HM Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS)
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What’s new in this fire and rescue service inspection cycle
The first reports from His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services’ (HMICFRS) latest fire and rescue service (FRS) inspection programme will be published in March 2026. This cycle of inspections will run from 2025 until 2027.
Why has the FRS inspection programme been updated?
The FRS programme runs on a two-year cycle – the time it takes to inspect each of the 44 fire and rescue services. HMICFRS uses a variety of methods to gather evidence throughout the inspection cycle. This helps make sure that the inspection programme reflects changes in fire and rescue, lessons learned from previous inspections and adapts to examine evolving challenges facing the sector.
The updated programme retains successful changes introduced in the previous cycle of inspections and also introduces new areas of focus.
What’s new for this cycle?
- Leadership
There will be a greater emphasis on leadership throughout fire and rescue services. This will include leadership at every level, not just chief officers. - Governance
Inspectors will assess Fire and Rescue Authorities’ governance, oversight and scrutiny of their services. This includes examining how efficiently services manage projects, such as rebuilding or relocating fire stations. - Values, culture, and misconduct
There will be deeper scrutiny of values, culture and misconduct, building on the inspectorate’s thematic work to examine how misconduct is identified and handled. - Resilience
Inspectors will also assess how well services are supporting community resilience, helping to make sure they are working effectively with local communities to prevent fires.
What is an FRS inspection?
The FRS programme is the regular assessment of fire and rescue services in England, assessing their effectiveness, efficiency and how well they look after their people.
Services are assessed against ten core questions covering management of risk, prevention, regulation, responding to emergencies and multi-agency incidents, resources, workplace culture, development, fairness and diversity and new for this cycle: leadership.
These areas are then graded as outstanding, good, adequate, requires improvement or inadequate.
Read the full assessment framework, which sets out what is required to achieve a ‘good’ grade for each question.
Roy Wilsher, His Majesty’s Inspector of Fire & Rescue said:
“Our inspection programme must evolve to reflect the challenges facing fire and rescue services. The changes we have made for this cycle build on what we have learned from previous inspections and focus on the areas where we know improvement is most needed, including governance, leadership and community resilience.
“Our aim is to provide independent, evidence-based assessments that support services to improve and help keep the public safe.”
Notes
- HMICFRS independently assesses the effectiveness and efficiency of police forces and fire and rescue services in England and Wales.
Original article link: https://hmicfrs.justiceinspectorates.gov.uk/news/news-feed/new-fire-and-rescue-service-inspection-cycle-2025-27/
