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Fire Standards Board

Leading The Service

Desired outcome

A fire and rescue service where everyone works together to keep people safe, protecting life and property and delivering excellence to its community. Its community has confidence and trust in the service to prepare for and respond to emergencies. Its senior leaders set a compelling vision for their service and translate that vision into a comprehensive, proportionate and financially sustainable delivery plan, understood by all. They lead by example and create a diverse workforce with a culture which supports the health and wellbeing of their people. They empower, enable and inspire them to:

  • put public safety at the core of their work;
  • understand and commit to delivering the vision;
  • contribute to an inclusive and positive culture because they behave ethically and are motivated and engaged;
  • operate with agility and foresight so that they can act on learning, new challenges, emerging risks and changing community needs;
  • continually improve the service it provides both locally and nationally because of the listening and learning culture;
  • communicate openly and engage effectively to build trust and to form and maintain positive relationships; and
  • uphold the reputation of the service.

Leaders at all levels of the service are skilled, capable and understand their responsibilities and accountabilities. They are supportive and role model positive and ethical behaviours. They make sure everyone who works for and on behalf of the service understands their role and what is expected of them. Leaders prioritise safeguarding to reduce the risk of abuse, harm and neglect in their community and service.

Effective leadership of the service is integral to local, regional and national resilience. Leaders create an environment where their people collaborate with partners and agencies, enabling the service to prepare and respond in line with its civil contingencies duties, both cross-border and nationally.

Leaders ensure the service is resilient and financially viable, is environmentally aware, and delivers excellence and value for money. The service has a sustainable, capable, competent and diverse workforce with the capacity to respond effectively to the risks faced by its community. Leaders and their people have the resources, information and technology they need to fulfil their roles. They invest in and manage their assets, facilities and infrastructure in an ethical, collaborative, commercially aware and sustainable manner. They use accurate and appropriate data to inform thinking and decision making.

The service is considered an employer of choice, where leaders encourage and embrace diversity. It actively demonstrates its approach to inclusivity because leaders ensure the service provides equal access and opportunities for all. Leaders and their people listen to, act on, and learn from feedback, positive or negative, whether it comes from their community stakeholders or from within the service.

Leaders ensure that their service undertakes assurance so that it is compliant with legislative and statutory requirements and achieves industry, professional and Fire Standards. The service proactively monitors its performance, and it is well governed because of the trusted interface between its leaders and its governing body.

Activity

Strategic and Cultural

Business Area(s)

Leadership

First approved
Last issued
next review
Reference number
FSC-LED02a
Previous Reviews
31 Dec 2025

What is required to meet the fire standard

A well-led fire and rescue service must:

  1. make clear the vision and strategic objectives for the service, which are available to and understood by all
  2. apply the principles of organisational learning to evaluate and continually improve what they do and how they do it for the benefit of the public and the service by:
    1. looking forward, enabling it to identify emerging opportunities, challenges, risks and developments
    2. exploring opportunities to evolve and improve ways of working through innovative thinking and action
    3. coordinating their organisational development through integrating their functional improvement and change action plans to inform strategic planning
    4. maximising opportunities to learn and innovate either from within or through collaboration with others
  3. carry out strategic planning activities so that it:
    1. understands its local risk profile and considers and puts in place appropriate mitigations to be able to respond to:
      1. the risks faced by, and incidents in, its local community
      2. local, regional and national scale emergencies, working as a single service or collaboratively with partners or as part of a multi-agency response
    2. undertakes robust workforce planning to:
      1. understand its capabilities so that it can deploy its resources effectively
      2. identify and manage potential and talent
      3. attract and maintain a competent and diverse workforce
    3. aligns its finances to its strategic plans, risk profile and vision , whilst ensuring it remains financially viable, sustainable and delivers value for money for its community
    4. understands and plans for the ongoing maintenance of its assets, including estates, fleet and technology
    5. identifies, understands and manages its corporate risks
    6. can understand its environmental impacts and put actions in place to reduce or mitigate them, or both
    7. has appropriate business continuity plans in place so that it is resilient and able to function during times of disruption
    8. maintains adequate technology to support the service
    9. identifies and collects the right data to support effective and informed decision making, in a timely manner
    10. supports good governance, assigning clear responsibilities, roles and accountabilities and provides assurance about its organisational performance
  4. have a strategic approach to communication, engagement and consultation which includes clear principles about how the organisation will communicate with its audiences, linked to the values of the service and the Code of Ethics Fire Standard
  5. put robust and transparent controls and processes in place so that it can effectively monitor, manage, and report on:
    1. finances
    2. commercial and procurement activities
    3. corporate risks
    4. assets, with due consideration of whole life cycle and disposal
    5. organisational performance
    6. compliance with legislation and statutory responsibilities
    7. communication, engagement and consultation
    8. talent management, organisational development, and change
    9. disciplinaries, grievances, complaints, staff disclosures and whistle blowing
  6. have provision for accessing legal and other specialist advice to inform the day-to-day operation of the service
  7.  have leaders at all levels that:
    1. are accountable for the success of their service in
      1. delivering its vision and strategic objectives
      2. complying with legislation, statutory requirements and industry standards
      3. aligning their service to the Fire Standards and any other relevant professional standards
      4. upholding and enhancing the high reputation of the service in all they do
    2. are politically aware, open to scrutiny and understand both the national and local challenges facing their service and others
    3. are open-minded, open to learning and actively monitor the environment they operate in to enable them to work with agility and foresight
    4. embody, role model and actively promote:
      1. an environment that creates and maintains trust throughout the service
      2. the leadership behaviours set out in the NFCC Leadership Framework
      3. the ethical behaviours set out in the Core Code of Ethics
    5. relate to others effectively and constructively because of their emotional intelligence
    6. demonstrate and encourage in others excellent communication skills, welcoming feedback from all
    7. use their effective influencing skills to develop and maintain positive and constructive relationships with:
      1. staff representative bodies to develop and foster a positive industrial relations climate that builds trust and facilitates change
      2. partners and stakeholders to deliver excellence to the community
    8. are technologically and data literate, who understand the importance of data and how to interpret it to support their planning and decision making
    9. are able to budget responsibly to contribute to an efficiently run service
  8. provide comprehensive, accurate and data driven reporting

A fire and rescue service should:

  1. recognise when it may need support and draw on the appropriate networks, national guidance and tools to support its own organisational development
  2. maximise opportunities gained from supporting the National Fire Chiefs Council (NFCC) network by sharing learning and experiences, collaborating with others and contributing to the continual improvement of the service
  3. engage regionally and nationally with peers, partners and stakeholders, collaborating where appropriate

Expected benefits of achieving the fire standard

  1. Improved safety and wellbeing of the public, employees and volunteers.
  2. Continuously improves the quality of service provided to the public.
  3. Improved governance and leadership of the service and reduction of organisational risk.
  4. Leaders that are open to innovation and different ways of working.
  5. A positive working culture that is inclusive , and has the trust and confidence of its people and community.
  6. More successful recruitment campaigns because it is an employer of choice.
  7. A sustainable and diverse workforce that is engaged, motivated, well trained and competent.
  8. Improved efficiencies, effectiveness, productivity and organisational adaptability.
  9. Successful collaborations with partners, stakeholders and representative bodies.

Legal requirements or mandatory duties

This Fire Standard reflects only the most appropriate legislation to this topic. We recognise that fire and rescue services must comply with a broader list of legislation to undertake their duties, which would be applicable to all standards. View the legislation which applies to all Fire Standards.

For legislation specific to this Fire Standard, please see below:

Linked qualifications, accreditations or fire standards

Leadership programmes:

The Fire Standards Board are aware there are multiple pathways and qualifications appropriate for these standards. Those should be referred to in line with Core Learning Pathways.

All Fire Standards work together as a suite and are underpinned by successfully embedding the Leading the Service Fire Standard.

Guidance and supporting information

This list is non-exhaustive, and additional sources of guidance may be available beyond those outlined below.

Leading the Service Fire Standard and HMICFRS Characteristics of Good

The following shows how the Leading the Service Fire Standard relates to HMICFRS Characteristics of Good from the 2025-27 inspection round.

5. How well prepared is the FRS to respond to major and multi-agency incidents?
5.1. The FRS understands national and cross-border risks, and has sufficiently assessed reasonably foreseeable local community risks that are likely to require a major or multi-agency response.
5.6. The FRS is aware of joint organisational and national operational learning. The FRS takes sufficient action to improve the services it provides in line with good practice.

6. How well does the FRS use resources to manage risk, making sure it is efficient and affordable?
6.1. The FRS has appropriate governance and scrutiny arrangements in place to make sure its performance is meeting objectives and targets, improvement plans are providing the intended outcomes, audit requirements are in place and financial plans are affordable. Scrutiny activity is well planned and focused on areas of strategic importance.
6.2. Senior officers are constructively held to account for the corporate management and activity of the FRS through effective governance arrangements. A scheme of delegation clearly sets out responsibilities.
6.3. The FRS’s budget and resource allocation is proportionate and supports the activity set out in its CRMP and its strategic priorities. The FRS has allocated enough resources to prevention, protection and response activity. There is a clear rationale for the levels of this activity linked to its CRMP. The FRS’s workforce model allows it to carry out its core functions effectively and efficiently.
6.4. The FRS understands its likely financial challenges. The FRS’s plans are built on sound assumptions, including scenario plans, and mitigate the main financial risks. The FRS has a plan for using reserves sustainably. The FRS has an affordable workforce model that provides the right skills and capabilities, and is linked to its CRMP and priorities. The FRS’s financial plans help it to make sure it can provide a sustained service to the public, can continuously improve and will result in a balanced budget. The FRS has financial controls and financial risk control systems in place to reduce the risk of inappropriate use of public money.
6.5. The FRS’s arrangements for managing its performance make sure the use of its resources is clearly linked to its CRMP and strategic priorities. The FRS has tools and systems in place to collect, interpret and analyse data to improve staff productivity, make sure resources are used efficiently and effectively, and provide value for money.
6.6. The FRS identifies savings and investment opportunities that improve service to the public and/or generate further savings. The FRS can demonstrate that it has consistently achieved savings, including from non-pay costs. It routinely reviews nonpay costs and regularly challenges itself to make sure that it is achieving value for money. The FRS comprehensively monitors, reviews and evaluates the benefits and outcomes of any contract arrangements, collaboration and improvement projects, and can demonstrate the intended outcomes are achieved.
6.7. The FRS’s strategies for its capital programme, estate and fleet are clearly linked to its CRMP. The FRS actively considers how changes in fleet and estate provision and status, and future innovation, may affect risk. The FRS exploits opportunities presented by changes in fleet and estate to improve efficiency and effectiveness. The FRS can demonstrate that it consistently carries out estate and fleet projects on time and on budget, managing risks appropriately.
6.9. The FRS has the capacity and capability it needs to improve performance, and has the skills needed to achieve sustainable change. The FRS manages change and transformation through effective projects and programmes. The FRS has a clear internal structure with appropriate governance arrangements to make sure progress against projects and programmes is monitored, scrutinised and challenged.

7. How effective is the FRS at promoting, embedding and improving its values and culture, and ensuring the health and well-being of its workforce?
7.1. The FRS’s governance arrangements provide oversight and assurance that its people strategies are effective at establishing a positive culture and standards of conduct that support the health and well-being of its workforce.
7.2. The FRS regularly assesses its culture by using and sharing learning to continuously improve. The FRS makes sure that its values and the Code of Ethics are established across the service, and acceptable standards of behaviour are understood and demonstrated by all. The FRS carries out effective background checks to help prevent unsuitable people from joining or remaining in the service.
7.3. Leaders at all levels are visible, approachable and open to alternative views. Leaders request, act on and learn from feedback from staff and all representative bodies and staff associations. Feedback processes are trusted, and staff have confidence that their views will be listened to and acted on.
7.4. Staff at all levels have the confidence to challenge unacceptable behaviour and raise concerns, and trust the systems that are in place for doing so. The FRS acts appropriately to address unacceptable behaviour, resolve grievances and discipline issues in a consistent and timely manner, adhere to national standards, and support the well-being of all involved.
7.5. The FRS has effective, trusted and well-understood policies and procedures to support and maintain the health, safety and well-being of its staff. Leaders at all levels prioritise and promote the physical and mental health of all staff, with a strong focus on prevention and early intervention.

8. How well trained and skilled are FRS staff?
8.2. The FRS equips, develops and supports its staff with the operational and nonoperational skills needed to carry out their roles effectively. The FRS has effective systems to develop, monitor and assure staff competence and capability.
8.3. The FRS has a culture of continuous improvement. It actively manages the career pathways of all staff, both operational and non-operational. It identifies and overcomes any barriers or disproportionality in the provision and accessibility of training and development.

9. How well does the FRS ensure fairness and diversity?
9.1. The FRS is taking effective action to attract and recruit talented people at all levels with various backgrounds, experiences and perspectives to better reflect the communities it serves, using fair, open, innovative and transparent recruitment processes. It has identified potential barriers to under-represented groups joining the service and is taking action to overcome these.
9.2. The FRS is making good efforts to progress and retain a diverse workforce so that it better reflects its communities at all levels of the organisation. The FRS understands and overcomes potential barriers preventing particular groups from progressing. It creates opportunities for people from these groups to develop and progress.
9.3. The FRS promotes equality, diversity and inclusion across all its staff groups, making sure all staff understand its importance. The FRS has prioritised equality through strategies, plans, training, facilities and practice, and works with all staff groups to resolve any issues.

10. How well does the FRS lead its people?
10.1. The FRS’s senior leadership team effectively engages with staff at all levels and communicates its intention and strategic objectives for the service. Leaders at all levels make sure that staff understand and can demonstrate how they contribute to the delivery of the strategic objectives.
10.2. Leaders at all levels act as role models, promoting a positive culture through their behaviour. They actively encourage inclusive and ethical work environments. Leaders routinely challenge and act on inappropriate behaviour, and create safe environments where others feel confident to do so.
10.3. The FRS has open, fair and transparent processes to identify, develop and promote high-potential staff and aspiring leaders across all staff groups. FRS staff understand and trust these processes. The service has identified potential barriers preventing particular groups from accessing the talent schemes and is taking action to overcome these.
10.4. The FRS makes sure that leaders at all levels are equipped, developed and supported to meet leadership standards, and effectively supports both teams and individuals. All leaders are equipped and have the confidence to manage staff performance and well-being and to resolve poor performance and behaviour, and actively do so.

Fire Standards and HMICFRS Characteristics of Good

Glossary of terms

senior leaders

Those with strategic responsibilities. In some services this may be the Chief Fire Officer, Deputy Chief Fire Officer, Assistant Chief Fire Officer, Area Managers and equivalent. In other services, this may also include Group Managers and other leaders. For clarification, a senior leader is whomever the Chief Fire Officer determines.

vision

A statement, document or strategy that outlines a services objectives to deliver excellence to the public and how it will reach those objectives. This may be called something different in each service.

inclusivity

Providing a space where everyone has equal access to opportunities, resources and information and where everyone feels valued and accepted. Everyone should be able to contribute and have a voice. This may mean making reasonable adjustments to facilitate participation.

inclusive

Providing a space where everyone has equal access to opportunities, resources and information and where everyone feels valued and accepted. Everyone should be able to contribute and have a voice. This may mean making reasonable adjustments to facilitate participation.

diverse

Recognising the benefits of different values, abilities, and perspectives, and celebrating people’s differences. Promoting an environment that welcomes and values diverse backgrounds, thinking, skills and experience.

diversity

Recognising the benefits of different values, abilities, and perspectives, and celebrating people’s differences. Promoting an environment that welcomes and values diverse backgrounds, thinking, skills and experience.

equality

Making sure that everyone is treated fairly and with dignity and respect. It means challenging discrimination and removing barriers, so that everyone has opportunities to achieve their desired outcomes.

equality of access

This is the provision of equal access to services and employment for all.

entry routes

These are the various routes and schemes used to recruit employees. Some examples may be Direct Entry Schemes and Apprenticeships.

Download Implementation Tool View Consultation

You Said, We did

If you have taken part in a consultation, you may be interested to read our post-consultation “You said, we did” report to see how your feedback has shaped this Fire Standard.

Leading the Service Review 2025

Updates to this standard

Last Update:

29 October 2026

Desired Outcome

Its senior leaders set a compelling vision for their service and translate that vision into a comprehensive, proportionate and financially sustainable delivery plan, understood by all.

The service has a sustainable, capable, competent and diverse workforce with the capacity to respond effectively to the risks faced by its community.

They invest in and manage their assets, facilities and infrastructure in an ethical, collaborative, commercially aware and sustainable manner.

What is required to meet the Fire Standard

A well-led fire and rescue service must:
2. apply the principles of organisational learning to evaluate and continually improve what they do and how they do it for the benefit of the public and the service by:
3C. aligns its finances to its strategic plans, risk profile and vision, whilst ensuring it remains financially viable, sustainable and delivers value for money for its community;
3D. understands and plans for the ongoing maintenance of its assets, including estates, fleet and ICT;
5. put robust and transparent controls and processes in place so that it can effectively monitor, and manage and report on:
5D. resources and capability;
5D. assets, with due consideration of whole life cycle and disposal;
5I.disciplinaries, grievances, complaints, staff disclosures and whistle blowing;
7I. are able to budget responsibly to contribute to an efficiently run service
8. have a defined approach to organisational learning so that the service continually evaluates its own performance to improve its internal ways of working and the service it provides to the public.
10. consider its approach to organisational learning by:
A. continuously evaluating its performance to ensure it remains efficient, effective and compliant with legislation and standards;
B. identifying, capturing, evaluating and sharing learning which could benefit itself and others, engaging with national learning arrangements, where they exist;
C. have in place or access to mechanisms which enable feedback from the community to be captured and responded to;
D. have in place or access to mechanisms which enable feedback from employees to be captured and responded to; and
E. using identified learning to tailor and improve what it delivers to the community.

Linked qualifications, accreditations or fire standards

All Fire Standards work together as a suite and are underpinned by successfully embedding the Leading the Service Fire Standard. 

Fire Standards:

Leadership programmes:

Guidance and supporting information

Download Version 1 - Issued 01 December 2023

1 December 2023

Desired Outcome

Leaders and their people take opportunities to listen and learn from their community and each other.

Leaders and their people listen to, act on and learn from feedback, positive or negative, whether it comes from their community, stakeholders or from within the service.

To achieve this Fire Standard

5.  put robust and transparent controls and processes in place so that it can effectively monitor and manage:

b. commercial activities and procurement

i. disciplinaries, grievances, complaints, staff disclosures and whistle blowing.

New Guidance and supporting information

  • Managing Allegations Guidance
  • Positive Disclosure Risk Assessment Guidance
  • Joint DBS Eligibility Checks for Fire and Rescue Authority Roles

Note Please contact the Fire Standards team within the NFCC for any queries or support with regards to this Fire Standard [email protected]

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