The service should make sure it gathers and records relevant risk information to help protect firefighters, the public and property during an emergency.
Effectiveness, efficiency and people 2023–2025: West Midlands Fire Service
Published 18 June 2025Fire & Rescue Inspection0 recommendations35 areas for improvement
Coverage
The organisations covered are not linked in this record. Check the original report for its scope and addressees.
Areas for improvement
The service should evaluate its water and road safety prevention activity so it understands what is most effective.
The service should make sure it quality assures its prevention work so it can be sure it has a consistent approach.
The service should improve the way it evaluates some prevention activity
The service should make sure it has an effective system for learning from operational incidents, exercises and training.
The service should improve the way it learns from incidents, exercises and training
The service should assure itself that its workforce is productive and that staff use their time efficiently and effectively.
The service should make sure it effectively monitors, reviews and evaluates the benefits and outcomes of any collaboration activity.
The service should improve the way it monitors workforce productivity and the performance of all departments
The service must make sure its scenario plans and assumptions are subject to rigorous analysis and challenge, including the impact on the service it provides to the public.
The service should assure itself that its IT systems are resilient, reliable, accurate and accessible.
The service should make sure that its estates management programmes are clearly linked to the community risk management plan, and it understands the impact future changes to those programmes may have on the service it provides to the public.
The service should make sure staff at all levels of the organisation demonstrate its values and behaviours.
The service should improve the way it manages absence and give line managers better support in this area
The service should make sure it has a consistent approach to all training and assessments, including those on all risk-critical skills.
The service should make sure its workforce plan takes full account of the skills and capabilities it needs to support its strategic objectives.
The service should put in place a succession-planning process to make sure it has effective arrangements in place to manage staff turnover.
The service needs to improve its workforce planning
The service needs to do more to improve the way it considers its future needs.
The service needs to make sure it provides risk-critical training consistently
The service needs to improve access to learning and development
The service should make sure it is transparent and fair when recruiting staff.
The service should make sure it has robust processes in place to monitor and track equality impact assessments.
The service needs to make sure its recruitment processes are fair and transparent
The service needs to do more to make sure its recruitment processes are fair and transparent.
The service needs to improve its approach to equality, diversity and inclusion.
The service should also make sure it has a consistent approach to the way it provides equality, diversity and inclusion training.
The service should improve the way staff understand and apply the performance development review process.
The service should make sure it has processes in place to manage and develop talent in the organisation.
The service should make sure it is transparent and fair when developing and promoting staff.
The service should make sure it has processes in place to support promotion, and that they are unbiased
The service needs to do more to make sure its promotion and progression processes are fair.
The service should proactively work to increase diversity in the workforce
The service needs to improve the way it actively manages the career pathways of staff, including those with specialist skills and those with potential for leadership roles.
The service needs to do more to make sure it implements the December 2022 Leading the Service and Leading and Developing People fire standards effectively.