A Look Forward To 2025-28

As outlined in the introduction, we have launched our new Community Risk Management Plan and People and Culture Strategy, and this workforce plan will support the strategic principles and aims outlined in those high-level documents.

To plan effectively, we need to understand the key issues, risks and themes which will impact on the workforce and delivery of services.

Recruitment & Succession Planning

• Ongoing on-call recruitment to meet the needs of specific sections, targeted at improving and maintaining availability of appliances.
• We will explore different options and approaches to train On-Call firefighters that can provide greater flexibility to our recruitment needs (including collaboration with other Fire Services where possible)
• Proactive management of the wholetime establishment – further firefighter recruitment may be required depending on financial position with a wholetime course planned for early 2026.
• Individual departments understand their own succession planning for key roles and are being proactive in addressing these.
• We will approach succession planning to ensure a continuity of knowledge, focus and momentum of improvement.
• A project will be initiated to implement findings from research undertaken during 2024 to improve the diversity of the workforce.
• Promotion processes will continue over the life of this plan (see timeline below).
• We will continue to ensure that we are adequately resourced to meet our statutory duties.
• We will ensure that our recruitment and planning supports our journey to being an ‘outstanding’ organisation reflecting on feedback and learning from within the Service, the Sector and from inspection by HMICFRS.

Skills and Competencies

• Maintenance of the right skills in the on-call workforce to maintain availability of appliances.
• EFAD Driving (maintenance of skills and competency)
• A review of how we deliver our specialist rescue capabilities, including who is trained, how they are trained, and how they maintain competencies
• Incident command training – skills in training function itself and across the workforce.
• Maintaining an appropriate cadre of specialist skilled officers to meet the needs of our Strategic Assessment of Risk
• Framework for day duty operational competencies to be reviewed and embedded.

Key Issues Impacting On Workforce Planning 2025-28

• Continuing to address the recruitment and retention challenges of the On-Call Duty System
• Reviewing collective agreement for flexi duty system officers – including outcomes of EIA
• Remediation Acceleration Plan (to 2029) – increasing demand of the building safety regulator - recruiting, developing, retaining skilled staff to do this.
• Reviewing and implementing changes to how we resource our specialist response model
• Increasing demands (and levels of complexity) on building safety and the risk-based inspection programme.
• Implementation of outcomes from digital maturity assessment and review of People and Organisational Development.
• Community Safety and Engagement function; embedding the new structure – meeting expectations regarding community engagement and positive action to address under-representation.
• Volunteers – 2025-26 research and scope this work. 2026-27 – delivery of a framework to introduce volunteers.
• Fire Investigation; reviewing the structure and resourcing to meet emerging needs of the Service.
• Local Resilience Forum Secretariat - embedding new function and relationships.
• Employee relations to continue to be maintained and managed – broadening of role may have an impact.
• Additional BA training capacity may be required 2025-26 – assess impact on ridership.
• SDC collective agreement to be reviewed – 2025-26