Performance

Our performance

The Service assesses its performance against each of the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Fire Authority’s Safety Plan priorities through a range of performance metrics, with comparisons made against previous years and to national trends.

The Service uses performance reporting and data analysis to assess our effectiveness, efficiency, and financial position; and to inform decisions we make and where we target our resources.

Our performance measures help us find areas for improvement, as well as identify successes and good practice to be shared, where applicable, across public services and the fire sector.

We publish our performance reports every six months (a mid-year report in December, covering the period 1 April to 30 September; and an annual report in June, covering the period 1 April to 31 March).

Annual Performance Report 2023/24

Mid Year Performance Report 2023/24

Annual Performance Report 2022/23

• Overall incident numbers have remained fairly consistent in comparison to the previous year, with a large (26%) reduction in fires offset by an 8% increase in false alarms and a 6% increase in special service calls. Please read the report to find out more, including how our incident rates compare to similar Fire and Rescue Services.
• Our response times have also remained stable. The average critical response time between April 2023 to March 2024 was 7 minutes and 42 seconds. This remains stable (+1 second) compared to last year and has levelled compared to the much lower response times we saw during the pandemic when on-call availability was higher.
• Average on-call availability has seen a slight increase in 2023/23, up by 2% compared to 2022/23, with 61% availability. This 2% increase represents around 10,000 additional hours of on-call cover. On-call availability also continues to be higher at night-time (71%) and lower in the day-time (44%).
• For fire casualties, the number reduced considerably in the last financial year, by 24, which is very positive to see. Also, HIWFRS have a lower rate of fire casualties and fatalities when compared to similar services. More information, including on fire fatalities, is available in the report.
• In 2023/24, we undertook 12,183 Safe and Well visits, a reduction of 2% versus 2022/23. However, this is a significant increase (31%) compared to five years ago when we did 9,308 Safe and Well visits. We have also introduced new assurance and evaluation processes to assess the quality of visits and the behavioural changes these influence.
• In 2023/24, we delivered 1,150 audits, 21% more than in 2022/23, but 16% less than in 2021/22. The 2023/24 improvement has been driven by an increase in competent Fire Safety Inspectors from 5 to 9 and an increase in Level 3 certificate qualified inspectors. As the number of qualified staff increases, we expect the positive trend to continue.
• For sickness, on average we lost 13.4 working days per member of staff in 2023/24, which is a decrease of 0.9 average working days lost compared to 2022/23. The decrease has been driven by reduced long-term absence – with our proportion of long-term absence (44%) dropping by 4% compared to 2022/23. Across both short and long-term sickness, mental health is now the highest cause for sickness, followed by muscular/skeletal.
• For PDRs, we are pleased that 76% of our staff recorded completing a PDR in 2023/24, driven by a new PDR application; and this was refined throughout 2023/24, with additional training, communications, engagement and reporting being undertaken.
• We have seen improvements in the disclosure of protected characteristics and our workforce diversity, though this varies across each characteristic and we recognise we have further to go.
• Following significant work across the Service, every SSRI was in date at the end of 2023/24, but there is ongoing work to improve the consistency and quality of risk information – of various levels (not just SSRIs).

Alongside this, we have continued to deliver various activities as part of the fourth year of the Authority’s 2020-2025 Safety Plan, such as:

• The progress made in protection, positive outcomes from response incidents, and our continued increase in workforce diversity is testament to the dedication of our teams.
• Successful Wholetime Firefighter and Control recruitment campaigns.
• The opening of fantastic new live fire training facilities at our headquarters site.
• Further investment to improve our estate on the Isle of Wight.
• Progressing a range of new PPE solutions, equipment, vehicle design changes and building alterations to reduce the risk to our people of fireground contaminants.

Text summary of our performance

The infographic above displays the following summary from our Annual Perfromance Report 2023 – 2024:

Our Community

• 61% on call availability
• 07:42 (MM:SS) average critical response time for the service
• 12,183 Safe and Well home visits undertaken by the service

Our People

• 156 near miss Health & Safety incidents and 122 where an accident took place
• 13.4 average shifts lost to sickness

Public Value

• Income generation £5.7million
• Estimated cost per resident £40.15

High Performance

• 6% of our workforce are from ethnic groups other than White British
• 20% of our staff are not male
• 9% of our firefighters are not male

Learning and Improving

• 100% Site Specific Risk Information (SSRIs) in date as at the end of 2023/24
• 14 of the 16 Fire Standards have had an assurance assessment

His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services (HMICFRS) published its latest inspection findings on Hampshire and Isle of Wight Fire and Rescue Service in January 2023. The Service’s initial response was outlined in March 2023 to the Fire Authority’s Standards & Governance Committee who will receive updates on subsequent progress against the areas for improvement in the report.

For information on the findings from HMICFRS’s previous inspection of Hampshire and Isle of Wight Fire and Rescue Service’s response to Covid-19, please see the Inspectorate’s (January 2021) report.