State of Fire and Rescue – The Annual Assessment of Fire and Rescue Services in England 2020

Published on: 17 March 2021

Publication types: Annual reports

Fire and Rescue Services: Avon, Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Cambridgeshire, Cheshire, Cleveland, Cornwall, Cumbria, Derbyshire, Devon and Somerset, Dorset and Wiltshire, Durham and Darlington, East Sussex, Essex, Gloucestershire, Greater Manchester, Hampshire, Hereford and Worcester, Hertfordshire, Humberside, Isle of Wight, Isles of Scilly, Kent, Lancashire, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, London, Merseyside, Norfolk, North Yorkshire, Northamptonshire, Northumberland, Nottinghamshire, Oxfordshire, Royal Berkshire, Shropshire, South Yorkshire, Staffordshire, Suffolk, Surrey, Tyne and Wear, Warwickshire, West Midlands, West Sussex and West Yorkshire

Summary

This is Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Fire & Rescue Services’ report to the Secretary of State under section 28B of the Fire and Rescue Services Act 2004. It contains his assessment of the sector in England, based on the inspections we carried out during 2020.

This report draws on findings from inspections in the 45 fire and rescue services in England, to provide an overall view of the state of the fire and rescue sector.

Get the report

Single page standard format

This is the best format to use if you want to read this on a small screen or print the report and read it.

State of Fire and Rescue: The Annual Assessment of Fire and Rescue Services in England 2020 – Single page standard format (PDF document, 8 MB) (PDF document)

Double page format

This format is best if you’re viewing the report on a larger screen, because it’s easier to read the graphics and tables which are spread over two pages.

State of Fire and Rescue: The Annual Assessment of Fire and Rescue Services in England 2020 – Double page format (PDF document, 8 MB) (PDF document)

Large font format

This format has larger text and a simpler layout than the standard format. It has text and lists instead of graphics and tables.

State of Fire and Rescue: The Annual Assessment of Fire and Rescue Services in England 2020 – Large font format (PDF document, 402 kB) (PDF document)

Report chapters

We have broken the report down into chapters below, so the files are smaller and quicker for you to download.

Foreword

This section contains the background and reason for the report. It highlights unique considerations for this year’s report and explains how the report was compiled and created.

State of Fire and Rescue: Foreword (PDF document, 301 kB) (PDF document)
State of Fire and Rescue: Foreword – Large font format (PDF document, 117 kB) (PDF document)

Part 1: Overview

This section contains Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Fire & Rescue Services’ assessment of the state of fire and rescue services in England. It draws on the inspections we have carried out this year. These include the Home Secretary’s commissions to assess how fire and rescue services are responding to the pandemic, and how the London Fire Brigade is responding to the Grenfell Tower Inquiry’s Phase 1 recommendations. They also include our work to consider how services are responding to the causes of concern we gave in Round 1 of our fire and rescue service inspections.

It also uses the findings and reports of other organisations, and other information and analysis available.

State of Fire and Rescue – Part 1: Overview (online HTML version) (HTML)
State of Fire and Rescue – Part 1: Overview (PDF document, 2 MB) (PDF document)
State of Fire and Rescue – Part 1: Overview – Large font format (PDF document, 160 kB) (PDF document)