or that reporting it hadn’t made or wouldn’t make a difference.
Most staff are confident in the service’s approach to tackling bullying, harassment, discrimination, grievances and disciplinary matters. The service sets behavioural expectations early by making them part of induction training. The service has made sure all staff are trained on what to do if they come across inappropriate behaviours.
The service had removed probation periods for new starters, but at the time of our inspection, it had recently reintroduced them. This was because it had experienced problems with some new recruits not demonstrating the service values.
The service needs to make sure its recruitment processes are fair and transparent
The service needs to do more to make sure its recruitment processes are fair and transparent. We found the service had appropriate policies in place to support recruitment. However, the processes are open to bias as the service doesn’t use an anonymous sift. This would make sure scoring is based on the information candidates give, rather than on any personal details.
The recruitment policies are comprehensive and cover opportunities in all roles. The service advertises recruitment opportunities both internally and externally.
The service removes barriers, such as those relating to traditional rank structures and roles, which can prevent appropriate staff progressing. This has encouraged applicants from diverse backgrounds into middle and senior management roles.
The service could do more to increase staff diversity. There has been some progress in improving ethnic and gender diversity. In 2023/24, 23.8 percent of new joiners identified as being from an ethnic minority background.
The proportion of firefighters who identified as being from an ethnic minority background has increased from 16 percent (217 people) as at 31 March 2023 to 16.6 percent (217 people) as at 31 March 2024. However, this is due to people who aren’t from ethnic minority backgrounds leaving the service.
The proportion of firefighters who identified as a woman has decreased from 13.8 percent (192 people) to 13.5 percent (181 people) over the same period.
For the whole workforce, as at 31 March 2024, 17 percent identified as being from an ethnic minority background compared to 43.1 percent in their local population and 8.6 percent throughout all fire and rescue services. In the service, 26.4 percent identified as a woman, compared to an average of 20.2 percent throughout all fire and rescue services.
There is a lack of understanding of equality, diversity, inclusion and positive action
The service needs to improve its approach to equality, diversity and inclusion. It has appropriate policies and procedures in place, and it is a clear priority for the service. However, we found that some staff lacked understanding of equality, diversity, inclusion and positive action.
The service should also make sure it has a consistent approach to the way it provides equality, diversity and inclusion training. We found that some staff received face‑to‑face training on this subject, while others carried out e-learning.
At the time of our inspection, the service had five staff networks. Each network has a dedicated team intranet site, where they can share concerns, successes and best practice. The service tells new recruits about these networks so they know how they can join them. However, some staff told us they felt the networks weren’t fully understood by everyone in the service, and that senior leaders weren’t as involved with them as they could be.
The service has a process for carrying out equality impact assessments, but it doesn’t properly monitor the impacts on or outcomes for staff with each protected characteristic. This means the service can’t be sure its policies and procedures don’t discriminate against staff with protected characteristics.
Adequate
Managing performance and developing leaders
West Midlands Fire Service requires improvement 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.
Main findings
The service doesn’t manage staff performance and development effectively
The service has an inconsistent process in place for performance and development. Not all staff have specific and individual objectives or have had their performance assessed in the past year. Through our staff survey, we found that only 36 percent of respondents (166 out of 467) had received a formal personal development review in the past 12 months. During our inspection, we also asked staff if they had received a personal development review in the past 12 months. Again, we found that most staff we spoke to hadn’t received one.
At the time of our inspection, the service was introducing a new personal development review process, which wasn’t yet fully in place. We look forward to seeing how this work progresses.
The service should make sure it has processes in place to support promotion, and that they are unbiased
The service needs to do more to make sure its promotion and progression processes are fair.
Some staff told us that the service’s promotion processes could be open to bias as they needed line manager approval. The processes include criteria such as “demonstrating competent performance” and “potential of performing at the next level”. However, we found a lack of personal appraisals taking place. These would help the service assess whether someone is demonstrating competent performance and performing at the next level.
The service doesn’t have a succession-planning process in place to allow it to effectively manage the career pathways of its staff, including roles that need specialist skills.
In our last inspection, we found that some staff were on temporary promotion for longer than appropriate. The service has made good progress in this area. It has an updated policy on moving people from temporary promotion positions into permanent positions if the position becomes vacant. It has also introduced a process to help move staff working in temporary positions to another position that is permanent. The number of staff on temporary promotion has decreased from 173 as at 31 March 2022 to 149 as at 31 March 2024. As a result, we have closed this area for improvement.
The service should proactively work to increase diversity in the workforce
The service knows it needs to go further to increase workforce diversity, especially in middle and senior management. We found that the service wasn’t being proactive in diversifying its leadership, but it also didn’t have barriers that prevented the leadership becoming more diverse.
For example, we found that recruitment processes for senior roles extended past the rank structure. This encourages a more diverse pool of applicants. The service advertises internally and externally, including through some national networks for under-represented groups, such as the Asian Fire Service Association and Women in the Fire Service UK.
The service doesn’t have any pathways for supporting high-potential staff
The service needs to improve the way it actively manages the career pathways of staff, including those with specialist skills and those with potential for leadership roles.
It doesn’t have any talent management schemes to develop leaders and high‑potential staff. The service should consider putting in place more formal arrangements to identify and support members of staff to become senior leaders.
The service also doesn’t have a succession-planning process. A lack of effective succession planning can lead to uncertainly, instability and poor decision-making. It can ultimately affect the service’s performance.
In our staff survey, 67 percent of respondents (311 out of 467) agreed that there were opportunities to develop their career in the service.
The service needs to do more to make sure it implements the December 2022 Leading the Service and Leading and Developing People fire standards effectively.
Requires improvement
