The Chief Fire Officers’ Association The professional voice of the UK fire and rescue service Liaison Officers Lessons Learned Paul Raymond Shropshire Fire & Rescue

The Chief Fire Officers’ Association The professional voice of the UK fire and rescue service A Little Background

The Chief Fire Officers’ Association The professional voice of the UK fire and rescue service Shropshire Key Facts Largest Inland County – 3,490 sq Km Only 450,000 population Telford one of fastest growing areas in England More than 20 neighbourhoods in top 20% of IMD – rural and urban deprivation 5 wholetime and 23 RDS crewed appliances £20m budget 322 RDS and 225 WT operational staff ‘Improving Strongly’

The Chief Fire Officers’ Association The professional voice of the UK fire and rescue service Watch Manager Trevor Williams Clun

The Chief Fire Officers’ Association The professional voice of the UK fire and rescue service The Issues In 2004 up to 8 RDS appliances ‘off the run’ during the day. We need all appliances for emergency cover resilience…

The Chief Fire Officers’ Association The professional voice of the UK fire and rescue service A three pump job and the Service is stretched!

The Chief Fire Officers’ Association The professional voice of the UK fire and rescue service The Issues Recruitment and Retention Working Time and Work – Life Balance Community and Business Fire Safety Help and Support for RDS Managers especially for training Needed Improved Communication: HQ and Stations Service and families Service and employers Community Awareness of Retained Service

The Chief Fire Officers’ Association The professional voice of the UK fire and rescue service Solutions “…also do not be too prescriptive, as what works in one retained station might not necessarily work elsewhere.” WM Trevor Williams

The Chief Fire Officers’ Association The professional voice of the UK fire and rescue service Solutions Extra Large Crew Cab Appliances – crew of 8 or 9 Retained Support Officers Re invest all local efficiencies in local CFS / BFS work Extra Recruitment and increased effort in Retention. Cover for Stations going Off The Run Increased training hours and training flexibility More District and multi station exercises Meetings with all RDS employers Web site for employers and families

The Chief Fire Officers’ Association The professional voice of the UK fire and rescue service Solutions Flexible Shift System(s) Extra training, maintenance and Administration hours Local Training Centres – designed by Ffs ‘FS Web’ risk analysis of all station areas by Ffs. More local PR and Media work More opportunities for flexible employment (recession) –CFS Work –Rural Business Fire Safety –Cycle Safety –Outreach work

The Chief Fire Officers’ Association The professional voice of the UK fire and rescue service What’s in a Name? Retained Liaison Officers RDS firefighter Off The Run A firefighter is a firefighter

The Chief Fire Officers’ Association The professional voice of the UK fire and rescue service What’s in a Name? Retained Support Officers RDS firefighter Off The Run A firefighter is a firefighter

The Chief Fire Officers’ Association The professional voice of the UK fire and rescue service What’s in a Name? Retained Support Officers Community / On Call Firefighter? Off The Run A firefighter is a firefighter

The Chief Fire Officers’ Association The professional voice of the UK fire and rescue service What’s in a Name? Retained Support Officers Community / On Call Firefighter? Station Closed A firefighter is a firefighter

The Chief Fire Officers’ Association The professional voice of the UK fire and rescue service What’s in a Name? Retained Support Officers Community / On Call Firefighter? Station Closed A firefighter is a firefighter – True BUT what works in one retained station might not necessarily work elsewhere.” WM Williams (Clun)

The Chief Fire Officers’ Association The professional voice of the UK fire and rescue service 8 Retained Support Officers Funded through taking 8 Ff off WT stations. Reducing 4 x 2 pump to 1 pump RDS stations.

The Chief Fire Officers’ Association The professional voice of the UK fire and rescue service I Love the Job because: ‘By doing the preparation / admin they can use their limited time training, enabling them to perform better and more safely’. ‘I really like visiting employers and explaining what good they can do for the community by letting one of their staff become RDS’. ‘Its great to set up challenging exercises for stations and seeing them really enjoying them’. ‘Seeing Ffs that I helped recruit and train keeping stations open’.

The Chief Fire Officers’ Association The professional voice of the UK fire and rescue service I Love the Job because: ‘Its great that we can work with local partners to improve community safety like ‘meals on wheels’ and health visitors’. ‘We are allowed to deliver in the best way – we are trusted to deliver our objectives’. ‘Arranging employers thank-you evenings and seeing them allow even more staff to join’. ‘Its different every day’

The Chief Fire Officers’ Association The professional voice of the UK fire and rescue service Results Since RSOs in Post 10% increase in RDS firefighter numbers RDS appliance availability now at 99.5% 96% pass rate for RDS attendance standards 33% of Shropshire Homes have had HFRCs – most villages now completed. 99% increase in rural fires confined to room of origin 35% reduction in Arson and 22% in business fires in rural areas. 38%reduction in False Alarms in rural areas Shift systems introduced across RDS – partners & families happier Employers happier RDS Colleagues happier

The Chief Fire Officers’ Association The professional voice of the UK fire and rescue service What Frustrates me about the job : As we are just Ff its difficult to persuade WMs to adopt new ideas. Partners at local meetings feel hard done to that we send a Ff rather than an officer. Some WMs still see us as a threat to their position of authority. There is no progression within the support role. We would love to be more hands on in training RDS crews. Having to go to a Group Manager for a lot of decisions – really need a less flat structure.

The Chief Fire Officers’ Association The professional voice of the UK fire and rescue service Gaps in Support Increased Human Resources issues ‘discovered’ on RDS stations. RDS Watch Managers have insufficient time to work with Development Ff. Ongoing competence assessment of Development Ff and Managers. No direct peer support / coaching for CM and WM. 27 Local Joint Committees in one Unitary and 15 Local Committees in another.

The Chief Fire Officers’ Association The professional voice of the UK fire and rescue service The proposed solution 4 District Support Teams –1 Station Manager –1 Watch Manager –2 Fire-fighters Role – as RSO plus training, development, assessment, management support and coaching.

The Chief Fire Officers’ Association The professional voice of the UK fire and rescue service 4 District Support Teams Funding through moving 8 Ff posts from WT Stations

The Chief Fire Officers’ Association The professional voice of the UK fire and rescue service To Conclude Retained Support officers are only part of the solution. Select the right ones and they will take the Service forward and drive improvement. Think carefully before imposing systems identically across the Service Mindset – Service designed for RDS Be seen to be reinvesting efficiencies back into rural areas Subsidiarity – decisions made at lowest level. Listen – to staff, families and employers