A unit set up to deal with misconduct complaints about London Fire Brigade staff has not been able to handle the volume it receives.

The London Fire Brigade has made significant efforts to strengthen its culture following a damning review in 2022, but more ambition is needed to ensure trust is built up in the service.

In a report called Action and Ambition: London Fire Brigade’s culture which has been published today, the London Assembly Fire Committee commended LFB for making progress on the issues identified in 2022 and praised the outgoing London Fire Commissioner, Andy Roe, for making culture change a “key pillar” of his leadership.

But the Committee also found that LFB’s Professional Standards Unit, set up to handle complaints of misconduct, and the first of its kind in the Fire and Rescue sector, has not been able to handle the volume of complaints it receives in a timely fashion and lacks sufficient independence.

LFB has told the Committee that the cost of suspensions in the first year of the PSU is close to £900,000, not including costs of any investigations being undertaken by the PSU.

The report called Action and Ambition: London Fire Brigade’s Culture has detailed key recommendations.

Key recommendations in the report include:

1) London Fire Brigade should assure the independence of the complaints and investigations element of the Professional Standards Unit (PSU) by creating a new independent Standards Commissioner responsible for oversight of the PSU.

2) As part of LFB’s commitment to transparency and openness it should continue to survey its workforce at least annually, and publish the findings of the surveys.

3) LFB should publish a new strategy for attracting and retaining more diverse candidates into the service.
By the end of this Parliamentary term, the Government should establish a College of Fire and Rescue. The College of Fire and Rescue should be tasked with developing and managing a national barred list for staff who have been dismissed for gross misconduct.

Chair of the London Assembly Fire Committee, Hina Bokhari OBE AM, said:

“The Committee recognises the substantial amount of work that has been done to address misconduct since the Independent Culture Review. The Commissioner recognises the need to prioritise culture change and that there are no quick fixes to ensure a healthy workplace.

“The volume of work being handled by the PSU is evidence both that the cultural issues are being tackled – but also that they have not gone away.

“We have heard from a number of firefighters, a small sample of whom spoke to committee members about serious instances and patterns of alleged misconduct and about their lack of faith in procedures to address these issues. We have also heard how delays in resolving complaints have had a real impact on the wellbeing of staff on both sides of these complaints.

“There is a risk that the PSU may be perceived as “HR rebranded”. The Committee encourages the LFB to explore different structures and processes that would allow for greater independence, building greater trust among staff and helping deliver fair outcomes for all parties.

“And we urge the LFB to set more ambitious targets on building a more diverse workforce that represents London – to ensure that the positive pace of work seen over the past two years does not start to falter.”