Inspectors 'disappointed' by fire service progress

Concerns have been raised about recruitment at Hampshire and Isle of Wight Fire & Rescue Service

A fire service has been told it must improve how it recruits staff and responds to emergencies.

An inspection of Hampshire and Isle of Wight Fire & Rescue Service (HIWFRS) found it was "inadequate at getting the right people with the right skills".

His Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) also said the service was at risk of "unnecessary delays" because of issues with its mobilisation system.

In response to the inspection report, HIWFRS said it was "already making progress in the areas for improvement".

The report said the service was good at preventing fires and other risks, but should improve its planning of skills and resources.

The inspectors said it did not have enough on-call firefighters available, was not meeting its target response times, and was not consistently maintaining the availability of its fire engines.

Similar issues were highlighted in the previous inspection carried out in 2022.

Inspector Roy Wilsher said it was "disappointing to see that the service hasn't made the progress we expected".

He said: "For example, it still needs to make sure senior managers are visible and demonstrate service values through their behaviours.

"And it hasn't implemented an effective system to ensure that all risk and safety-critical information has been read and understood by staff."

He also said he recognised the "financial challenges" at the service and how difficult it could be to recruit on-call firefighters.

'Damning conclusion'

Jamie Kelly, Fire Brigades Union brigade secretary for Hampshire and Isle of Wight, said the inspection showed the service was in "crisis".

He said: "The inspectorate's report makes it clear that Hampshire and Isle of Wight is in desperate need of investment, at a time when the chief fire officer is threatening further devastating cuts.

"The damning conclusion that the service 'requires improvement' at responding to fires and emergencies is the result of over 14 years of cuts to firefighter posts."

Neil Odin, chief fire officer at HIWFRS, said he was glad the inspectors had recognised the "financial challenges" the service faced.

He said: "One of the areas flagged by the inspectors relates to a nightly software update that impacts our mobilisation system.

"I would like to reassure our communities that this is an administrative issue and does not affect our operational capabilities or response to incidents, a manual fix is in place and has proven to safeguard against any potential impact to mobilisation.

"Recruitment and availability of on-call firefighters continues to be a challenge nationally, and we are taking actions to address that such as the introduction of more flexible contracts and new recruitment activity, and we currently have the highest on-call availability across the South-East of England.

"The issue of response times and availability of appliances is raised within the report and is an area we continually monitor and review."