Leicestershire 2021/22

Leicestershire Fire and Rescue Service is good at promoting the right values and culture.

Leicestershire 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.

Values and behaviours are established, and culture continues to improve

In our last inspection, we identified an area for improvement that the service should ensure its values and behaviours are understood and demonstrated at all levels of the organisation.

Since our last inspection, we were pleased to find the service has addressed this area for improvement. It has introduced new values and behaviours. The values are professional, positive and honest, and they were chosen by the workforce. They are understood by staff, with 98 percent (155 of 158) of respondents who completed our staff survey telling us they are aware of the service’s statement of values. We are encouraged by the cultural improvements the service has made since our last inspection.

We are also encouraged to see the new values being aligned to the Core Code of Ethics. We found they are being included in the new personal development discussions (PDDs) with all staff that replace the appraisal process.

Behaviours that reflect service values are shown at all levels of the service. We spoke to staff who agreed senior leaders are now more visible and approachable. This was reflected in our staff survey in which 83 percent (128 of 155) of respondents told us senior leaders maintain the service’s values. And 78 percent (123 of 158) of respondents told us they feel confident their ideas or suggestions will be listened to.

We are encouraged to find a positive working culture throughout the service, with staff empowered and willing to challenge poor behaviours when they encounter them. This was reflected in our staff survey in which 74 percent (117 of 158) of respondents told us they feel confident they can challenge and provide feedback to all levels in the service.

However, while most staff spoke positively of senior leaders, some staff told us some senior leaders don’t maintain confidentiality. The service should make sure that confidentiality is always maintained.

There is good provision to support workforce well-being

In our last inspection, we identified an area for improvement that the service should ensure staff have access to trauma support and counselling services.

Since our last inspection, we were pleased to find the service has addressed this area for improvement and has made significant improvements. It now 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:

• specialist trauma practitioners (TRiM);
• 24/7 employee assistance;
• well-being dogs;
• well-being passports;
• peer support;
• occupational health;
• physiotherapy;
• a new absence policy to better support individuals;
• support for staff leaving the service; and
• neurodiversity support networks.

We are impressed with the provisions that are in place to promote well-being and how they are communicated to staff. This was reflected in our staff survey in which 98 percent (155 of 158) of respondents feel able to access services to support their mental well-being. And, encouragingly, 95 percent (150 of 158) of respondents are confident that well-being support would be offered following a traumatic incident.

The service has appropriate health and safety provision in place

In our last inspection, we identified an area for improvement that the service should ensure it has an up-to-date health and safety policy and procedure and that staff understand these.

Since our last inspection, we were pleased to find the service has addressed this area for improvement. It has commissioned a peer review of its health and safety policy and has acted on the outcomes to improve its health and safety provision.

Both staff and trade unions have confidence in the health and safety approach taken by the service. Our staff survey shows that 97 percent (153 of 158) of respondents feel their personal safety and welfare is treated seriously at work. And 98 percent (155 out of 158) of respondents feel they have the right equipment to do their job safely.

We are also pleased to see that the service has started a project to improve equipment and training for incidents where firefighters support ambulance staff with lifting members of the public to safety.

However, we did find that staff don’t understand the near-miss procedure that is in place for firefighter safety. This is something the service should review.

Monitoring of working hours is poor

The service could do more to monitor staff working hours, including those of staff who have secondary contracts and staff who work overtime.

As of 31 March 2021, 27 percent of wholetime firefighters had secondary contracts with the service. The service has clear policies in place and staff are told that they should comply with them and not work excessive hours. But during our inspection we spoke to staff whose hours weren’t regularly monitored. For example, we heard that rest periods before and after wholetime shifts aren’t always adhered to by staff to maintain their on-call availability.

We also found monitoring of overtime is weak and examples of staff working excessive overtime hours. Overtime for the service significantly increased in 2021. The service should do more to ensure it effectively monitors and supports staff who work overtime.

Absence management processes are effective

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, who are confident in the process. Absences are managed well and in accordance with policy. HR staff provide additional support to managers, and staff we spoke to knew how to report absence and spoke positively about the support provided.

Overall, the service has seen a decrease in firefighter sickness absences over the 12 months between 2020/21 and 2021/22.

Leicestershire Fire and Rescue Service is good at getting the right people with the right skills.

Leicestershire Fire and Rescue Service required improvement 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.

The service has an effective understanding of current and future skill requirements

The service has good workforce planning in place for all roles. This makes sure skills and capabilities align with what is needed to effectively deliver the IRMP. The service also has a detailed people plan that gives clear details on the aims and objectives and how the service will achieve them.

Workforce and succession planning is subject to consistent scrutiny in the form of four working groups that meet to discuss requirements. Each working group has clear roles and responsibilities for attendees and there is a set agenda that must be followed. This allows any issues to be addressed and escalated promptly. Workforce planning considers many aspects, such as retirement profiles.

We are encouraged to see investment in 14 new roles, which have recently been approved. The investment will support the implementation of the people plan while adding resources to other areas to best address risk and workloads. We look forward to seeing the impact of these at our next inspection.

Improvements to how training records are accessed and monitored

In our last inspection, we identified an area for improvement that the service should ensure its electronic system for recording and monitoring operational staff competence is accurate and accessible.

Since our last inspection, we were pleased to find the service has addressed this area for improvement. It has introduced a new electronic system (Oracle) to manage staff competence by recording all training for all roles in a central place. Line managers use the system to ensure staff are up to date in risk-critical safety capabilities.

When we spoke to staff about the new system, they told us it is accessible but very new. The service should make sure the full implementation of the system is effective and delivers the benefits anticipated. We were also encouraged to find that staff can access old competency records whilst the service is making the transition to a new system.

Improvements to safety-critical training

In our last inspection, we identified an area for improvement that the service should ensure staff are appropriately trained in safety-critical skills, such as incident command.

Since our last inspection, we were pleased to find the service has addressed this area for improvement. We found all the records of staff skills and safety-critical capabilities that we viewed to be in date, including incident command. This means operational staff are trained and competent.

Staff told us that they could access the training – safety-critical and other training – they need to be effective in their role. This was reflected in our staff survey in which 87 percent (137 of 158) of respondents told us they receive sufficient training to do their job effectively.

We also found the service has a 36-month training planner, which provides a consistent way for operational staff to maintain competence and capability.

There is a positive culture for learning and development

A culture of continuous improvements is promoted throughout the service and staff are encouraged to learn and develop. We are pleased to see that the service has a range of resources in place, such as:

• on-call firefighters having access to iPads they can take home to complete training;
• access to a mentor or coach; and
• online learning resources and access to external learning providers.

This was reflected in our staff survey in which 76 percent (120 of 158) of respondents told us they are satisfied with the level of learning and development provided.

We also found good examples of continuous professional development sessions, such as regular, informal, incident command chats between peers. We were encouraged to see supervisory managers being trained in nationally recognised fire safety qualifications to support protection activity. And a positive, no-blame debrief culture allows staff to discuss what went well and what can be learned.

Leicestershire Fire and Rescue Service is good at ensuring fairness and promoting diversity.

Leicestershire 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 that equality, diversity and inclusion are firmly embedded and understood across the organisation. This includes successfully taking steps to remove inequality and making progress to improve fairness, diversity and inclusion at all levels within 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 has improved the way it seeks feedback and challenge

The service has developed several ways to engage with staff on issues and decisions that affect them, such as staff surveys. The service has introduced a regular service-wide question time session with senior leaders, which staff told us is more of a two-way conversation.

We were encouraged to be told by staff that, since our last inspection, senior leaders are more visible. We also found the service takes on board feedback from staff. The reintroduction of the Leicestershire Fire and Rescue Service badge on uniforms has been well received and we were told by staff that it has improved their sense of identity.

In our last inspection, we identified an area for improvement that the service should ensure that it has effective grievance procedures, and it should identify and implement ways to improve staff confidence in the grievance process.

Since our last inspection, we were pleased to find the service has addressed this area for improvement. It has a new grievance policy and carries out engagement sessions with staff and representative bodies. The service should continue to build trust in the grievance process and ensure confidentiality is always maintained.

We were also encouraged to see a proactive approach by the service following several grievance cases that it has received. It has commissioned an independent cultural review, which will be led independently by Leicestershire City Council.

There are methods to build all-staff awareness of fairness and diversity, as well as targeted engagement to identify matters that affect different staff groups. For example, the service has several staff networks in place that are supported by the service and senior leaders. All of these feel empowered to make decisions. Representative bodies and staff associations reported that the service works well with them.

More needs to be done to remove bullying and harassment in the workplace

Staff have a good understanding of what bullying, harassment and discrimination are and their negative effect on colleagues and the organisation.

The service is consulting about a new bullying and harassment and discipline procedure, which will be published shortly. In addition, staff networks provide extra support.

Encouragingly, in our staff survey, 92 percent (145 of 158) of respondents told us they feel as if they’re treated with dignity and respect at work.

During the inspection, staff told us they are confident in approaching their line manager or a trusted colleague to raise bullying, harassment and discrimination grievances, and disciplinary matters. However, we were told by some staff that they would choose carefully which senior leader they raise matters with.

Disappointingly, 8 percent (12 of 158) of respondents in our staff survey also told us that they have been subject to harassment and 7 percent (11 of 158) to discrimination over the past 12 months. The main reasons for those feeling harassed not reporting this behaviour were concerns about being victimised and labelled as a troublemaker. All of those who told us they feel discriminated against said it is from someone more senior to them. The service needs to do more to build trust and confidence with staff reporting, so action can be taken. We look forward to seeing how the new policies remove barriers and improve trust.

The service recognises it needs to increase the diversity of its workforce

There is an open, fair and honest recruitment process for staff or those wishing to work for the fire and rescue service. The service provides unconscious bias training to managers and for those who sit on interview panels. The service has an effective system to understand and remove the risk of disproportionality in recruitment processes. Furthermore, the service evaluates each stage of its wholetime firefighter recruitment process and understands which stages of the process those from a protected characteristic aren’t passing. Having identified an issue with female firefighters failing the fitness test, the service now provides additional support to this group.

The service has put considerable effort into developing its recruitment processes so that they are fair and understood by potential applicants. For example, the service has trained staff who go out into the community to talk with diverse groups about how to remove barriers to joining the fire service.

The recruitment policies are comprehensive and cover opportunities in all roles. Recruitment opportunities are advertised both internally and externally, including for middle and senior level roles. The service has trained its staff on what positive action means and we were encouraged to find that staff understand it.

The service has also made improvements in increasing staff diversity at some levels of the organisation. We were encouraged to see that, in 2020/21, of the 54 staff joining, 6 self-declared as being from an ethnic minority background.

Of the whole workforce, 5.2 percent are from an ethnic minority background (local population is 21.6 percent) and 18.2 percent are women. The service is aware it needs to encourage applicants from diverse backgrounds into all roles including middle and senior level positions.

In our last inspection, we identified an area for improvement that the service should identify and tackle barriers to equality of opportunity, make its workforce more representative, and ensure diversity and inclusion are well understood and become important values of the service.

Since our last inspection, we were pleased to find the service has addressed this area for improvement by improving equality of opportunity and making its workforce more representative, even though more needs to be done.

The service has a good approach to equality, diversity and inclusion

The service has improved its approach to EDI and is making sure it can offer the right services to its communities and support staff with protected characteristics. We are pleased to find excellent governance arrangements in place with EDI. The service has also conducted comprehensive EDI training across the workforce since our last inspection.

The service has an effective process in place to assess equality impact on existing and new processes. The equality impact assessments we reviewed were completed to a good standard and both internal and external equality groups were consulted.

EDI is also integrated into the recruitment and promotion process and reasonable adjustments are made where applicable. We found good examples of neurodiversity groups established in the service and support for existing staff who require reasonable adjustments.

We were also pleased to find that all the estate had been reviewed and improvements made to make sure it is inclusive.

Leicestershire Fire and Rescue Service is good at managing performance and developing leaders.

Leicestershire 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.

A new process is improving one-to-one performance management

In our last inspection, we identified an area for improvement that the service should ensure it has an effective system in place to manage staff development, performance and productivity.

Since our last inspection, we were pleased to find the service has addressed this area for improvement. We found the service is replacing the appraisal process with new PDDs. We were encouraged to find the new approach will incorporate the Core Code of Ethics and there will be regular development conversations more often between staff and line managers.

The service recognised a gap in supporting staff development during the transition from appraisals, so it has outsourced leadership consultants to support team development, culture and staff in promotion pools.

Some operational staff told us that during this transition to PDDs, there is currently limited development to prepare them for their next role. The service should ensure all staff are provided with development opportunities to prepare them for promotion or filling temporary positions outside formal processes. Support staff told us they have good access to development opportunities, including shadowing colleagues to help prepare for more senior roles.

The service is in the process of fully implementing PDDs and completing the training of all managers and staff. The service should carry out evaluation of PDDs to make sure they are effective.

We were disappointed to find, from our staff survey, 34 percent (54 of 158) of respondents haven’t had an appraisal in the last 12 months. The service should ensure staff don’t miss out on development conversations while it makes the transition to the new process.

The service has fair promotion and progression processes

In our last inspection, we identified an area for improvement that the service should ensure its selection, development and promotion of staff is open, transparent and fair.

Since our last inspection, we were pleased to find the service has addressed this area for improvement. It has put considerable effort into developing its new promotion and progression processes so they are fair and understood by staff. The process is now focused on competency and behaviours and has been consulted on with representative bodies.

We found the following improvements since our last inspection:

• Third-party interviewers are part of the interview panel to ensure independence.
• All interviewers are trained in unconscious bias.
• Candidates are issued a number to maintain anonymity.
• A digital platform is used to store applications.

In our staff survey, 72 percent (114 of 158) of respondents feel the promotion process is fair. And during our inspection most staff told us this. However, some staff do not share this view. The service would benefit from understanding this in greater detail and continuing to build trust and confidence in the new promotion process.

The promotion and progression policies are comprehensive and cover opportunities in all roles.

The service has effective succession planning processes in place that allow it to effectively manage the career pathways of its staff, including roles requiring specialist skills.

Selection processes are managed consistently with clear guidance and support for managers. However, some middle managers told us that completing the recruitment packs is affecting their capacity to conduct other activities. The service is aware of this and is working to make it less time consuming. We also found that temporary promotions to fill short-term resourcing gaps and firefighter transfers are managed fairly and transparently.

The service is improving how it develops leaders but has no high-performance pathway

The service has effective succession planning processes in place that allow it to manage talent into leadership roles. This is discussed during the PDDs with line managers to consider existing skills and talent for progression. For example, staff applying for promotion are placed in either a development pool or a talent pool. We found staff in these pools are supported with development plans to prepare them for the next role. However, some staff in the talent pool told us development plans can be slow. The service should make sure staff in promotion pools have development plans that progress quickly.

The service advertises all talent and leadership opportunities both internally and externally. We were encouraged to see it has plans to support the NFCC direct entry scheme into middle and senior management roles from 2023.

In our last inspection, we identified an area for improvement that the service should put in place an open and fair process to identify, develop and support high-potential staff and aspiring leaders. Since our last inspection, we found no pathway for such staff. The service should make it clear what pathway and support is available for high-potential staff and aspiring leaders.