ITEM CA17
CABINET – 15 JULY 2008
FUNDAMENTAL REVIEW REPORT: ANALYSIS OF THE RETAINED DUTY SYSTEM
Report by the Director for Community Safety & Shared Services and Chief Fire Officer
Introduction
1. Firefighters on the Retained Duty System (RDS) make up 60% of all firefighting crews in England and Wales yet the RDS accounts for less than 14% of total workforce costs in the Fire & Rescue Service. The cost of crewing an RDS appliance is in the region of one sixth of that of a wholetime appliance. This is based on national data, earlier reports indicated that in Oxfordshire the cost comparison could be a third but this figure is subject to variation as we become more successful at retaining our personnel. Despite the very obvious cost effectiveness of this means of providing fire cover, numerous reports have highlighted a lack of investment in the RDS as being partly responsible for recruitment and retention difficulties which now means that the RDS nationally is around 20% under establishment.
2. It has been identified that there is a need to review the RDS within Oxfordshire Fire & Rescue Service to look to the future and the changing needs and demands that are being placed on the RDS and the ability for the service as a whole to respond to these needs. Recruitment and retention issues have been fully explored in an earlier Community Safety Scrutiny Review, considered by the Cabinet on 24 June 2008.
3. An issue identified within the 10-Year Fire Cover Review was the sustainability of the RDS within Oxfordshire. It was clear from the existing analysis that the retained service is under significant pressure to maintain around the clock emergency cover provision. In common with other Fire Authorities who have a reliance on the retained service, the main pressures appear to be recruitment and retention of personnel, particularly those who can provide effective day time cover.
4. Oxfordshire County Council has already made a significant contribution to the service by funding additional Whole Time Officers whose role is to support, mentor and train the Retained Duty System personnel and this has already had a positive effect on the effectiveness of the stations.
5. This review recognises that the RDS has been and remains an important part of providing Fire & Rescue Services in rural and semi rural areas of Oxfordshire. However, it is also recognised that the Service is experiencing (and will continue to experience) a range of change drivers which impact on the RDS. These include:
• New legislative duties such as non-fire related rescues such as Road Traffic Collisions • Emphasis on proactive prevention work • The establishing of a Regional Control Centre • Changes in society and employment affecting recruitment and retention of RDS personnel.
6. The Fire & Rescue Service in Oxfordshire has, in a recent report published by the Audit Commission, been given the maximum four rating for emergency response and it was recognised that it is performing consistently above the minimum requirements. This demonstrates that the Retained Firefighters, their Officers and the Retained Recruitment Officer provide a significant contribution to the overall success of the Fire & Rescue Service in Oxfordshire and their commitment, dedication and professionalism should be commended.
Aims and Objectives
7. The aim of this review is to consider the business case for each individual retained unit covering various performance indicators for each of the 24 fire stations in Oxfordshire. A station by station approach has been taken to examine individual performance and, where feasible, information has been analysed down to appliance level.
8. The analysis included in the review provides various performance indicators by station including:
• the status of each station • the number of appliances • establishment and actual crewing figures • turnover of staff • number of training days completed • retained salary costs • approximate recruitment costs • number of mobilisations • average cost per mobilisation • premises costs (where identifiable) • premises and land values • non availability figures • response standards.
9. This analysis provides information that identifies the level of activity at each station and also the ability to be able to respond to incidents.
Analysis
10. A full and detailed analysis of each station was carried out and that information will provide a platform for future research into the available options for providing 24/7 emergency cover in the predominantly rural county of Oxfordshire. The financial analysis was hampered by the departure of the senior members of the directorate Finance Team and the transfer of responsibilities to Shared Services. The information from three of the fire stations is provided in Annex 1 (download as .doc file) as an example of the statistical work undertaken with operational activity levels indicated in Annex 4 (download as .doc file).
11. The aim is to provide the Cabinet with a higher level briefing of issues identified within the research. Only the top level statistical information will be included.
12. It was clear from research that had already been undertaken that there were no surprises for officers in the outcome of the analysis, although it did serve to confirm some assumptions and to challenge some long standing perceptions regarding turnover of retained personnel. It must be made clear that this is an issue that faces the majority of the UK Fire and Rescue Services, with a national acknowledgement of the complexity surrounding trying to achieve improvement in emergency cover within rural areas.
13. As identified in the Community Safety Scrutiny Committee’s Review of Retained Duty System Personnel Recruitment and Retention, the current system is sustainable in the short to medium term but does require support during the day time periods when the number of available personnel is reduced. This is demonstrated within Annex 2 (download as .doc file)which shows the number of hours in a year that vehicles are off the run compared to the number of hours in a year that they should be available.
14. An option considered within the 10-Year Fire Cover review presented to the Cabinet in 2007 examines the benefits utilising mobile wholetime units crewing existing fire appliances and equipment and covering periods of reduced retained availability. These units would be crewed with a minimum of five wholetime firefighters. They would be tasked with carrying out Community Fire Safety, risk information gathering inspections and Fire Safety Order Audits within the rural areas. This mobile resource would enhance current proactive Community Safety activities and create the ability for the Service to deliver its ‘365 Alive’ strategy to the more rural areas of Oxfordshire. These mobile units would be strategically placed around the County in areas where the retained could not cover during the day, where there was demonstrable incident activity and the societal features of the area were determined as higher risk. The units would provide a core of trained firefighters to support large incidents and provide rapid intervention at rural road traffic collision and compartment fires. It is an option that is both sustainable and practical and will be explored in more detail along with other aspects identified during the research.
15. The cost per mobilisation was determined and an unusual variation between broadly similar fire stations identified. This will require more detailed work to establish the precise reasoning but it is linked to the number of personnel recruited to provide part cover. There would seem to be over provision at night and an inability to recruit or retain personnel during normal office hours Monday to Friday in some areas leading to other contingency arrangements needing to be put into place (Annex 5) (download as .doc file). These include the use of spare wholetime staff or the use of wholetime staff on paid overtime. The expenditure levels can be seen in Annex 3 (download as .doc file) with the station by station detail available (three examples only) in Annex 1 (download as .doc file). The distribution of personnel and their availability will be reviewed to ensure that any over provision can be effectively managed and resources directed to providing day cover at key locations. This detailed work is a project contained within the Integrated Risk Management Plan for 2008/9.
Conclusion
16. The report provides the first detailed analysis of the twenty four fire stations serving the communities of Oxfordshire. It will provide a firm foundation for future research and enable options for the future to be developed from a business perspective rather than professional assumptions. It is clear from the detailed analysis that the authority cannot wait nor allow a general erosion of the Service provided to the communities of Oxfordshire. The project examining the Retained Duty System contained within the Integrated Risk Management Plan will provide options and there will be cost implications arising from the implementation of any of those options.
RECOMMENDATION
17. The Cabinet is RECOMMENDED to;
(a) commend the Retained Firefighters, their Officers and the Retained Recruitment Officer for their dedicated service to the Communities of Oxfordshire; and
(b) ask the Director of Community Safety & Shared Services and Chief Fire Officer to report to Cabinet the outcomes of the IRMP project examining the Retained Duty System and the options for improving emergency cover within Oxfordshire.
JOHN PARRY Director for Community Safety & Shared Services and Chief Fire Officer
Background papers: Cabinet Report January 2007 Oxfordshire Fire Cover Review
Contact Officer: Mike Smyth, Deputy Chief Fire Officer Tel: (01865 855206)
July 2008
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