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The culture in fire and rescue services is showing some early signs of improvement, but too much unacceptable behaviour remains, the fire inspectorate has warned.

Get the report : Standards of behaviour: The handling of misconduct in fire and rescue services 

In a new report, His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) said that most fire and rescue services have taken steps to improve standards of behaviour and root out misconduct.

But the inspectorate found there are still pockets of abhorrent behaviour, and it has called for further improvements to make sure misconduct is handled effectively.

Inspectors also found that:

• occurrences of unacceptable behaviours including sexist, racist and homophobic language were most common within watches (a group of firefighters assigned to work on the same shift). Staff described examples of toxic cultures where managers failed to challenge behaviour so they could remain popular;
• there is a widespread lack of confidence in misconduct processes which prevents staff, particularly women, from speaking out;
• supervisors and managers aren’t sufficiently trained to manage staff performance, poor behaviour and welfare issues. Staff that manage and investigate misconduct need the right training; and
• services need to learn from their misconduct cases. They must do more to understand why unacceptable behaviour happens and what needs to change to prevent it happening in future.

HMICFRS has made 15 recommendations to chief fire officers, fire and rescue authorities and others. These include the need for each service to have access to a professional standards function to support fair and transparent misconduct investigations, and to introduce the right training and support for all staff investigating misconduct.

His Majesty’s Inspector of Fire and Rescue Services Roy Wilsher said:

“Since we began inspecting the fire and rescue sector in 2018, we have highlighted the urgent need for services to tackle misconduct and to improve their culture. I am pleased to see the beginnings of improvements.

“It’s clear that senior leaders are focused on improving values and culture. But there is still much more work to be done. We found some deeply troubling pockets of abhorrent behaviour, such as bullying, harassment and discrimination. This was most often found on watches. This is unacceptable and must be challenged.

“We also found too many staff lack trust and confidence in the misconduct process, making them fearful about reporting issues. And not enough training is given to those doing the important job of managing and investigating misconduct cases. Stronger reforms are required to make sure misconduct processes are robust, operate effectively and, importantly, are trusted by staff. Senior leaders need to learn from what’s gone wrong, so it doesn’t happen in future.

“We will be monitoring the progress of all services against our recommendations. These practical steps will help to bring about the positive and lasting change that fire and rescue staff, and the public, deserve.”

Get the report : Standards of behaviour: The handling of misconduct in fire and rescue services 

Notes

• For further information, the HMICFRS Press Office can be contacted at 0300 071 6781 or HMICPressOffice@hmicfrs.gov.uk.
• This thematic inspection report will be published alongside a separate report detailing the findings of research conducted by Crest Advisory on misconduct in fire and rescue services in England.
• In June 2023, the then Home Secretary commissioned HMICFRS to carry out a thematic inspection of the handling of misconduct allegations in fire and rescue services. It follows our ‘Values and culture in fire and rescue services spotlight report‘ published in March 2023.