Firefighter Recruitment and Promotion - Find a freedom of information request

The term 'firefighter' in all the questions below refer to those in the role of firefighter and all operational uniform staff roles (e.g., Crew Manager, Watch Manager). The term also refers to both wholetime and on call staff. The questions also extend to Service Control when applicable.

1.How many firefighters are you aiming to recruit in your F&RS in the next 3 years (2022, 2023, 2024)

2.Please provide any details of positive action initiatives your F&RS may currently have in place.

3.Has your F&RS made any commitment to recruiting certain numbers from ethnic minority communities in the next 3 years (2022, 2023, 2024)?

Recruitment and Promotion

4.What firefighter recruitment processes have the F&RS scheduled for 2022? Please provide dates if applicable.

5.What staff recruitment processes have the F&RS scheduled for 2022? Please provide dates if applicable.

6.What firefighter promotion processes are scheduled for 2022 (of all ranks)? Please provide dates if applicable.

7.How many new firefighter recruits is your F&RS aiming to recruit in 2022?

8.How many individuals are the F&RS expecting to apply to each promotion scheme in 2022?

1. Recruitment numbers will depend on vacancies arising from resignations and retirements. We tend to aim to recruit 48 – 60 on-call recruits per annum and plan for 20 wholetime recruits for 2022; and a further 20 split between 2023 and 2024. Control staff are recruited on an individual basis when vacancies arise

2. We have created a positive action plan for the next year which aims to break down barriers and push the message out that anybody can be a firefighter. We have got various things planned such as positive action have a go days, where we will invite under-represented groups. We are also putting online webinars on for the public to find out more about being a wholetime firefighter. We have amended our materials to be more inclusive and plan to distribute leaflets and posters throughout Lincolnshire, targeting under-represented groups. We will also be using targeted social media to break down barriers to attract a diverse range of candidates, along with radio stations and newspapers.

3. Our overall objective is for our workforce to represent the community we serve ie Lincolnshire which has an estimated ethnic minority community of approx. 2%. We will review this objective when the 2021 census is published to update our data.

4. Wholetime firefighter recruit process in summer 2022 for next intake in January 2023. Continuous RDS recruitment all year round.

5. This information is not held, as these vary depending on leavers.

6. Promotion boards are held on a regular basis throughout the year. Where we are unable to fill sufficient vacancies at Crew Manager and above from internal promotion processes these are advertised nationwide for transfer applications from other Fire and Rescue Authorities

7. See response to Q1.

8.