Agenda item

To receive a presentation.

The Station Commander On Call North and South and the On Call Support Manager North, gave Members a presentation on the On-Call Firefighter Update.

The presentation is available to view here.

A Member asked about the website recruitment, it mentioned the pay that could be expected for the new contract and being out two or three times a week for a few hours at a time. When factoring in someone getting to a competent stage, the numbers look substantially better than what the website stated. Perhaps it might be better to look at the average time out, the average pay etc.

The Station Commander On Call North and South, advised Members that he would share a dashboard with them, which was being utilised in social media and was having a good impact. This was from another fire and rescue service but was something that he wanted to adopt and integrate into the Service’s social media posts. The dashboard gave an overview of the On Call station, the number of incidents, and the time the person would be out at an incident. It would be useful information to show their employer. It could also highlight the average earnings for that station.

A Member asked if the Service was recruiting On Call firefighters in Milton Keynes to cover absentees within wholetime firefighters in Milton Keynes.

The Deputy Chief Fire Officer advised that there were On Call firefighters in Milton Keynes, Olney for example, was a standalone On Call fire station. There were also two on call pumps at West Ashland and one at Broughton. If the Milton Keynes area does get busy, those On Call firefighters provide resilience, they do not cover absentees within wholetime firefighters.

The Chairman asked if some potential On Call staff were not at the appropriate level, for example in maths, were they helped to get up to the correct level.

The Station Commander On Call North and South advised Members that, in conjunction with Human Resources, they were now offering a support mechanism for each area of the process. Also, for those candidates that come very close to the pass mark, they were offered the chance to try again.

The Chairman also asked why there was a 12-18 month timeframe to put the strategy in place.

The Station Commander On Call North and South advised that it was to allow the Service time to work on improving the recruitment strategy and that was also the time frame before results would be seen. The new recruitment campaign would see recruits coming in August 2022 and the next new intake would have been January 2023, but it had been delayed by a couple of months to March 2023 to allow for work on the strategy.

The Chairman asked whether there were any issues with the new contracts, did they take away any benefits from the firefighters.

The Station Commander On Call North and South advised that they had run a number of engagement sessions, and consulted with the rep bodies, to advise that it would not impact the On Call firefighters financially. The new contract really provided an improved response. On call firefighters could provide 90 hours, split between 60 hours of immediate response and 30 hours of tiered response. Less immediate response hours than currently, which would give them a better work life balance. It was also an increase financially of £300 per annum.

The Chairman asked how they would be ‘defining the target audience’

The Station Commander On Call North and South advised that along with the Communication, Marketing and Engagement Manager, they were building personas which would help drive the recruitment campaigns, targeting people who would be able to provide that crucial daytime availability. Gender neutral and looking at diverse sections of the community, building semi-fictional assignments, and creating a number of personas. Creating posts that could be pushed out on social media.

The Chairman also asked that once the On Call firefighter had done their modular training over 12 months, were many lost to other fire and rescue services because they were now trained.

The Station Commander On Call North and South advised that with regards to retention, at the awareness events, they gave as much information as they possibly could without holding back, and that was done to alleviate people losing interest because of the true expectations of being an on call firefighter. From when a potential recruit attends an awareness event, to being deemed a competent firefighter, can take up to 12 months. The Service was looking to streamline this process.

The Chairman asked how Members could assist with recruitment. Members visit different parts of the community, perhaps that was something that could be considered and asked whether something could be sent out to residents’ associations, as there may be local people looking for employment.

The Deputy Chief Fire Officer advised that literature was being developed that would be available to send out to potential interested parties.

The Vice Chairman also suggested using parish magazines to put out information, at little or no cost. He felt that whilst social media was very popular, people trusted parish magazines.

The Vice Chairman asked how many On Call firefighters, joined as wholetime firefighters as a way into the service.

The Station Commander On Call North and South advised that it was sometimes a direct route. The Service took on call firefighters into the flexi firefighter roles. The NFCC were also working on a process where an on call firefighter could go directly into a wholetime firefighter role.

The Vice Chairman asked if the remuneration rates were set nationally and was advised that the actual retainer (base pay) was set nationally, but it actually depended on the number of call outs. There were other opportunities to earn, as on call firefighters get paid for their training hours. Once an On Call firefighter was competent and fully skilled, if its not a detriment to their ‘home’ appliance, they could undertake bank shifts as well.

The Vice Chairman asked if the intake months of January and August were set, or if they could be moved to March and October for example.

The Station Commander On Call North and South advised that the intake months were set by the Service as twice a year. This was to get ten new recruits in, as ten was the key number for training courses.

The Chairman felt it would be worth officers talking to the Local Enterprise Partnerships and Bucks Business First regarding recruitment for on call firefighters.

Members discussed the Armed Forces Covenant and whether there could be a Firefighters Covenant. The Chief Fire Officer would raise this with the National Fire Chiefs Council.