Source · HMICFRS

Effectiveness, efficiency and people 2023–2025: West Midlands Fire Service

18 June 2025 Fire & Rescue Inspection 35 areas for improvement

National — applies to all forces

Areas for improvement

AFI The service should make sure it gathers and records relevant risk information to help protect firefighters, the public and property during an emergency.

AFI 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.

AFI The service should assure itself that its IT systems are resilient, reliable, accurate and accessible.

AFI 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.

AFI The service should make sure staff at all levels of the organisation demonstrate its values and behaviours.

AFI The service should improve the way it manages absence and give line managers better support in this area

AFI The service should make sure it has a consistent approach to all training and assessments, including those on all risk-critical skills.

AFI The service should make sure its workforce plan takes full account of the skills and capabilities it needs to support its strategic objectives.

AFI The service should put in place a succession-planning process to make sure it has effective arrangements in place to manage staff turnover.

AFI The service needs to improve its workforce planning

AFI The service needs to do more to improve the way it considers its future needs.

AFI The service should evaluate its water and road safety prevention activity so it understands what is most effective.

AFI The service needs to make sure it provides risk-critical training consistently

AFI The service needs to improve access to learning and development

AFI The service should make sure it is transparent and fair when recruiting staff.

AFI The service should make sure it has robust processes in place to monitor and track equality impact assessments.

AFI The service needs to make sure its recruitment processes are fair and transparent

AFI The service needs to do more to make sure its recruitment processes are fair and transparent.

AFI The service needs to improve its approach to equality, diversity and inclusion.

AFI The service should also make sure it has a consistent approach to the way it provides equality, diversity and inclusion training.

AFI The service should improve the way staff understand and apply the performance development review process.

AFI The service should make sure it has processes in place to manage and develop talent in the organisation.

AFI The service should make sure it quality assures its prevention work so it can be sure it has a consistent approach.

AFI The service should make sure it is transparent and fair when developing and promoting staff.

AFI The service should make sure it has processes in place to support promotion, and that they are unbiased

AFI The service needs to do more to make sure its promotion and progression processes are fair.

AFI The service should proactively work to increase diversity in the workforce

AFI 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.

AFI 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.

AFI The service should improve the way it evaluates some prevention activity

AFI The service should make sure it has an effective system for learning from operational incidents, exercises and training.

AFI The service should improve the way it learns from incidents, exercises and training

AFI The service should assure itself that its workforce is productive and that staff use their time efficiently and effectively.

AFI The service should make sure it effectively monitors, reviews and evaluates the benefits and outcomes of any collaboration activity.

AFI The service should improve the way it monitors workforce productivity and the performance of all departments