Hampshire and Isle of Wight 2021/22

Hampshire and Isle of Wight Fire and Rescue Service requires improvement at promoting the right values and culture.

Hampshire and Isle of Wight Fire and Rescue Services merged in April 2021.

Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service required improvement in its 2018/19 assessment.

Isle of Wight Fire and Rescue Service required improvement in its 2018/19 assessment.

Fire and rescue services should have positive and inclusive cultures, modelled by the behaviours of their senior leaders. Health and safety should be promoted 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.

There have been some improvements in the culture within the service

The service has well-defined values that are understood by most staff. Of those who responded to our survey, 93 percent (267 out of 286) were aware of the service values. We were pleased to be told by some staff that they had seen a positive improvement in the culture of the service since our last inspections. It is encouraging to find that service values and behaviours are included as part of the services promotion and recruitment processes. The new national Core Code of Ethics has been used to inform the values and behaviour of the service.

But it was disappointing to find that the culture of the organisation doesn’t always align with its values. For example, of those who responded to our survey, 61 percent (164 out of 267) didn’t think senior leaders model service values. Some staff we spoke to told us that senior leaders weren’t visible and that there was a disconnect between senior managers and staff.

We were also told about behaviour that didn’t meet the standards expected, including use of inappropriate language and discriminatory behaviour. The service acknowledges that there is more work to do to ensure service values and behaviours are consistently demonstrated across all areas of the organisation.

While the service has made some progress, the area for improvement identified in Hampshire in 2018 remains. The service should ensure its expected values and behaviours are understood and demonstrated at all levels of the organisation and that managers actively promote these standards.

There is good support for staff mental and physical health

The service has well understood and effective well-being policies in place that are available to staff. A significant range of well-being support is available to support both physical and mental health. For example:

• trained mental health first aiders;
• employee assistance programme; and
• advisory and counselling support following traumatic incidents.

There are good provisions in place to promote staff well-being. Of those who responded to our survey, 90 percent (258 out of 286) told us they feel able to access services to support their mental well-being. In addition, 93 percent (266 out of 286) were confident that well-being support would be offered post-incident if appropriate.

We were also impressed with the use of personal support passports. These are used as a discreet way for staff with health, learning, disability, or other requirements to easily share any adjustments they require.

The service has sufficient health and safety provisions in place

The service has effective and well understood health and safety policies and procedures in place. For example, staff who work alone, such as CSOs and hydrant inspectors, have an electronic lone worker safety device that is monitored by an external company.

These policies and procedures are readily available and effectively promoted to all staff. Of those who responded to our survey, 86 percent (245 out of 286) felt their personal safety is treated seriously at work. Both staff and representative bodies have confidence in the health and safety approach taken by the service.

There is insufficient monitoring of working hours

We found that staff who want to undertake secondary employment must obtain permission from the service. It was worrying to find that the service doesn’t collect data or monitor staff who have secondary employment or dual contracts to make sure they comply with the secondary employment policy and don’t work excessive hours.

The service needs to take action to ensure that it effectively records and monitors the working hours of those staff who undertake secondary employment.

There are clear processes to manage absence

As part of our inspection, we reviewed some case files to consider how the service manages and supports staff through absence including sickness, parental and special leave.

We found there are clear processes in place to manage absences for all staff. There is clear guidance for managers. Absence cases we reviewed were managed well and in accordance with policy.

Absence management training is part of all new supervisory managers’ training. Existing managers are expected to access online absence management training. It was surprising to be told by some supervisory managers we spoke to during our inspection there was no formal absence management training in place. The service should ensure that all its supervisory managers are aware of and complete this training.

Hampshire and Isle of Wight Fire and Rescue Service is good at getting the right people with the right skills.

Hampshire and Isle of Wight Fire and Rescue Services merged in April 2021.

Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service was good in its 2018/19 assessment.

Isle of Wight Fire and Rescue Service was good in its 2018/19 assessment.

Fire and rescue services should have a workforce plan in place that is linked to their integrated risk management plans (IRMPs), sets out their current and future skills requirements and addresses capability gaps. They should supplement this with a culture of continuous improvement that includes 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.

There is a structured process for staff to maintain operational competencies

Most staff told us that they could access the training they need to be effective in their role. The service’s Maintenance of Competence framework ensures operational staff can maintain competence and capability effectively. Station training plans are in place to maintain these competencies through online or workplace assessments.

The service has recently updated its IT system that monitors staff competence by recording it on a single system. At the time of our inspection there were problems with this system, resulting in inaccurate training records. The service is taking action to resolve the issue.

The training files we inspected showed that critical competencies such as breathing apparatus were in date. We were pleased to find that all of the service’s incident commanders were trained and assessed.

Managers are responsible for ensuring staff are maintaining their competency. We found that competencies required by specialist roles, such as protection, and Urban Search and Rescue staff weren’t recorded on the competency system but were kept locally in different departments. The service has a plan in place to record these on the central competency system.

The service should ensure it can regularly update its understanding of all staff skills and risk-critical capabilities. This will mean that it will be able to better determine gaps in workforce capabilities and resilience and can make sound and financially sustainable decisions about current and future needs.

Future skills and capability planning needs to improve

Since our last inspection the service has established a People and Organisational Development directorate. A resource management team does some workforce planning relating to operational appointments and promotions.

But the service needs to do more to improve how it considers its future needs and succession planning. During our inspection we were disappointed to find a lack of succession planning across some core functions of the service.

For example, some protection staff told us this was one of the reasons that had led to a shortage of Level 4 Diploma-qualified staff. We found there weren’t enough available operational staff, especially on-call, to crew fire engines to meet response targets set in the safety plan. Some staff we spoke to told us that the process to recruit on-call firefighters was too slow. The service told us that one of the reasons for this is courses such as breathing apparatus can only be run when there are enough recruits to train together.

There is good access to resources that support learning and development

A culture of continuous improvements is promoted throughout the service and staff are encouraged to learn and develop. Of those who responded to our survey, 85 percent (242 out of 286) said that they have had a development conversation with their manager at least once in the last 12 months.

We are pleased to see that the service has a range of resources in place. During the pandemic the service maintained staff access to learning and development by hosting more remote learning sessions. This included webinars and online coaching and mentoring.

Most staff told us that they can access a range of learning and development resources. These include online training packages and access to resources from external learning providers. This allows them to do their job effectively.

Hampshire and Isle of Wight Fire and Rescue Service requires improvement at ensuring fairness and promoting diversity.

Hampshire and Isle of Wight Fire and Rescue Services merged in April 2021.

Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service required improvement in its 2018/19 assessment.

Isle of Wight Fire and Rescue Service required improvement in its 2018/19 assessment.

Creating a more representative workforce will provide huge benefits for fire and rescue services. This includes greater access to talent and different ways of thinking, and improved understanding of and engagement with their local communities. Each service should make sure equality, diversity and inclusion are firmly understood and demonstrated throughout the organisation. 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 taken is meaningful.

We set out our detailed findings below. These are the basis for our judgment of the service’s performance in this area.

The service should continue work to improve staff confidence in raising concerns

In our first inspections in 2018, we identified an area for improvement in Hampshire that the service should assure itself that staff are confident in using available ways of providing feedback. We are encouraged to find the service has developed several ways to work with staff on issues and decisions that affect them.

For example, there are four active staff network groups which give feedback directly to senior managers about any issues or ideas. We were encouraged to find an independent reporting tool ‘Say So’ had recently been introduced. The service also published through its communication portal ‘You said, we did’ action taken as a result of its well-being survey. This included a move to hybrid working after 67 percent of staff responding to the survey requested this.

But some staff we spoke to weren’t confident in processes to raise concerns. Of those who responded to our survey, 58 percent (167 out of 286) didn’t feel confident in feedback systems to all levels. And 52 percent (148 out of 286) felt they couldn’t challenge ideas without detriment to how they are treated. The service should ensure it continues to build confidence in feedback systems to improve communications between staff and senior managers.

Further work is needed to improve understanding of bullying, harassment and discrimination

The service should improve staff understanding of bullying, harassment and discrimination, including their duty to eliminate them. In our staff survey, 20 percent (56 out of 286) of respondents told us they had been subject to bullying or harassment and 23 percent (65 out of 286) to discrimination over the past 12 months. During our inspection a few staff told us of discriminatory behaviour including homophobic abuse and use of racist language.

Although the service has clear policies and procedures in place, staff have limited confidence in its ability to deal effectively with cases of bullying, harassment and discrimination, grievances and discipline. For example, our staff survey shows that 48 percent (27 out of 56) of respondents who said they had been harassed or bullied didn’t report it, the main reason being that they thought nothing would happen.

The service monitors complaints and grievances through its People and Organisational Development board. This data is used to establish trends and is passed on to managers for action. However, the service needs to do more to improve its understanding of bullying, harassment and discrimination and support staff to build confidence to report such behaviour.

Work needs to continue to understand and improve workforce diversity

There is an open, fair and honest recruitment process for staff or those wishing to work for the fire and rescue service. The service has an effective system to understand and remove the risk of disproportionality in recruitment processes.

The service has put considerable effort into developing its recruitment processes so that they are fair and understood by potential applicants. The recruitment policies are comprehensive and cover opportunities in all roles.

We were pleased to find the service uses positive action in its recruitment campaigns to target underrepresented groups. Some staff told us that the service goes out to communities, including at mosques and other places of worship, rather than inviting them to fire stations to encourage people to join the service. Recruitment work to increase applicants from underrepresented groups takes place through ‘Have a go’ days and targeting of sports clubs and other events.

Figures supplied by the service from the last three wholetime recruitment campaigns show some increase in the percentage of applicants who are female or are from underrepresented groups. The percentage of total applicants who are female rose from 12 percent in the first campaign in 2019 to 14 percent in the third campaign in 2022. The percentage of applicants identifying as being from a minority ethnic group rose from 9 percent in the first campaign in 2019 to 11 per cent in the third campaign in 2022.

While there has been some progress to improve ethnic and gender diversity of people applying to join the service, there is more work to do to understand and increase staff diversity.

The service couldn’t provide data on the proportion of the workforce in the Isle of Wight that were from an ethnic minority background. Data for Hampshire shows that in the year ending March 2021, of the wholetime firefighters who stated their ethnicity, only 1.4 percent (8 out of 573) identified as being from an ethnic minority background. For on-call firefighters this reduced to 0.7 percent (4 out of 568). In addition, 11.1 percent of all staff didn’t state their ethnicity, compared to a rate of 9.0 percent across England.

Not all staff understand the benefits of positive action and a more diverse workforce. We spoke to some staff who felt that females were treated more favourably when it comes to fitness requirements and that having more female firefighters isn’t of benefit as the role is all about strength. The service needs to do more to ensure its staff understand the benefits of a more diverse workforce.

There has been some improvement in equality, diversity and inclusion

In our 2018 inspections we issued a cause of concern for both Hampshire and Isle of Wight that the services did not do enough to be an inclusive employer.

We are encouraged to find the service has made some improvements in its approach to EDI and is making sure it can offer the right services to its communities and support staff with protected characteristics. Some staff we spoke to felt there was an improving EDI culture.

We were pleased to find the service has ensured EDI is accepted and understood by everyone with regard to its promotions, recruitment and individual performance and development review (PDR) processes. Also, the service told us that it had changed its personal protective equipment supplier to offer a greater range of sizes, including personal protective equipment designed specifically for females.

However, actions to improve EDI across the organisation could have been taken more quickly. EDI training takes place for staff on joining the service. EDI training is also made available for all staff online. However not all staff we spoke to are completing this training.

At the time of our inspection there were only two staff in the EDI team and several vacancies which the service is struggling to fill. The service told us these vacancies combined with the effect of the pandemic have caused delays in some of its EDI work.

During our inspection we saw and were told by some staff that not all stations had suitable facilities for females. The service is aware of this and is undertaking a programme of investment in its estate.

While there are still improvements to be made, we are satisfied that the service has made enough progress for this cause of concern to be discharged. However, the service should continue its work on improving EDI.

Assessing equality impact of service activity needs improving

The service has a People Impact Assessment process in place to assess equality impact. As part of our inspection, we inspected several People Impact Assessment files. We found they weren’t completed to a consistent standard, and actions resulting from them weren’t subject to a robust monitoring and review process. The service acknowledges that the process needs to improve and is taking action to do so.

Hampshire and Isle of Wight Fire and Rescue Service requires improvement at managing performance and developing leaders.

Hampshire and Isle of Wight Fire and Rescue Services merged in April 2021.

Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service required improvement in its 2018/19 assessment.

Isle of Wight Fire and Rescue Service required improvement in its 2018/19 assessment.

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.

There is inconsistent management of individual performance

We were encouraged to find that the service has a clear PDR policy and process in place for performance and development. This sets out activity that needs to be undertaken and timescales for completion of PDRs.

It is disappointing to find this process isn’t always followed. Not all staff we spoke to have had a PDR. Some staff also told us they felt PDRs held limited value.

As at 31 March 2022, only 53 percent of wholetime firefighters and 31 percent of on-call firefighters had recorded PDRs. PDR completion records for control and support staff were 63 and 89 percent respectively. This means not all staff have recorded specific and individual objectives or have had their performance assessed in the past year.

The service acknowledges that completion and recording of PDRs is an issue and has plans in place to address it. The service should ensure it has an effective system in place to manage staff development, performance, and productivity.

Promotion processes are consistent and fair

The service has put considerable effort into developing its promotion and progression processes so they are fair and understood by staff. The promotion and progression policies are comprehensive and cover opportunities in all roles.

The service has centralised the promotion process to give greater consistency and fairness. During our inspection we reviewed a range of promotion files. We were encouraged to find they were well managed.

But of the respondents to our survey, 62 percent (176 out of 286) disagreed that the promotion process was fair. The service needs to communicate detail of the promotion process to staff to build trust and understanding in the process.

The service doesn’t have strong succession planning processes in place to allow it to effectively manage the career pathways of its staff, including roles requiring specialist skills.

Selection processes are managed consistently by the service’s resource management team. Temporary promotions and overtime are used to fill short-term resourcing gaps. However, we found some temporary promotions have been in place for a long time. The service told us the length of temporary promotions has been affected by on-call staff not taking the exams they need to move from a temporary to substantive position and is continuing its work to reduce the number of temporary promotions.

There has been some improvement in developing leadership and high-potential staff

In our previous inspections, we identified that both Hampshire and Isle of Wight should put in place an open and fair process to identify, develop and support high-potential staff and aspiring leaders.

We are encouraged to find access to management training and some talent management schemes were in place to develop specific staff, including reverse mentoring and an emerging talent pool. Staff who are placed in the emerging talent pool are given bespoke development activities to undertake. When the activities are completed, they are then added to the talent pool and eligible for promotion.

However, not all staff we spoke to were aware of, or understood how to access, talent management provisions. The service should ensure it clearly communicates what is in place to develop and support high-potential staff and how to access it.