Our people are the foundation of our fire service. Our focus in 2023/24 was on reducing the number of temporary positions within our organisation and ensuring we have effective workforce planning. This provides stability for the Service by ensuring a more consistent workforce, enhancing longer-term planning. For individuals, it provides psychological safety, leading to a sense of belonging and increased engagement and productivity.

We will continue to focus on recruitment and retention of our staff but with an increased focus on professional development. We want to ensure we have a diverse, skilled, and resilient workforce. We will foster a culture of well-being, inclusivity, and continuous learning, ensuring our teams are equipped to meet evolving challenges and serve our communities with excellence

Our Achievements

• Our improved workforce planning, which is monitored through the workforce planning board has reduced the number of temporary contracts from 42 percent to 11 percent in management roles.
• We have recruited 34 Wholetime firefighters in 2024 and 30 Wholetime firefighters in September 2025.
• We introduced a strength-based promotion process alongside an independent specialist. The internally consulted upon process uses independent panel members to ensure fairness and transparency.
• Our First Line and Mid-Level Leaders programmes are delivered collaboratively to Police, Fire and Support staff. These align to NFCC and College of Policing methodologies and allow participants to develop command relationships across partner agencies, throughout their career.
• We have a wealth of wellbeing support available for staff including both physical and psychological therapies. These are both in-person sessions and online wellbeing events.
• We have committed to improving fitness equipment at our stations when significant
  refurbishment is scheduled. We have also invested in treadmills at numerous locations to assist in fitness testing.
• Our Coaching and Mentoring Academy (CMA) supports colleagues with their personal and professional growth and each of our Coaches and Mentors are professionally accredited and/or qualified.
• We have introduced a new electronic Professional Development Performance Review (PDPR) process. The process allows us to support performance management in a clear and consistent way. It allows us to recognise and acknowledge good work, identify and improve under-performance and consider an individual’s career aspirations and support talent development.
• Restructuring People Services to build better employee relationships and ensure local leaders are supported to manage grievances, disciplines and absence in a more consistent, effective and timely way.

Areas of Focus

Over the period of this CRMP we will focus on:

• Improving our sickness absence, including long-term sickness. Supporting faster recovery from illness improves employee wellbeing, increases productivity and reduces impact on our service delivery.
• Creating clear policy and guidance to ensure staff do not work excessive hours and   making sure those staff on dual contracts take suitable rest periods in preparation for duty.
• Continuing the work on our Critical Role Registers to improve succession planning and to limit single points of expertise.
• Raising awareness and increasing attendance with our wellbeing support. Early engagement reduces the likelihood of long-term illness, encourages healthy lifestyles and supports proactive self-care.
• Considering how we can improve talent management to ensure high potential and aspiring staff are supported to develop.
• Improving our Personal Development Performance Review (PDPR) process. All staff should undertake a performance review, and they should have confidence that their performance, development and career aspirations are being considered and supported.
• Ensuring that Health and Safety responsibilities are promoted effectively, understood and adhered to across the whole organisation