Our 2026-27 Plan on a Page

During 2026-27 we aim to achieve the following outcomes and objectives. Further information about our planned improvements within each goal can be found in the sections which follow.

Goal 1 Prevention

• Undertake at least 16,500 home safety visits, tailored to need and targeting those with the highest risk
• Work with partners to deliver safety messages to at least 2,000 primary school children
• Maintain our community befriending scheme, delivering 248 engagements with groups located right across the county
• Deliver a programme of community safety campaigns and events in line with our Campaigns calendar, working closely with response crews

Goal 2 Protection

• Undertake at least 2,950 visits to business premises, to provide advice and undertake regulatory activities
• Undertake at least 500 proactive engagements with businesses to promote fire safety
• Ensure at least 85% of watches have at least one warranted officer for fire safety
• Respond promptly to all building and licencing consultations, providing feedback within 15 working days
• Maintain 100% out of hours cover for fire protection issues

Goal 3 Response

• Attend incidents within 8 minutes, on average, from the time the first appliance is mobilised
• Ensure the availability of fire appliances is at least 98% for those with wholetime crews and at least 85% for those with on-call crews.
• Continue the programme of replacement for end-of-life fire appliances and other front-line vehicles
• Complete the implementation of our new mobilising system
• Implement changes to the organisation of our technical rescue capabilities

Goal 4 People and culture

• Manage wellbeing and absence to reduce average sickness days lost to national averages, or below
• Develop the use of our cultural dashboard to support organisational development
• Undertake recruitment and promotion processes as set out in the workforce plan
• Maintain the on-call establishment at or above baseline
• Continue to embed positive action into relevant activities to promote the service as an employer of choice

Goal 5 Service improvement

• Maintain focus on efficiency and productivity, seeking to achieve at least 2% non-pay efficiency savings and increase productivity by 3%
• Undertake benchmarking and requirements analysis to support the retendering of key computer systems and services contracts
• Facilitate the HMICFRS inspection and develop a plan to take forward learning from it

Goal 6 Sustainability

• Deliver balanced budget whilst maintaining adequate reserves
• Continue construction of new fire station at Stockhill
• Procurement of new fire appliances and other vehicles and equipment to support specialist rescue capabilities
• Refurbishment and upgrade of facilities at several older fire stations