Lancashire Fire
and Rescue Service
Annual equality
diversity and inclusion report 2023-2024
1.
Background to the
report
The
Lancashire Combined Fire Authority (LCFA) is responsible for
governing Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service (LFRS).
The Service employs in the region of 1300 people who are employed
on Grey Book (operational) and Green Book (support services) terms
and conditions. These roles include managerial members of
staff, operational firefighters, administrators, fire safety,
community safety and business support staff.
As
an employer our aim is to recruit and develop a workforce which is
diverse, can meet the needs of the diverse communities within
Lancashire and to ensure that our workforce feels valued, can work
with dignity and respect, protected from any type of prejudice or
discrimination.
This
Annual Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Report documents our
performance in relation to:
·
Meeting
our legal duties over the year 2022 – 2023.
·
The
workforce profile as of 31 March 2023.
·
Our
plans in relation to equality and diversity for the period 1 April
2023 – 31 March 2024.
·
Key
monitoring
equality data/information.
It
makes visible how we are meeting our obligations to recognise
diversity, value inclusion and promote equality.
2.
Introduction,
aims, values and ethics
2.1
Lancashire Fire and Rescue aims
Making Lancashire safer is our commitment to making
sure that everything we do improves the safety of our diverse
communities. We do this by using our skills, experience and
resources to make people safer in much broader terms across
life’s stages:
·
helping
people to start safe
·
live
safe
·
age
safe
·
be
safe on our roads
LFRS is committed to its purpose of “making
Lancashire safer” and it has developed the following
priorities to support this intention:
·
Valuing
our people so they can focus on making Lancashire safer.
·
Preventing
fires and other emergencies from happening.
·
Protecting
people and property when fires happen.
·
Responding
to fire and other emergencies quickly and competently.
·
Deliveringvalue for money in how to use our
resources.
2.2 Lancashire Fire and Rescue Values
We define the expectations of our staff within our
Annual Service Plan and our values define how we STRIVE to achieve
our purpose of “making Lancashire safer” by ensuring
what we do is guided by strong principles of:
·
Service:
Making Lancashire safer is the most important thing we
do.
·
Trust:
We Trust the people we work with.
·
Respect:
We respect each other.
·
Integrity:
We do what we say we will do.
·
Value:
We actively listen to others.
·
Empowered:
We contribute to decisions and improvements.
Risk is dynamic and fire disproportionately affects
certain demographic groups. We therefore focus on the
potential root causes and the people who are most vulnerable to
them; those living alone, with health issues, with impaired
mobility, affected by socio-economic deprivation and drug and/or
alcohol users.
2.3 The National Code of Ethics
We
abide by the Core Code of Ethics developed by the National Fire
Chiefs’ Council (NFCC) and the Local Government Association
(LGA) which sets out a clear set of principles in terms of the
professional standards of practice and behaviour. The Seven
Principles of Public Life form the foundation of the Core
Code. These principles outline the ethical standards which
those working in the public sector are expected to adhere. The code
identifies five primary ethical principles which reflect best
practice principles and has been designed to underpin the way we
serve our communities, carry out our role, and work
together:
·
Putting
our communities first – we put the interest of the public,
the community and service users first.
·
Integrity
– we act with integrity including being open, honest and
consistent in everything we do.
·
Dignity
and respect – making decisions objectively based on evidence,
without discrimination or bias.
·
Leadership
– we are all positive role models, always demonstrating
flexibility and resilient leadership. We are all accountable
for everything we do and challenge all behaviour that falls short
of the highest standards.
·
Equality,
Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) – We continually recognise and
promote the value of EDI both within the LFRS and the wider
communities in which we serve. We stand against all forms of
discrimination, create equal opportunities, promote equality,
foster good relations and celebrate difference.
We require all our employees and everyone in LFRS to behave
in accordance with the Service values and
to follow the Core Code, including those working with or on behalf
of the Service.
3.
Meeting our legal duties and
equality diversity and inclusion objectives
The annual priorities of the Service are detailed in
our Annual Service Plan 2023-2024, and the Service’s
Community Risk Management Plan 2022 - 2027 explains the LFRS vision
in terms of how we will achieve our mission of “making
Lancashire safer”.
The Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Annual
Report is part of the suite of delivery plans, in addition to the
Workforce Plan, the Operational Training Strategy, the Training and
Development Plan and the Health, Safety and Wellbeing Plan which
explain the interventions that will take place to support the
achievement of the LFRS mission and values and the LFRS People
Strategy.
The EDI Steering Group Chaired by the Chief Fire
Officer is responsible for monitoring the development and the
delivery of the EDI Annual Report
(i)
The
Equality Act 2010
The Equality Act 2010 states that everyone has the right to be
treated fairly and equally. The Act has two main purposes, it
brings together and simplifies all the existing discrimination law
and strengthens the law to further support progress on
equality.
In
the exercise of its functions (including any functions carried out
by an external supplier/organisation) LFRS must have due regard
to:
·
Eliminating
unlawful discrimination, harassment and victimisation and other
conduct prohibited by the Act. Advancing equality of
opportunity between people who share a protected characteristic and
those who do not.
·
Fostering
good relations between people who share a protected characteristic
and those whodo
not.
These
are often called the three main aims of the general duty and are
detailed in the Equality Act 2010 Section 149. The Equality
Duty is supported by two main specific duties which require public
bodies to:
·
Publish
equality information at least annually.
·
Set
and publish equality objectives at least every four
years.
LFRS
reports progress against its equality objectives and how it is
meeting its obligations under the equality duty via the annual
Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Report.
(ii)
The
Human Rights Act 1998
All
public bodies and other bodies carrying out public functions must
comply with the Human Rights Act. Human Rights are the basic
rights and freedoms that belong to every person in Europe
regardless of their nationality and citizenship.
Human
Rights are based on five principles known as FREDA:
·
Fairness
·
Respect
·
Equality
·
Dignity
·
Autonomy
The
Human Rights Act sets out the fundamental rights and freedoms that
individuals in the UK have access to, these rights are called
“the convention rights”.
(iii)
Equality Objectives
Further
to our review of the risks within the communities of Lancashire,
the Service has developed the following equality objectives in
supporting:
Our Communities:
·
Support
local businesses to reduce the risk of fire and remain compliant
within fire safety legislation.
·
Reduce
the number and impact of fire and other emergencies to our diverse
communities across Lancashire.
·
Develop
and deliver a prevention service targeting our most vulnerable
communities.
Our
Workforce:
·
Promote
equality in our workforce policies and workforce
practices.
·
Develop
our staff to ensure they can respond competently meeting the
different needs of ourdiverse
communities.
(iv)
Protected Characteristics (or protected
groups)
LFRS
aims to ensure that no one receives less favourable treatment for
reasons relating to all recognised protected characteristics
covered below by the Equality Act 2010:
·
Age
·
Disability
·
Gender
reassignment
·
Marriage
and civil partnership (in respect of eliminating unlawful
discrimination)
·
Pregnancy
and maternity
·
Race
– this includes ethnic or national origins, colour or
nationality
·
Religion
or belief – this includes lack of belief
·
Sex
(gender)
·
Sexual
orientation
(v) Equality Impact Assessment (EIA) - Equality Analysis
Equality analysis within an EIA is an effective tool to demonstrate
how the Service is meeting its legal requirements under the public
sector equality duty, identifying the impact of policies and
decisions on staff and communities ensuring that the impact is
fully understood, and any negative impact is mitigated. EIAs
are completed where there is an impact on people, or the
community. The Service complies with the NFCC equality impact
assessment tool kit.
The Service has recognised the need to strengthen its approach to
EIA, which has been updated to incorporate an element of quality
assurance to provide more scrutiny of the EIA. Further to the
review of fire cover delivered during 2022 an external company was
utilised to undertake the EIA, this ensured that the EIA was robust
and independent. The assessment process was also used as a
learning opportunity for staff in undertaking equality
analysis. Comprehensive training has previously been
undertaken in relation to the completion of an EIA’s and this
continues to be part of the middle manager development
programme. A peer review was planned, but this is now going
to be undertaken as part of the external audit for 2023.
(vi) Commissioning and Procuring
Services
LFRS will ensure that any partnership it is involved in operates in
line with equality principles and associated equality duties.
All contracts are required to agree to LFRS terms and conditions,
which will include relevant clauses in relation to
equalities. Additional scrutiny is incorporated within the
procurement process where it is considered appropriate. For
each procurement project, the lead stakeholder is responsible for
completing an equality impact initial screen and subsequent
assessment where required. Where an assessment is required
and undertaken, the internal customer/lead stakeholder must ensure
this is done pre-procurement and any required changes are made to
their specification/requirements before any exercise
progresses. The Head of Property is part of the NFCC National
Fire Estates Group, one of its priorities is to support the
development of dignified facilities/EDI standards and
improvements.
Since last year, several cultural reviews in other
Services has prompted the HMICFRS to encourage Services to deliver
on a number of tasks and to report on a number of areas, the EDI
Steering Group also monitors progress in relation to these
activities.
4.
The
communities of Lancashire
2021 Census population figures show that Lancashire has a
population of 1,531,127 people. Since the 2011 census, the
population has grown by 4.8%. Lancashire is home to some of
the most deprived areas in the country, as calculated by the
Indices of Multiple Deprivation (IMD), which can lead to increased
risk in communities. The largest ethnic group in Lancashire
was white (86.6%) and other than white ethnicities formed 13.4% of
the population.
The
2021 Census indicated 20.1% of the population were aged 65 and
over, 59.1% aged between 18 and 64, with 20.8% aged under
18.
Pendle
had 29.4% of people who were ethnic
minorities (excluding white minorities). In Preston
the rate was 27.4%. In Blackburn with Darwen the proportion
of the population who are ethnic
minorities (excluding white minorities), is 39.6%, by far
the highest in Lancashire. In Blackpool the rate was low at
just under 7,500, accounting for just over 5% of the
population. Asian British or Asian Welsh: Pakistani was the
largest minority group in Lancashire.
On
the day of the March 2021 Census, a total of 806,000 people
classified themselves in the Lancashire area as Christian. A
further 479,900 stated no religion, 141,300 indicated that their
religion was Muslim, 82,000 did not give a response, whilst the
other religious groups in Lancashire together accounted for
22,000. Blackburn with Darwen (35.0%) and Pendle (26.0%)
had the highest number of people who stated they were Muslim.
66.4% of people in the Ribble Valley stated they were
Christian. Among other religions, Preston (3.0%) has well
above the Lancashire average of Hindus and the largest percentage
of Sikhs (0.7%) in Lancashire.
Deprivation is measured across England through the combined Index
of Multiple Deprivation 2019 (IMD 2019) which is the official
measure of relative deprivation for small areas known as
Lower-Level Super Output Areas (LSOAs) in England. Types of
deprivation are often associated with each other, for example
health combined with the influence of an individual’s living
environment and lifestyle choices can all add to
vulnerability. These, in turn, can present hazards and risks
that an individual may be susceptible to due to their
circumstances. In 2019 Lancashire had 186 (5.7%) of
its LSOAs in the top 1% of the most deprived neighbourhoods in
England.
The LFRS fire risk model uses IMD information to establish our
response arrangements, thereby targeting those most at
risk.
5.
Workforce Profile
Public
authorities, covered by the specific duties, must publish
information to demonstrate their compliance with the general
equality duty. This information must include information
relating to people who share relevant protected characteristics,
who are its employees, and people affected by its policies and
practices. LFRS has developed and published a workforce
demographic of its employees and this information is attached at
Appendix A. This is further supported by an analysis of
recruitment shown at Appendix B.
Monitoring
equality and diversity in the workforce enables LFRS to identify
how employment policies are working and to identify areas where
these may appear to be working disproportionately on certain groups
of staff. With effect from 2022, the Service commenced
reporting the demographic profile of its workforce to the
Performance Committee as part of its performance reporting
arrangements.
6.
Summary of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Activity
(EDI)
The detail of our progress in relation to EDI is summarised in our
completed action plan attached at Appendix D. The new Action
Plan 2023 -2024 is attached at Appendix E.
7.
Other areas of focus relating to equality, diversity and inclusion
7.1
Accessibility
LFRS
Corporate Communications Department ensures that information is
made available in a variety of formats and using multiple channels
to best reach Lancashire’s diverse communities. The
Service’s equality and diversity values are promoted in key
publications and information sources internally and externally.
LFRS provides information in printed form and via digital
channels including the LFRS website. The website meets Web
Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0 level AA, which is an
internationally recognised set of recommendations for improving web
accessibility by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). LFRS is
continuing to work towards compliance with the Public Sector Bodies
(Websites and Mobile Applications) Accessibility Regulations 2018
and achieving Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 level
AA standard.
Making
a website or mobile app accessible means making sure it can be used
by as many people as possible. This includes those
with:
·
impaired
vision
·
motor
difficulties
·
cognitive
impairments or learning disabilities
·
deafness
or impaired hearing
There are four design principles:
·
perceivable - users can recognise and use your service with
the senses that are available to them. For example, we
provide descriptive text for images and videos and the ability to
change the contrast and text size.
·
operable - users can find and use your content, regardless
of how they choose to access it (for example, using a keyboard or
voice commands). For example, we do not use blinking or
flashing content and the main navigation is accessible by keyboard
shortcuts.
·
understandable - people can understand your content and how the
Service works. For example, we use plain English, keep
sentences short and do not use words and phrases that people will
not recognise.
·
robust - content can be interpreted reliably by a wide
variety of user agents (including reasonably outdated, current, and
anticipated browsers and assistive technologies). For
example, we use valid HTML, so assistive technologies can
accurately interpret and parse content.
During 2023/2023, the Service published an updated accessibility
statement on the Services website, this is a legal requirement and
details accessibility challenges within the site and the plan for
improvements. The Service also conducted an accessibility
audit of the external website and internal sites using an external
specialist to inform areas of development. The Service has since
committed to developing a new web site that is fully accessible and
which will have enhanced functionality with work due to be
completed in 2023.
The Corporate Communications Department actively supports the
prevention work of LFRS ensuring that key messages are targeted at
those individuals who are most at risk. Support of prevention
work, campaigns including cooking safety, bonfire and firework
safety, electrical safety were targeted at individuals most at
risk. A TikTok account was launched to further reach young
people on issues such as water safety and work with partners was
undertaken to extend the reach of its a cost-of-living campaign
targeted at people at an increased risk of fire due to financial
reasons,
The Department carries out positive action campaigns when
recruiting to encourage women and under-represented groups to apply
and supports several national campaigns and special events
including Pride Month, I’m not a Muslim but I will fast for
one day, celebration of International Women’s Day and
Neurodiversity. The department published fire safety advice
in 26 additional languages on the website to make the information
more accessible to people whose first language is not English. In
addition, a series of fire safety videos are available in British
Sign Language and the Department can provide information in large
print on request. All videos are produced with subtitles, including
public safety videos from emergency incidents. To ensure all
social media content is accessible, the Department produced
guidance and delivered training across the service to social media
users on how to create accessible content. The department applies
measures from the British Dyslexia Association’s style guide
in both internal and external material to consider the visual
stress experienced by some dyslexic people and to facilitate ease
of reading.
Further to the HMICFRS recommendations on values and culture the
Department promoted to staff the variety of ways in which they can
report issues of concern and the external website has been updated
making it easier for members of the public to report issues of
concern about members of staff.
8. Values and
Culture
A review of the London Fire Brigade identified several key areas of
failing which contributed to its poor organisational culture,
further to the review several Services identified similar issues
relating to misogyny,
racism, and bullying. In response the HMICFRS produced a
series of recommendations which Services are expected to report
progress, the Service has adopted all the recommendations and they
are in the process of being implemented.
One of the recommendations includes the adoption of the national
Code of Ethics, which the Service immediately adopted when it was
launched, the Deputy Chief Fire Officer has been confirmed as the
senior officer responsible for the Code of Ethics and development
sessions have been delivered on station to 407 employees and will
continue to progress into 2023. The Service’s induction
EDI eLearning module, which is compulsory for all those joining the
Service, has been updated to include the Code of Ethics, and new
apprentices undertake specific development on the Service values,
the Code of Ethics and the Services expectations in relation to
behaviour.
In
response to changes in the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act the
Service is now undertaking standard DBS checks for new starters in
relation to some categories of support staff, all community safety
advisors and all operational members of staff and also checks in
relation to existing members of staff.
More
specific detail in relation to disciplinary, grievances and
recruitment and selection is included in this report and is being
provided to the Equality Diversity and Inclusion Steering Group
providing greater scrutiny and ensuring there is no negative impact
on a particular minority group in terms of recruitment, progression
and the application of the Services policy and
processes.
9. Training and Development
All members of staff undertake a corporate induction eLearning
induction which covers the importance of equality, diversity and
inclusion, the risks of unconscious bias, the Service values and
the national Code of Ethics. All members of staff undertake
development in equality, diversity and inclusion, safeguarding and
PREVENT.
During
2023, the newly established employee voice group for neurodiversity
launched an additional eLearning module explaining how
neurodivergent members of staff can be supported in the workplace
and the Service has made changes to some of its recruitment
processes.
10.
Recruitment and Selection
Recruitment and progression data is analysed and reported to the
EDI Steering Group. The demographic profile of the Services
is reported quarterly to the Performance Committee. LFRS
continues its journey to improve the diversity of the workforce to
ensure that it represents the community it serves. Positive
action was delivered to attract a diversity of candidates to fill
the Wholetime firefighter apprenticeship course planned for
September and May 2022. The Service has taken an integrated
approach in terms of delivering positive action and promoting LFRS
as an employer of choice, colleagues from human resources,
prevention and operational staff work together to deliver
attraction events supported by other colleagues from the services
employee voice groups. Thirteen “Have a Go”
events were delivered by project members, venues included sports centres, colleges, our
own sites, including Nelson Fire Station and Training
Centre.
The events are supported by Corporate Communications who deliver an
integrated targeted social
media campaign delivered utilising Facebook ‘Events’
and Instagram Posts, and Twitter ‘Tweets’ were also
utilised to reach almost 1,200,000 people. Social media is
targeted at under-represented groups of
people.
A total of 359 people attended across the events, of which 11% were
BME; 17% were female and 15% were from the LGBTQ+
community.
In November 2022 an internal audit was carried out on the
Service’s approach to positive action and concluded that
“the current recruitment activity adopts Positive Action
approach, the processes and controls that are in place are
adequate, efficient, and effective at ensuring the right person is
recruited to each individual role. A strong control
environment exists, and various processes and plans are in place to
ensure that the service continues to promote Lancashire Fire and
Rescue as an employer of choice. This includes recruiting a
workforce which is diverse and meets the needs of the people of
Lancashire and the communities it serves”, with no actions or
recommendations identified.
Applications opened again on 1 August 2022 and closed on 10 August
2022 with 577 valid applications received.
Of the 577 who applied the demographic profile of applicants was as
follows:
|
Total Applications
|
Male % of total
|
Female % of total
|
BME % of total
|
LGBT+% of total
|
Disabled % of total
|
|
577
|
87
|
12
|
7
|
12
|
3
|
The outcome further to a robust recruitment process was as
follows:
|
Total Selected
|
Male % of total
|
Female % of total
|
BME % of total
|
LGBT+% of total
|
Disabled % of total
|
|
26
|
92
|
8
|
4
|
12
|
8
|
This
is in addition to 153 other recruitment episodes associated with
Grey and Green Book staff which occurred 1.4.2022 – 31.3.2023
full details are included at Appendix B.
The Service has developed a talent gateway which allows for the
quicker progression of operational members of staff with potential
and has also developed functional routes to allow progression
through the ranks where incident command isn’t a preference
for operational members of staff. During 2024, the Service
will be exploring a direct entry route for high performing
graduates who have successfully achieved the Fire and Leadership
degree.
11.
Achievement, turnover and progression of wholetime firefighter
apprentices
LFRS
is an employer provider of firefighter operational apprenticeships.
As at 31 March 2023 the Service had 84 firefighter apprentices and
64 have successfully completed their end point assessment.
100% of LFRS apprentice firefighters has passed the end point
assessment compared to 99.9% nationally. Of the 64 passes,
six gained distinctions.
12.
Workforce Strategies and Policies
LFRS
has several policies which support employees with a protected
characteristic including:
·
Bullying
and Harassment Policy.
·
Maternity
Handbook (incorporating Paternity and Adoption).
·
Shared
Parental Leave.
·
Grievance
Policy.
·
Equality,
Diversity and Inclusion Policy.
·
Flexible
Working.
·
Recruitment
and Selection.
·
Living
with the Menopause.
·
Supporting
People with Dyslexia.
·
HIV.
·
Equality
Impact Assessment/Equality Analysis.
·
Code
of Conduct.
·
Flexitime
Policy
During
2022, the harassment and bullying policy was updated to ensure that
it more clearly identified the types of discrimination that those
from the LGBTQ+ community may face. The maternity, paternity,
and adoption provisions available to members of staff have been
improved. The Code of Conduct has been updated
incorporating the Code of Ethics. The Service has been
exploring how it can support members of staff who are
neurodivergent and a new policy has been developed explaining
neurodiversity and the support available. The flexitime
policy is in the process of being updated to create for flexibility
for members of staff whilst balancing the needs of the
business.
LFRS
also monitors employees who are involved in disciplinary action,
grievances and harassment and bullying complaints.
Additionally, the Service is now required to notify HMICFRS of
any
allegations that have the potential to constitute staff gross
misconduct. A
profile is attached at Appendix C. However, the full details in
some areas of the profile are not reported in public due to the low
numbers and the need to preserve confidentiality of the
employee.
13. Engagement and Consultation
The Service has a consultation strategy which was implemented
during 2022 to consult on proposals for changes to emergency cover
in Lancashire. Following a 12-week consultation, 1,224 responses
were received from residents, staff and stakeholders. During
the implementation period of the Emergency Cover Review face to
face and teams meetings were delivered to engage with all members
of staff affected.
Collaboration with multiple partners continues, particularly those
in the Lancashire Resilience Forum which includes the Authorities
of Lancashire and Lancashire Constabulary.
The Services approach to engagement is tailored to meet the need,
over the winter period the Services worked with other partners
including Age UK and Electricity Northwest to engage with those at
increased risk of fire during the cost-of-living crisis. In
addition, the Service engages with the public regularly via social
media and other digital channels being actively monitored and
evaluated.
Staff engagement is a key performance indicator reported to the
Combined Fire Authority and is achieved through a variety of
activities carried out every day across the service including
station visits, digital staff sessions, appraisals and team
meetings.
The services Intranet, known as “The Engine House” is
successful and the “Shout Up” section allows for staff
to discuss and share their views on a range of topics, all members
of staff can raise questions, ideas and improvements and staff are
regularly involved in testing and trialling new equipment and ways
of working. Four employee voice groups comprising staff
from under-represented groups in a wide variety of roles and ranks
provide insight and feedback to inform Service policies,
procedures, and campaigns: race and religion, women and families,
LBGTQ+, and neurodiversity. The groups are a useful mechanism
for consulting with staff and receiving feedback, ensuring that any
negative impact is fully understood and mitigated. Volunteers
from staff are also sought to form staff working groups, during
2022/2023 this approach was utilised to explore options relating to
future crewing arrangements, climate change response vehicles, and
urban search and rescue teams.
A comprehensive staff survey is undertaken periodically to
gain insight from all staff on a range of topics including
leadership and management, training and development, and equality,
diversity and inclusion. The feedback is used to shape future
activity and bring about improvements and new ideas. The survey
includes a staff engagement index which is a measure of overall
staff engagement based on levels of pride, advocacy, attachment,
inspiration, and motivation. The current staff engagement index
score is 79% (2021) and staff are due to be surveyed again in
2023. Surveys and consultations are held on specific matters
and in the last year these have included proposals for improvements
to emergency cover and working the on-call duty system. During
2023, the Corporate Communications Team will be introducing pulse
surveys so they can get more regular feedback on issues affecting
members of staff.
A programme of wellbeing interactions such as workplace toolbox
talks, station visits, workshops and wellbeing support dog visits
support the delivery of the Services Health and Wellbeing
Strategy.
Business Fire Safety, Community Fire Safety and Service Delivery
engage with different communities within their area delivering a
range of prevention activities and undertaking Business and Home
Fire Safety checks working towards keeping communities across
Lancashire safe.
Consultation
with the Trade Unions takes place through formal and informal
consultation meetings, the Service now recognises the Fire and
Rescue Service Association (FRSA) and the Fire Officers Association
(FOA) for the purposes of collective bargaining. Workforce
and employment-related decisions and documents are reviewed with
trade union representatives and other members of staff from within
LFRS.
14.
Performance Management
The
Annual Service Plan details the activities we will undertake in the
year to deliver the strategy we set in our Community Risk
Management Plan (CRMP). The most important of these
activities are managed by the Leadership Team through the Corporate
Programme Board. Local Delivery Plans (departmental and
district plans) which detail activity which further supports the
delivery of our strategy, but which is led by local
teams.
All
staff have a performance appraisal where objectives are set which
support the delivery of our plans and feedback is given about
performance in relation to our values. Further to feedback
from members of staff the performance appraisal tool was simplified
this year. Within the performance appraisal is the
opportunity to have a career conversation, a useful tool to inform
workforce planning. The number of people who had an appraisal
was 93% for Wholetime staff, 92% for On Call and 81% for Green Book
members of staff.
15.
Bullying and Harassment
LFRS
has a bullying and harassment procedure for dealing with employee
complaints in relation to concerns relating to bullying, or
behaviour. Further to complaints, issues are fully
investigated in accordance with the bullying and harassment
procedure, or the disciplinary procedure depending on the clarity
of the information available. Details are attached at
Appendix C.
16.
Issues of concern of employees
The
Service also has a grievance procedure which is the main procedure
used for dealing with other employee concerns in relation to a
broader range of issues other than misconduct. The Service
has promoted the principle of encouraging employees to voice their
concerns informally, encouraging line managers to “nip issues
in the bud” and then adopt a more formal approach where
issues remain unresolved, which has worked successfully. This
approach is supplemented by station visits by Senior Managers and a
cross checking of matters being raised across the Service to
identify any underlying themes of concern.
During
2023 further to feedback from employee voice groups and
consultation with line managers, the Service will be adopting an
anonymous reporting line “Safe Call” where volunteers,
members of staff and cadets can raise issues of concern
anonymously.
17.
GenderPay Gap
(GPG)
17.1
Provision of Gender Pay Gap Information
LFRS are
required, under the Equality Act 2010 (Gender Pay Gap Information)
Regulations 2017, to publish an annual Gender Pay Gap report.
The Act requires that organisations with 250 or more employees must
report on their Gender Pay Gap using a snapshot date of 31 March 2023. This information is
required to be published on the LFRS and Government website and
measures the difference between hourly earnings of men and
women.
The Gender Pay
Gap is an equality measure that shows the difference in average
earnings between women and men in the workforce. It does not
show differences in pay for comparable jobs, unequal pay for men
and women is illegal, rather it compares hourly rates of pay and
any bonuses staff may receive by gender, highlighting any areas of
imbalance. The causes of the Gender Pay Gap are complex and
overlapping. A higher proportion of women choose occupations
that offer less financial reward, for example in administration.
Many sectors are disproportionately made up of male workers
and a much higher proportion of women work part-time and part-time
workers earn less than their full-time counterparts on
average.
According to the
Office for National Statistics (ONS) the Gender Pay Gap nationally
has been declining slowly over time and over the last decade it has
fallen by approximately a quarter. Provisional ONS data for
2022 shows the UK average Gender Pay Gap continuing a downward
trend, with the GPG among all employees decreased to 14.9%, from
15.1% in 2021, but still down from 17.4% in 2019.
17.2
Employees for the purposes of the Gender Pay Gap
On the snapshot
date, 31 March 2023, LFRS employed 1313 people. A
significantly higher proportion of men than women are employed in
the Service. The Service has a far larger volume of
operational roles within the Service and currently those roles have
traditionally been more commonly occupied by men, where turnover is
low. Women make up the larger proportion of staff in
support roles.
17.3
Mean Gender Pay Gap
The
mean (average) Gender Pay Gap is calculated by adding together the
hourly pay rates of all female employees and dividing by the total
number of females to create a mean (average). This
calculation is repeated for men and the difference in the two
figures identifies the Gender Pay Gap. Using this
calculation methodology across LFRS, the mean Gender Pay Gap is
significantly different than the national average which is 12.74%
in favour of women who on average earn on average £1.76 per
hour more than men.
17.4
Median Gender Pay Gap
To
calculate the median Gender Pay Gap all women’s earnings are
ranked and all men’s earnings are ranked, by their hourly
pay, to establish the middle of the female pay range compared to
the middle of the male pay range. The difference between the
two is the median pay gap. The median Gender Pay Gap at LFRS
equates to 6.38%. This means that men on average earn
£1.00 more than women.
The
inclusion of On-Call and dual contracted staff who are primarily
male significantly skews the mean and the median Gender Pay Gap on
the basis that the way their earnings are accrued, results in a
large number of men with lower earnings at the bottom of the
ranking which accounts for the results.
17.5
Occupational Group
An
analysis of the quartile distribution by occupational group
demonstrates that 84% of the employees in the lower quartile are
On-Call staff. This group of staff equate to 21% of the
employee population.
Most
female part time support staff are found in the lower-middle
quartile, with fewer in the upper middle and upper
quartiles.
The
proportion of women in the upper-middle and upper quartile is
representative of the overall proportion of women within the LFRS
workforce. The upper-middle quartile is predominantly male,
but this is where most members of staff are undertaking the role of
Firefighter. A high proportion of men undertake the
role of Firefighter, so it is therefore unsurprising that this
quartile is male dominated.
A
high proportion of male employees employed on the National Joint
Council (NJC) for Local Authority Fire and Rescue Service terms and
conditions (known commonly as the ‘Grey Book’), attract
additional allowances that are not available to staff conditioned
to the NJC for Local Government Service (‘Green Book’)
support staff, the majority of which are female. These
additional allowances increase Grey Book average earnings and moves
this staff group to the lower middle quartile, as demonstrated in
the table below.
It is
recognised that women are significantly under-represented in the
operational workforce and consequently LFRS is committed to
increasing the number of female firefighters. This forms an
important part of LFRS’s approach to EDI within the
Service. LFRS is now undertaking positive action initiatives
aimed at encouraging people from under-represented groups to apply
for positions in the organisation. Recruitment activity is
locally monitored (including the levels of attraction and
appointment) to identify problem areas to drive forward
improvements.
Appendix A
WORKFORCE
EQUALITY PROFILE AS AT 31 MARCH 2023
Employment monitoring
data is collected and reported annually in relation to all
protected groups apart from gender reassignment due to the
sensitive confidential nature of this data.
These following
figures relate to the total number of posts occupied by members of
staff, this allows for dual contracted members of staff to be
included twice, due to them undertaking two roles within the
Service.
1. Workforce
Demographics LFRS
|
Total No of
roles
|
White
British
|
BME
|
Male
|
Female
|
Disability
|
Ave Age
|
LGBT+
|
|
1271
|
1230
|
41
|
1031
|
240
|
33
|
41
|
47
|
|
%
|
96.8
|
3.2
|
81.1
|
18.9
|
2.6
|
|
3.7
|
Since last year
2021/22 there has been a slight increase in the number of women, we
employ from 18% to 18.9%. There has been a slight reduction
in the number of people who are BME from 3.7% to 3.2% and a slight
reduction in the number of people we employ who declare a
disability from 2.8% to 2.6%. There has been an increase in
the number of people who identify as LGBT+ from 3% to
3.7%.
2. Prevention and
Protection
(i)
Protection:
Business Fire Safety Staff inclusive of FSM
|
%
|
White
|
BME
|
Male
|
Female
|
Disability
|
Ave Age in
years
|
|
|
94.3
|
5.7
|
74.3
|
25.7
|
0
|
50
|
(ii)
Prevention:
District Community Safety Staff and HQ Prevention Staff
|
%
|
White
|
BME
|
Male
|
Female
|
Disability
|
Ave Age in
years
|
|
|
88.9
|
11.1
|
33.3
|
66.7
|
2.2
|
46
|
The
diversity within prevention and protection is more
positive.
(iii)
Prevention:
Princes Trust Programme Support Green Book staff
|
%
|
White
|
BME
|
Male
|
Female
|
Disability
|
Ave Age in
years
|
|
|
100
|
0
|
31.6
|
68.4
|
0
|
38
|
There has been a
slight reduction in the number of women and people who are BME in
the Princes Trust, however the increase in men has increased the
diversity of the Department.
3. Response Grey
Book Operational staff including resilience and specialist
capability
(i)
Wholetime
Firefighters (including apprentices) : 224, Flexible Day Crewing
and DCP duty roles
|
Role
|
Total No of
staff
Headcount
|
White
British
|
BME
|
Male
|
Female
|
Disability
|
Ave Age
|
|
Strategic
|
19
|
19
|
0
|
15
|
4
|
1
|
47
|
|
First Line
Supervisors
|
69
|
68
|
1
|
66
|
3
|
1
|
47
|
|
All
|
560
|
546
|
14
|
508
|
52
|
15
|
41
|
There has been an
increase in women employed within the wholetime Service and a
slight reduction in the number of people who are BME. There
has been a slight reduction in the numbers of people who declare a
disability.
(ii)
On-Call
|
Role
|
Total No of On-call
staff
|
White
British
|
BME
|
Male
|
Female
|
Disability
|
Ave Age
|
|
WM
|
28
|
27
|
1
|
26
|
2
|
0
|
44
|
|
CM
|
89
|
86
|
3
|
85
|
4
|
1
|
41
|
|
FF
|
280
|
273
|
7
|
260
|
20
|
7
|
35
|
|
All
|
397
|
386
|
11
|
371
|
26
|
8
|
37
|
There has been a
slight reduction in the number of women employed within the On-call
Service, the number of people who are BME continues to fluctuate
slightly. There has been a slight increase in the number of people
who declare they have a disability.
(iii) . Support
Staff Grey Book (Including TOR, Control, Day Duty staff - refers to
terms of employment)
|
Total No of
staff
|
White
|
BME
|
Male
|
Female
|
Disability
|
Ave Age
|
|
50
|
49
|
1
|
41
|
9
|
4
|
43
|
|
%
|
98
|
2
|
82
|
18
|
8
|
|
4. Female
Firefighter operational workforce
The total number of
women employed within operations increased from 86 to
91.
|
Crewing
System
|
Rank
|
Number
|
|
224
|
FF
|
34
|
|
CM
|
3
|
|
WM
|
1
|
|
DC
|
FF
|
3
|
|
CM
|
0
|
|
WM
|
0
|
|
DCP
|
FF
|
4
|
|
CM
|
1
|
|
WM
|
0
|
|
Day Duty (including
Protection)
|
CM
|
6
|
|
WM
|
6
|
|
SM
|
1
|
|
FDO
|
SM
|
1
|
|
GM
|
5
|
|
On-call
|
FF
|
20
|
|
CM
|
4
|
|
WM
|
2
|
|
TOTAL
|
|
91
|
The total number of 91
refers to the total number of women in table 3. i (52) in table
3.ii (26) plus (9) in table 5 who undertake the day duty system in
TOR and (4) who are grey book Fire Safety.
There is a total on 23
female supervisory managers which has increased from 21.
5. Business Support
Staff Green Book
|
Total No of
staff
|
White
|
BME
|
Male
|
Female
|
Disability
|
Ave Age
|
|
165
|
157
|
8
|
64
|
101
|
5
|
46
|
|
%
|
95.2
|
4.8
|
38.8
|
61.2
|
3
|
|
Whilst the number of
staff who are BME was increasing there was a slight reduction last
year. The number of women is high within support services and
remains fairly static
6.
Turnover
|
Staff
Category
|
Male
|
Female
|
Total
|
Ethnic
Minority
|
Disabled
|
% of
females
|
% of BME
|
|
Wholetime
|
61
|
8
|
69
|
2
|
3
|
11.6%
|
2.9%
|
|
RDS
|
53
|
1
|
54
|
2
|
0
|
1.9%
|
3.7%
|
|
Control
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
|
|
0
|
0
|
|
Service Delivery
(CFS)
|
0
|
2
|
2
|
0
|
1
|
100%
|
0
|
|
Support
Staff
|
9
|
18
|
27
|
4
|
0
|
66.7%
|
14.8%
|
|
TOTAL
|
123
|
29
|
152
|
8
|
4
|
|
|
There
has been a slight reduction in the number of women leaving the
Service overall. There has been a slight increase in the
number of people who declare they have a disability and who are BME
leaving.
7. Age
Profile
|
Staff
Category
|
Age
|
Age
|
Age
|
Age
|
Age
|
Age
|
Age
|
|
Under 34
|
35-39
|
40-44
|
45-49
|
50-55
|
56-60
|
61+
|
|
Wholetime
|
137
|
158
|
77
|
89
|
153
|
21
|
1
|
|
On Call
|
144
|
110
|
52
|
39
|
32
|
17
|
3
|
|
Control
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
1
|
0
|
0
|
|
Service Delivery
(CFS)
|
8
|
9
|
5
|
9
|
10
|
8
|
4
|
|
Support
Staff
|
43
|
21
|
22
|
21
|
27
|
35
|
15
|
|
TOTAL
|
332
|
298
|
156
|
158
|
223
|
81
|
23
|
There
has been an increase in the total number of people employed aged
under 34 years and 35-39 years and a reduction in the number of
people aged 45 - 55 years. Within the wholetime
service 22% are aged under 34 years old as compared to 18% in the
previous year. Within the On Call service the numbers of
people progressing from the under 34 category is reflective of
those who have moved into the aged 35 - 39 category.
Appendix B
Recruitment Profile
Applications during the period 1.4.2022 –
31.3.2023
|
Total
Applications
|
Male
|
Female
|
BME
|
% of female
|
% of BME
|
LGBT+
|
% LGBT+
|
Disabled
|
% Disabled
|
|
1972
|
1566
|
406
|
245
|
20.5
|
12.4
|
148
|
7.5
|
103
|
4. 5.2
|
|
Shortlisted
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
1059
|
824
|
235
|
100
|
22.1
|
9.4
|
78
|
7.3
|
54
|
5
|
|
Successful
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
244
|
139
|
61
|
19
|
25
|
8
|
12
|
5
|
12
|
5
|
Number of applications
The number of total applications for roles within LFRS has risen
since 2021-2022 by 2.7%.
The percentage of applications from men has reduced by 0.2% during
this reporting period, whilst the number of female applicants has
increased by 16% on the previous year. Men comprised 79% of all
applications compared to 82% in 2021/22. There was another
significant rise in the number of applications from minority
groups. BME applicants increased by 30% compared with a 28%
increase from the previous year, making over 12% of all applicants;
there was 1 more disabled applicant in this period, a rise of 1% of
total applicants from 2021/22. There was an increase of
26 more applicants from the LGBTQ+ community during the period
2022/23, making this an increase of 21% from the previous
year. These figures show that LFRS are continuing to make
progress in becoming an employer of choice for under-represented
groups.
Shortlisting
With regards to shortlisting, BME applicants again increased,
resulting in 9.4% of those shortlisted as opposed to just below 7%
in 2022/23, which represented 41% of all BME applicants – an
increase of almost 10% on the previous year.
Female applicants made up 22.1% of all those shortlisted, an almost
2% increase on last year, with 58% of female applicants successful
at shortlisting, an increase of 5% from 2021/22.
Applications from those who identified at LGBT+ comprised 7.3% of
those shortlisted – the same as last year and 53% of
applicants from that group were successful in being
shortlisted.
Those applicants declaring a disability made up 5% of shortlisted
applicants in 2022/23 which remained static from 2021/22.
However, there was an increase in the percentage of disabled
applicants being successful at shortlisting, with over 52% reaching
the interview stage, as opposed to under half in 2021/22 and in
2020/21.
Appointments
The Service made 244 appointments in 2022/23 compared with 316 in
2021/22. Of our new employees, 57% of these were men (a decrease of
24%) and 25% were women (an increase of 6% on last
year).
Those employed from BME groups comprised 8% (4.5% in 2021/22) of
the total number of new starters with 5% (5.3% in 21/22) coming
from LGB&T groups and 5% having declared themselves as having a
disability, which is a 0.3% increase since the period
2021/22.
Over 500 of our applicants for vacancies in 2022/23 were for
Wholetime Apprentice Firefighter posts, however the selection
process was halted in October 2022 to facilitate the
Service’s requirement to recruit resilience staff to cover
the prospective industrial action. This accounts in
some part for the reduction in appointments in relation to the
total number of applicants compared to the previous
year.
Grey Book Promotions per rank during the period 1.4.2021 –
31.3.2022
Senior
Manager:
Of
the successful candidates 100% were male. None were from a
BME group.
Middle
Manager:
Of
the successful candidates 18% were female. 9% declared a
disability. None
of the successful candidates were from a BME group.
Talent
Gateway for Supervisory Crew Manager:
Of
the successful candidates: 22% were female, which was a 20%
increase on last year, 11% declared a disability and 11% were from
the LGBTQ+ community. None of the
successful candidates were from a BME group.
Talent
Gateway for Supervisory Watch Managers:
Of
the successful candidates: 20% were female, which is a 20% increase
on last year. 7% were from a BME background, and 13% were
from the LGBTQ+ community. None of the successful candidates
declared a disability.
Middle
Manager Development
Middle
Manager Development Programme, of those identified for the
programme:
17%
were female and 83% were male. 17% declared a disability. None of
the candidates attending were from a BME group.
Training
Training
attending for operation members of staff is compulsory and is
assigned by rank and role regardless of protected
characteristic. Further to the implementation of the new
Learning Management System eLMS additional reporting in relation to
training attended will become available.
Appendix C
C.i Disciplinary
Cases for the period 1.4.2022 – 31.3.2023
There were 19 disciplinary investigations during the period 1 April
2022 to 31 March 2023 this is a decrease of 7 compared to the
previous year.
|
Male
|
Female
|
BME
|
Disability
|
LGBTQ+
|
Appeals
|
Appeal Upheld
|
|
19
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
In terms of the outcomes of these cases:
·
One
dismissal,
·
Two
final written warning,
·
One
first written warning,
·
Nine
that resulted in another outcome, i.e. five verbal warning, two
informal warnings via a letter of concern outlining concerns and
expected behaviours, two, ‘Note for
Case’.
·
One
no case to answer,
·
Five
cases are not yet concluded,
·
No
appeals.
The disciplinary investigations were relating to alleged breaches
to Service policy, eg vehicle damage or damage to property by
vehicles, failure to uphold the values of the Service, e.g.
inappropriate use of social media, failure to follow reasonable
instructions, failure to respond, and alleged criminal activity
outside the workplace.
HMICFRS have now made it a requirement that Chief Fire Officers
notify them of any allegations that have the potential to
constitute staff gross misconduct that:
·
involve
allegations of a criminal nature that have the potential to affect
public confidence in FRSs.
·
are
of a serious nature; or
·
relate
to Assistant Chief Fire Officers or those at equivalent or higher
grades.
No disproportionate
impact can be identified on any minority group.
C.ii Matters of Grievance for
the period 1.4.2022 – 31.3.2023
There were eight grievance cases
during the period 1 April 2021 to 31 March 2022
|
Male
|
Female
|
BME
|
Disability
|
LGBTQ+
|
Appeals
|
Appeal Upheld
|
|
6
|
<5
|
0
|
<5
|
<5
|
1
|
0
|
There were eight grievance cases during the period 1 April 2022 to
31 March 2023 which is a decrease of seven compared to the previous
year.
Seven
grievances were not upheld, and one was partially
upheld.
There
was one appeal and the original determination of one grievance (not
upheld) remained in place.
In
terms of the reason for the grievances, five were pay related, one
was promotion relation, one was related to disciplinary process,
and one was related to OHU.
No
disproportionate impact can be identified on any minority
group.
C.iii Harassment and Bullying Cases 1.4.2022 –
31.3.2023
There was one case identified as a potential harassment and
bullying case during the period 1 April 2022 to 31 March 2023,
which is the same number as the previous year.
Whilst the individual did not wish to pursue a formal complaint,
the case was informally investigated.
The
complainant was a woman, the sample size is so small that no
disproportionate impact can be identified on any minority
group.
Appendix
A AA