Workforce Profile 2023/2024

Introduction

North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service (NYFRS) are committed to supporting equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI). This is at the centre of the delivery of our services and in employing staff ensuring compliance with the Equality Act 2010. The Service achieves this by providing training and development opportunities for all employees, through improving access to quality information and data; this is underpinned through the implementation of robust and effective workplace policies and procedures.

This report presents the statistical data for the financial year 1 April 2023 to 31 March 2024. In addition to this, the report demonstrates how we are achieving our specific obligations in relation to The Equality Act 2010 and The Public Sector Equality Duty.

Under the Equality Act 2010 we have due regard to

• Eliminate unlawful discrimination, harassment and victimisation and other conduct prohibited by the Equality Act 2010.
• Advance equality of opportunity between people from different groups, with or without protected characteristics.
• Foster good relations between people from different groups.

North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service (NYFRS) have incorporated all aspects of equality, diversity, and inclusion into everyday activity including policies and procedures, strategy and associated delivery plans.

The Service has adopted the following priorities

• Our People and Culture

We want to enhance our working environment making it more welcoming, supportive, and inclusive, where people don’t need to ‘fit in’, but feel they belong and can thrive to reach their full potential.

• Our Partners

We need to explore opportunities to broaden collaborative working, sharing good practice and developing innovative ideas to improve our public value and making us more effective and efficient.

• Our Communities

Delivering excellent services through prevention, protection, community resilience and response activities to our diverse communities is the core of our work. We must do this collaboratively; truly demonstrating our values alongside our partners.

NYFRS have adopted the use of the NFCC Core Code of Ethics which supports the value placed on EDI.

The Core Code of Ethics underpins everything we do relating to 5 key ethical principles

• Putting our Communities First
• Integrity
• Dignity and Respect
• Leadership
• Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion

Through continuous learning and various methods of staff engagement we ensure the principles are embedded throughout our organisation.

Workforce Profile

To support with our diversity commitments North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service employs people across a range of terms and conditions, dependent on the role they carry out. This includes both operational and non-operational roles. The Service employs people in full-time, part-time and in volunteer posts. The largest employee group are our On-Call Firefighters, who make up 43% of our workforce. These employees generally live and/or have their main employment in the area where they provide firefighter duties on an on-call system. The development of existing and new duty systems of work have been trialled and implemented at a range of stations to generate service efficiencies and to provide greater flexibility for our employees and the service provided to our communities.

The following workforce data is based upon information held for employees that worked for North Yorkshire Fire as of March 31^st 2024, over the course of the financial year as described. During this period North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service has 737 members of the workforce, including Wholetime Firefighters, On-Call Firefighters, Control Room Staff, and Support staff.

The following data provides an insight into our diversity statistics across a number of protected characteristics including age, disability, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation and religion/belief. All data is for year 2023/24.

 Age Profile

 The age profile of the workforce demonstrates that the Service employs people from a wide range of age groups. The operational and non-operational profiles show a similar pattern to the whole workforce, with the most significant difference being that we have more non-operational staff in the 56-65 age band. This is likely down to the pensionable service requirements of the respective pension schemes. The majority of the workforce is aged between 25 to 55 years old, with a reasonably balanced split across the different age bands  however, this is continually monitored to identify and  address any possible issues.

Disability Profile

6% of the Service’s workforce has declared that they have one or more disabilities, this was previously 4%. The Service makes every effort to make reasonable adjustments and evaluate the needs of a person on a case-by-case basis. To support this, improvements have been made to our buildings, equipment and working arrangements and the Service will continue to make improvements and reasonable adjustments where needed, along with process improvements to monitor the adjustments in place to make sure they are suitable or if they require updating for the individual.

The Service is also a member of the Disability Confident scheme, currently at level 1 and are working to improve this.

Ethnicity Profile

North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service aims to have a workforce that is reflective of the communities it serves throughout the County of North Yorkshire and the City of York. The Service currently has 25 members of staff from minority backgrounds, which equates to 3.4% of the entire workforce. According to 2021 census data, the percentage of the population from a minority background across the Authority area is 4.3%, 95.7% are from a white background.  The Service continues to work towards recruiting employees from minority groups for roles across our Service, through consultation with community groups/leaders and with the involvement in community engagement events.

Gender Profile

In relation to gender, the overall workforce is imbalanced, especially for our operational workforce where only 8% of the workforce are female.  Operational roles have historically and nationally been male dominated; to try and improve this our teams attend events and carry out positive action initiatives to break down  myths and encourage more females to join.  North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service continue to improve representation in this group.  Work continues through initiatives, such as awareness events, “have a go days” and familiarisation events to increase knowledge of roles and to encourage those from under-represented groups to join the Service.

 Sexual Orientation Profile

The Service supports staff to respect individual values and differences and takes an active part in diversity events, such as Pride. As part of its support for diversity, the Service supports staff through LGBT networks on a local, regional and national basis.

Religion and Belief Profile

The above data demonstrates that North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service have 2.04% of the workforce who have a different religion or belief to the workforce majority (including Hindu, Sikh, & Muslim), which brings a wealth of knowledge and different views in helping to shape the workforce.  We will continue to engage with our minority communities to ensure we are considered as an employer of choice.  We will continue to develop our workplaces to be inclusive and welcoming.

 Leavers Profile

 The data for leavers shows the reasons for leaving the organisation including Operational and Non-operational Staff.  Leavers are highest in the On-Call workforce, this could be linked to most On-Call Staff having a primary employment and On-Call is in addition to this, when commitments change this can result in leavers.  The highest leave reason is “Other”, this includes natural attrition and those taking up opportunities outside of the Service, including other employment.  The Service has workforce planning mechanisms in place to try and reduce the impact of leavers across the service and utilises exit interviews to ensure we are building a positive work environment.

New Starter Profile

During 23/24 period, 40 new members of staff joined North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service in a range of operational and non-operational roles.  38 of these were new to the Service and 2 transferred to new roles within the Service.

The majority were recruited to the On-Call workforce, and this has been through continual recruitment,. Historically this is a difficult role to recruit to, due to the geographical restrictions, as candidates need to be able to respond to a station within approximately 4 minutes.  A review is taking place to consider effective ways to recruit to this role to ensure we are meeting required staffing levels.

Achievements

 North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service have developed a service-wide EDI delivery plan, which is adopted by all areas in the Service.

Example of achievements have been categorised using the main priority areas of:

• Our People and Culture
• Our Partners
• Our communities

 The Delivery plan is governed and monitored through the EDI boards, chaired by the Chief Fire Officer and Deputy Chief Fire Officer.

In addition to this all functions and teams have developed their own local Equality, Diversity and Inclusion plans based on the above priorities to ensure we consider EDI throughout everything we do.  The plans promote consideration of fairness, transparency and inclusion of all we do to deliver our services.

 The NFCC Core Code of Ethics was also launched and embedded throughout the service in line with national direction, via meetings, focus groups and presentations to all member of the Service, and those who work with us. The CCOE outlines the behaviours we expect from those within the Service and those we work with.

In line with our delivery plans, priorities and EDI Strategy we have made progress and improvements in the following areas:

Our People and Culture

Attraction & Selection

In line with our Recruitment & Selection Policy we commit to equality of opportunity and equal access in recruitment, selection and progression for all staff. We encourage individuals from under-represented groups and communities to engage with our recruitment and progression opportunities. We achieve this through various positive action initiative and engagement activity.

Advertisement dates consider religious occasions and events. Blind shortlisting is undertaken to minimise unconscious bias, and all interviews/assessments have a minimum of 2 panellists.

For promotions, we utilise a Strengths-based assessment model to ensure we employ the right people in the right role and also consider future potential rather than purely past and present competences. This style of assessment is proven to have no adverse impact and has been well received across the organisation. All assessors are fully trained prior to conducting any assessments and all candidates are invited to attend Strengths-based workshops to ensure they are fully prepared ahead of the assessments.

Facilities review

The review was carried out throughout the whole estate to increase privacy and dignity for station-based staff and where possible improve access for those using the stations. Changing pods have been introduced at many of the stations where changing facilities required improved privacy, and more accessible amenities such as disabled toilets and demarcation of accessible parking spaces on our estates.  This has been a long process, and the estates team have where possible made improvements, in some areas this has proved challenging due to an ageing estate, in these instances the team have worked with local staff for the best outcomes.

Diversity Champions

The Service has a group of individuals who have volunteered to become Diversity Champions. These individuals are both operational and non-operational, across various protected characteristics and are passionate about creating an inclusive environment in their workplaces across the area.  Due to the geographic area we cover it is often difficult to deliver EDI communications to staff in a timely manner, the Champions are newly formed and will be receiving development to be able to myth bust and be able to address issues or concerns that occur locally.  The Champions can also assist in Service activities such as familiarisation events and engagement with the community.

Reasonable Adjustments

The Service has made improvements to this area for individuals joining the Service and existing members of the Service. It was identified that adjustments were not previously made in a timely manner, and this was causing problems for individuals.  The processes have been reviewed to ensure we can put timely resources in place.  All new entrants to the Service are asked to declare if they require reasonable adjustments within their applications, this is then followed up on a case by case basis to discuss the adjustments required, one example of this is an applicant with a neurodiverse condition required access to printed questions and extra time to be able to perform well at interview, this candidate was successful and the adjustment will be followed through their development.

Coaching and mentoring Academy

A coaching mentoring academy has been developed to support staff in their roles and their development to progress further in the Service. One of the pilot schemes was the Shine programme, which was aimed at supporting female colleagues to realise their potential to develop further in the Service.

Our Partners

 First Line Leaders Programme

The Service identified the need for a development programme for first line leaders.  A programme was developed in collaboration with North Yorkshire Police and is being delivered across both organisations, to equip managers with skills and knowledge to manage staff.  The programme course is for Crew and Watch Managers and support staff equivalents, and provides all attendees access to a senior sponsor for their cohort.

Our Communities

 Engagement

Local crews have been engaging with their local communities and raising awareness with some of our hard-to-reach communities who often are not aware of the services we provide. The crews in Scarborough and Ryedale for example have reached out to Afghan refugees in the area and ensured they are aware of what to do in emergency and when help is needed.  Crews have also collaborated with local partners in relation to home safety.

Prevention Team

The team have developed how they engage with local communities using data and re-designed priorities to enable us to get to hard-to-reach groups, such as the elderly, those who have mobility issues or are careers. We do this by using a data source called MOSAIC, which looks at people and properties which are more vulnerable to Fire and therefore approach these communities to offer prevention and protection services.

Equality Diversity Inclusion Training

All members of the Service have received face to face, Equality, Diversity and Inclusion training and awareness and this has been developed further for those who manage individuals. This has been a significant piece of work, as it required the flexibility to be able to deliver to the different workforce groups and took into consideration the different working arrangements (shift, On-Call, flexible working and self-rostering staff).  The sessions have re-enforced the services commitment to creating a culture of inclusion, what is expected from the workforce and giving tools to tackle difficult situations.  The training involved both practical and theoretical scenarios to ensure colleagues are able to develop a more inclusive working environment and service to the public.   All Line Managers also receive First Line Leaders Training which includes addition training on EDI.

Staff Networks

Our Staff Networks who work hard to help to develop and create an inclusive and safe working environment in which every employee feels valued and supported. The networks help to improve culture and processes for staff and service delivery. The networks support with attraction and provide an excellent opportunity to share lived experiences. All networks have a senior strategic sponsor. Our networks include:

Upcoming for 2024-2025

Our commitment to EDI continues, in 2024/25 we intend to:

• Re-launch our Equality Diversity and Inclusion strategy and associated delivery plan.
• Adopt National Toolkits from the National Fire Chiefs Council
• Develop our data, including how data is presented and utilised. Data dashboards are being developed by the Business Insights Team to ensure we can easily monitor diversity data.
• Ensure our working environments are as inclusive as possible via the Disability Confidence Scheme, including a review of On Call process to ensure we are increasing diversity.
• Our Service priorities will continue to remain around improving representation of those under-represented, specifically operational females and ethnic minority groups.

If you have any questions, please contact Diversity@northyorksfire.gov.uk