Train firefighters on communications loss response

As mentioned in the May 2026 report, publication of the amended guidance was slightly delayed due to the timing of NFCC governance meetings. Approval was given on 17 July 2026 and the guidance has since been published. Supplementary training materials in the form of ‘micro-learns’ have been developed and are currently undergoing review by a subject matter expert. Approval was given at the Guidance and Scrutiny Panel held on 1 September 2026 with subsequent publication expected imminently.

In addition, 2 more GTI2 related workshops have been delivered to services. Demand for the workshops is slowing down, which was expected at this point in time. In the past 18 months, 48 Operational Guidance Surgeries (workshops) have been delivered to services; 20 of these were specifically related to the Grenfell Tower Inquiry Phase 2 recommendations, but all of them would have addressed the recommendations and outcomes with NFCC supporting the delivery of progress within services. We are still expecting that all services requiring this support will have received it by the end of December 2026.

This recommendation is now complete and has been fully discharged.

The National Fire Chiefs Council (NFCC)

The National Fire Chiefs Council (NFCC) began developing an action and delivery plan to address the recommendations. This work was informed by a survey of fire and rescue services to understand current arrangements and identify where further support might be needed. The plan was subsequently shared with key stakeholders, including MHCLG.

In September 2025 we published the NFCC had identified the need to strengthen how communication strategies are established and tested at high‑risk premises, and to better support services in understanding common radio issues and limitations. During this period, the NFCC also started reviewing National Operational Guidance on fireground radios and asked services to share any learning materials on loss of communications.

Following this, the NFCC completed their review of national guidance and new guidance was being developed, with approval and publication planned in June 2026. While only limited learning materials were received from services, this highlighted that loss‑of‑communications training is often covered through exercises rather than dedicated training. As a result, the NFCC began developing a series of “micro learn” content, due to be quality assured and published by March 2026.

The NFCC Implementation team have delivered workshops to 14 fire and rescue services so far, providing support and assistance around communications guidance.

The London Fire Brigade (LFB)

As published in our September 2025 progress report, the London Fire Brigade (LFB) continued the rollout of improved communications arrangements; supported by a mix of online and face‑to‑face training, covering radio use, channels and etiquette. Over 80% of staff had completed new e‑learning on managing communications at incidents, with work underway to raise completion to 90% by the end of the year. Communications training was also built into the three‑year high‑rise training cycle, which includes practical learning on equipment use, signal interference, restoring communications and setting up reliable systems.

In December we published that the rollout of the new radios was complete and training had been fully delivered. All four e‑learning modules had achieved completion rates above 90%, alongside ongoing face‑to‑face training. LFB had completed its work on these recommendations, while the NFCC will continue to report on progress at a national level.

The LFB Business Assurance team will be conducting a review of the GTI 2 improvement activity, commencing in early 2026, and will be completed and a report submitted by the end of Q4, 2025/26.

LFB is also engaging with the broader NFCC GTI 2 assurance workshop programme, and the LFB workshop is scheduled to take place in February 2026. The workshop will provide an insight into how other fire and rescue services are approaching the GTI 2 recommendations and provide assurance that the LFB approach is effective and sustainable.