Introduction

Please note that the engagement exercise for Fit for the Future has now closed. The responses have been gathered and we are in the process of analysing the feedback. You are, or course, still welcome to read and review the content published here. We are grateful for your time and feedback.

Fit for the Future is the product of many months of close partnership working between the National Employers (England), the NFCC and the LGA. It is the first time that we have come together in this way to consider what we all want the fire and rescue service to look like in the future and to acknowledge the challenges we face in getting there. 

We do this by looking at what we have learnt from past experience and recognising that having come a long way, there are still areas where we must do more to improve.

It is this improvement that we set out here in Fit for the Future. 

We are proposing eleven areas of improvement that span the breadth of fire and rescue business, from risk planning through prevention, protection, recruitment, retention and an inclusive culture right through to how we work with others to improve safety in our communities. Taken together, these improvement objectives describe the fire and rescue service we want to see in the future.

As you read through Fit for the Future, we ask you to consider whether you agree with our analysis and whether it resonates with your own thoughts and experience. You will see that we reference the events that have had greatest impact on our work and how we are learning from major incidents with of course the tragic fire at Grenfell Tower a major factor in our minds. 

We hope you will read Fit for the Future with interest. We are looking to you to help us understand what barriers will prevent us from achieving the improvement objectives. With this knowledge, we can craft a new version of Fit for the Future that we can all subscribe to and work together to achieve. 

October 2020