Fire and Rescue Statement of Assurance 2024 to 2025

Contents

Introduction

This Fire and Rescue Statement of Assurance provides our communities with clear and transparent information about Surrey Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) financial, governance and operational matters. It is a requirement of the Fire and Rescue Service National Framework for England (2018) and sets out arrangements in place to deliver activities safely and effectively. We will refer to other useful documents you may wish to read and have provided links to these.

The fire and rescue service plays a crucial role in making communities safer, whether it be preventing and protecting people from fire and other risks or responding swiftly to the emergencies that occur. Throughout 2024/2025, we have remained committed to continuous improvement across the Service, enhancing how we operate and deliver for our communities. Alongside these improvements, we have placed a strong emphasis on preparing for the future by developing our next Community Risk Management Plan (CRMP) for 2025–2030, ensuring the plan reflects emerging risks and community needs.

We continue to strengthen our efforts to keep people safe from risk, with a particular focus on protecting the most vulnerable in our communities. At the same time, the fire and rescue sector is undergoing significant change, and we must remain agile in responding to the Government’s reform agenda. This includes meeting the requirements of the statutory inspection regime led by His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS), which assesses and reports on our effectiveness, efficiency, and people.

We will ensure that we are providing an efficient, effective, accountable and transparent service, reflective of the differing needs of the communities we serve. We will be flexible and adaptable, with a diverse workforce that is proud to serve and protect our communities.

The main aim of this document is to be open and transparent about how we are keeping you safe and provide assurance of our commitment to provide a fire and rescue service that meets the demands of Surrey.

Surrey - the context we work in

As a place, Surrey has a range of unique features and qualities that can create different challenges and opportunities. The statistics below set these in context*.

Population

  • The 2021 Census records a population of 1,203,100 for Surrey, made up of approximately 481,000 households. The population is expected to grow to 1.21 million by 2030.
  • Ageing population – by 2030 the proportion of working age residents (16-64) and of younger people is expected to decrease. There are expected to be more residents aged over 65, and a 29% increase in the number of over 85s.

Education and skills

  • Nearly 286,000 children and young people were living in Surrey in 2021 according to the 2021 Census. More than half of pupils achieve a strong pass in English and Maths compared with 43.4% nationally.
  • In 2021 over 50% of the working-age population hold a degree-level qualification.

Health and wellbeing

  • An ageing population is likely to lead to increasing demands on services for vulnerable adults and those with long-term and age-related medical conditions.
  • Surrey is affluent with pockets of social deprivation.

Crime

  • Surrey is one of the safest places in England and Wales, with the 4th lowest recorded crime rate of the 43 police forces in year ending June 2024, and lower than the average rates of victim-based crime.
  • Possession of weapons offences has increased by 22% on the previous year.

Environment and infrastructure

  • Surrey's road network is a high priority topic for residents.
  • Surrey has one of the busiest road networks in the country, which carry double the national average and make it the slowest county to drive around.

Economy

  • The county has a strong economy worth £52.8 billion in 2024. Surrey remains one of the UK’s leading regional economies. While growth has slowed compared to pre-pandemic levels, employment in Surrey increased by 3.5% between July 2022 and July 2024, outperforming the wider South East average.
  • There is a low unemployment rate of 2.8% in Surrey districts/boroughs in 2024, compared with 4% in England as a whole.

*Information taken from the Organisation Strategy 2023 to 2028.

Our vision

Our Fire and Rescue Authority, Surrey County Council (SCC), has set out a Community Vision for Surrey placing greater emphasis on prevention, services for vulnerable people, and the need for greater collaboration with partners.

By 2030 we all want Surrey to be a:

"Uniquely special place where everyone has a great start to life, people live healthy and fulfilling lives, are enabled to achieve their full potential and contribute to their community, and no one is left behind."

Our Fire and Rescue Service Making Surrey Safer Plan sets our aim to continue to refocus our resources to increase our work with communities and businesses to prevent emergencies from happening, whilst also responding more efficiently when they do.

SCC will cease to exist from 1st April 2027 meaning a new governance model needs to be established. The Government has confirmed that they will work to ensure that SFRS remains on a Surrey footprint. We are actively developing options for a future governance structure as part of the wider Devolution and Local Government Reorganisation (D&LGR) programme, to ensure the provision of a safe and legally compliant fire and rescue service following Vesting Day. This includes planning for the transfer of assets and liabilities, establishing sustainable funding arrangements, and ensuring financial and operational continuity.

The Statement of Assurance references the Making Surrey Safer Plan 2020 – 2024 which was our Community Risk Management Plan (CRMP) during 2024/2025. We have developed a new CRMP 2025 – 2030, launched in April 2025, which sets out who we are as a service, how we work, the risks facing our communities and what we’re going to be focusing on throughout the next five years.

Surrey Fire and Rescue Service's Making Surrey Safer Plan

Each fire and rescue authority must provide assurance that they are meeting their statutory responsibilities and are delivering the strategies set out in their Community Risk Management Plan (CRMP).

Our Making Surrey Safer Plan was created to meet the risks of the community, which is in line with the National Fire Chiefs Council, and to transform the Service to meet Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services (HMICFRS) recommendations.

The plan was created from a detailed risk analysis, using a range of information for fire and rescue cover in Surrey, including:

  • Data about 999 calls over the past five years.
  • Predictive data which shows us where those at highest risk are in Surrey.
  • Local and national statistics about fires and other emergencies.

The plan is our long-term, risk-based business strategy which outlines our future aims and priorities. It is our response to the risks in Surrey that we have identified and analysed in our Community Risk Profile. It sets out our understanding and analysis of risks in relation to the fire and rescue service's activity, enabling us to establish our expected operational response standard and plan our response to a predicted level and type of incident. Importantly, it shows where we need to undertake prevention (Community Safety) and protection (Business Safety) activities to prevent incidents from happening in the first place.

We are continuing to transform the Service to meet the needs and manage the risks that we will face throughout the county, now and in the future. We are three years into that journey, and we ensure that we position firefighters and resources where they can have the greatest impact in an emergency and use our expertise in prevention to stop incidents in the first place. As we move forward on our transformation journey, our organisational design is focused on the following three priorities which are underpinned by intelligence and assurance:

  • Investment in our People and our Culture Programme.
  • Improving the effectiveness of our Prevention and Protection services and measuring community outcomes.
  • Enhancing efficiency through the provision of fit for purpose assets.

Under the Equality Act 2010, all public sector organisations must consider the impact of each of their policy decisions on different 'protected characteristic' groups. To help us do this, we undertake People Impact Assessments (PIAs). The purpose of a PIA is to ensure that the policies and services we deliver do not discriminate against anyone, and that where possible, we promote equality of opportunity. We assessed the impact of the policies set out in our Making Surrey Safer Plan using this process. We reviewed and revised our PIAs following the impacts of COVID-19. We will continue to review and revise our PIAs to reflect the impacts to our communities, including the cost of living in Surrey and how this affects our residents.

Community Resilience

We have recognised that the demographics of Surrey are changing, as well as how people work and live their lives. The increase in population in Surrey over the last five years is a trend we expect to see continue.

SFRS plays a crucial role in protecting people who live, work, travel through, visit and do business in the county. In an ever-changing world of new technology and evolving environmental factors, it is important that we assess and reshape how we deliver our services to suit our communities needs. This allows us to respond appropriately to current and emerging risks in Surrey.

Our approach to Community Resilience focuses on our four core safety areas:

  • People
  • Places
  • Premises
  • Products.

The Service offers residents at greatest risk of harm from fire a Safe and Well Visit, which covers a range of subjects to support independent living in addition to fire and general safety in the home. During a visit, the Service can signpost to additional sources of advice and support to promote health and wellbeing. These include social activities, meal services, mental health support, disability, smoking, drugs or alcohol dependency, flooding and severe weather, alarms, scams and cold calling.

The Prevention and Protection teams are now well established and active in Surrey’s communities. The focus remains on keeping the community safe, particularly those who are most vulnerable. To this end we have seen the number of Safe and Well Visits (SAWV) increase year on year, targeted at the vulnerable, with 94.9% of visits in 2024-2025 being to the vulnerable. Partnership working has seen referrals for SAWV double over the last year with SFRS teams following up concerns and ensuring they are part of changing lives. As well as keeping people safe from fire in their homes, the partnerships include working with the NHS, Domestic Abuse Outreach, homeless initiatives and care providers.

The lifelong learning pathway continues to educate all young people in fire, water and road safety. We also support young people who have vulnerabilities in life or are at risk of exclusion from school. This is through the Youth Engagement Scheme and other schemes where we work with partners to help young people be the best person they can.

There have been major changes in fire safety legislation following Grenfell Tower and SFRS Protection teams have remained at the forefront of delivery of these changes. Following the implementation of our revised Risk Based Inspection Program (RBIP) and the introduction of our new Prevent and Protect (P+P) information management system along with the continued training of our inspectors and advisors, SFRS are delivering increasing numbers of audits within the business environment. SFRS has received confirmation from the Home Office that all aspects of the Grenfell Tower Phase 1 recommendations have been met and SFRS are now focussing on Phase 2 recommendations.

SFRS continue to support the Building Safety Regulator (BSR) to ensure that the taller built environment (11+m) is safe and all buildings that require remediation are on track to meet the government's target for the completion of all remediation works for 2030.

While this work involves ensuring safety regulations are followed, we equally want to engage in business forums, such as the Chambers of Commerce, to promote simple measures that ensure the Surrey economy remains strong and productive. We also visit businesses to carry out a Business Safe and Well Visit using a specialist team (Business Education Officers) and response crews to start those safety conversations. This supports safe living and the investment in our business communities where we shop and spend time relaxing and socialising.

By having the right allocation of resources to meet the needs of Surrey, we can continue to invest in prevention and protection activities. As part of this work our firefighters undertake prevention and protection activities as well as providing a highly professional operational response when an emergency occurs.

This approach forms part of the Making Surrey Safer Plan and is the standard offered to all Surrey residents. The Service uses a national virtual product, Safelincs, to provide initial home fire safety advice to all who need it. Safelincs will refer those who are vulnerable to the Service for a SAWV. The Service also works in partnership with other agencies, such as SCC Adult Social Care, for direct referrals for those who are vulnerable. During this period, we carried out 6744 SAWVs or Home Fire Safety Checks. This was a 17% improvement on the previous year.

Response

In accordance with the Fire and Rescue Services Act of 2004, there are four key responsibilities we must ensure we provide for, which are:

  • Protecting life and property in the event of fires in our area.
  • Extinguishing fires in our area.
  • Rescuing and protecting people in the event of a road traffic collision.
  • Rescuing and protecting people in the event of other emergencies.

Other emergencies can include, but are not limited to, natural disasters such as flooding, incidents arising from acts of terrorism, hazardous materials incidents, transportation incidents, and in times of declared National Emergencies (such as the COVID-19 pandemic), where we may support our Local Resilience Forum (LRF) as a Category 1 Responder,in accordance with the Civil Contingencies Act of 2004.

Response data

Between April 2024 to March 2025 our average time to arrive at critical incidents was 7 minutes 55 seconds. This is against a target of the first fire engine attending a critical incident, on average, within 10 minutes.

The number of fires where no smoke detector was present remains low however, a 7% increase compared to the previous year. Significant accidental dwelling fires decrease by 12% (from 443 to 388). The number of non-fatal injuries from these incidents decreased slightly from 28 to 21.

We attended 160 false fire alarms caused by apparatus in non-domestic premises; this is a decrease of 76%. We changed our response to unwanted fire signals for non-domestic premises (Commercial, Industrial and Retail/Public Assembly) in October 2022. A review in March 2024 demonstrated a reduction of attendances to this type of incident, along with the reduced pressure on fire engine availability. Our Protection team continues to work with premises to reduce this figure further.

We undertook 50 rescues from water (decrease from 53 the previous year).

The number of road traffic collisions we attended increased by 6% (from 984 to 1049).

The Service responded to 440 deliberate fires in 2024/25, an increase of 6% (from 415). We continue our partnership working with others to tackle root causes and reduce this behaviour. This includes:

  • The Fire Investigation Team working with Surrey Police Anti-Social Behaviour Team to help reduce the instances of arson and domestic illegal burning.
  • Partnering with the Local Authority Environmental Health team to tackle commercial illegal burning.
  • Working with Surrey Police Serious Organised Crime Teams to reduce instances of stolen vehicles being set on fire.
  • Our Wildfire and Rural Affairs Partnership Officers liaising with landowners to manage their site access and growth of potential fuel sources.

In total the Service responded to 1,799 calls to fires in 2024/25.  There were three fire related fatality from these incidents.

When fire fatalities occur our Fire Investigation Team ensures that they are investigated thoroughly in partnership with Surrey Police and wider partners. We have a Serious Incident Process to collate and understand the incident information and key risks and ensure that any potential prevention work is highlighted. The main factor in reducing fire deaths in Surrey is the vulnerability of the individual to fire. The key intervention strategy is to reduce the risk of accidental fires occurring in the first place through prevention work such as Safe and Well Visits. We continue to work closely with Adult Social Care and others to help us identify vulnerable people in Surrey.

Our strategy

Our Making Surrey Safer Plan sets out aims in the following areas:

  • Meet customer needs and expectations:
  • Resources
  • Provide customer-focused services:
  • Manage the business:
  • Improve partnerships and collaboration:
  • Establish a reputation of quality:
  • Culture

Our service

As of 1st December 2025 we employ 729 members of staff across Surrey. There are many different options when it comes to working for SFRS, from working within the community and local businesses to responding to emergency incidents.

  • We provide information and advice on community issues affecting public safety and enforce fire safety legislation.
  • We focus our efforts on education – raising awareness amongst the most vulnerable. and young people to prevent fires, road traffic collisions and other emergencies.
  • Our firefighters are trained to deal with a wide range of emergency situations.

We are proud to have:

  • 19% support roles – including, logistics, project and business managers, business support, Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI), IT and data, people and organisational development and communications roles.
  • 7% community resilience roles including Fire Investigators, Youth Engagement Instructors, Education Officers and Wildfire and Rural Affairs Partnership Officers.
  • 7% mobilising roles – our state-of-the-art Joint Fire Control delivered in collaboration with East and West Sussex Fire and Rescue Services.
  • 67% response roles – we employ firefighters on Wholetime and On-Call contracts.
  • 22 volunteers – we are extremely grateful to our volunteers who help us keep communities safe. Read more about our volunteers on page 15.

If you would like to find out more about what happens at our fire stations, please visit our fire stations web page.

Our people

Our people are our greatest asset, and they are at the heart of what we do. They work across numerous departments always showing their adaptability and willingness to go the extra mile for our residents.

The SFRS People Strategy aims to create a supportive and dynamic work environment that enables our employees to thrive and deliver exceptional service to our communities. We want the Service to continue to be a great place to work and to help our workforce to become more resilient and diverse. We are continuously working to improve the culture of our Service and the way we work. We strive for an agile organisation that works flexibly, encourages knowledge sharing to ensure resilience and service excellence, and supports, motivates, and empowers employees and managers to learn and grow. Our managers will be equipped to resolve concerns at the appropriate level and time, and employee voice will be encouraged.

We recognise that health and wellbeing is not an optional extra. Supporting our staff to be physically, mentally and emotionally healthy not only forms part of our legal responsibilities, but it is also the right thing to do for our people who are working to protect our communities.

We offer a range of services to support all employees to maintain healthy lifestyles. These include access to a shared Occupational Health Service, Employee Assistance Programme, The Fire Fighters Charity, Wellbeing Dogs and the Mind Blue Light Programme all of which are accessible via the Services Health, Fitness and Wellbeing hub. We have also invested in a service to deliver people-focused solutions that overcome barriers to working and learning as well as a speak up service that staff can access to raise any concerns to the service.

We require our Firefighters to undergo annual fitness testing and monitor the outputs of these. The Service has begun to develop a network of Physical Training Instructors (PTIs) accredited to Level 2 of the National Framework. This network will support all staff to access information on physical exercise and empower colleagues to maintain and improve their physical wellbeing as well as supporting the Service in its robust approach to compliance with occupational fitness standards. The Service will work to provide PTIs across the organisation to further complement the investment in the provision of fitness equipment across the SFRS estate.

In addition, we have an established Peer Support Network which includes Wellbeing Champions, Mental Health First Aiders and a Multi-Faith Chaplaincy Service. The Peer Support Network plays a pivotal role in supporting the SFRS workforce at a local peer level, supporting our mission to empower SFRS staff to maintain their health, fitness and wellbeing.

Volunteers

We have, for several years, recruited and developed our volunteers to deliver SAWVs, particularly supporting residents who are hard of hearing. These visits provide tailored advice to vulnerable people in their own homes, helping to ensure they can continue to enjoy living independently and safely. We aim to encourage more volunteers to train to become SAWV volunteers, and have co-designed a training programme with our volunteers to expand the reach of this team.

Our wider volunteer team supports various community engagement activities and initiatives, including fire station open days and fundraising car washes, SAWV campaign support, annual events including FirePRIDE and the service Awards and Commendations ceremony and wildfire prevention. Additionally, the team are a valuable resource for crews to consider requesting when completing operational training exercises. Volunteers can assist as exercise participants or act as live casualties, providing crews with a realistic environment to enhance their learning.

Our Community Safety and Partnership team aim to expand volunteering further into local communities, engaging with both internal and external stakeholders to help when required. This includes environmental impacts such as flooding and wildfires. These volunteers will work with us to plan, prevent and prepare for these major impacts and feedback opportunities when they do occur. We are also creating new volunteer opportunities in the Education team to support school visits.

Recruitment of new volunteers continues to be an important focus of our volunteering plan as we continue to steadily create a more evenly geographically distributed team.

As a Service we are immensely proud and grateful for the community service undertaken by our volunteers.

Equality, Diversity and Inclusion

Our ambition is to build a workforce that is increasingly reflective of the diverse communities we serve across Surrey. We know that diversity of background, experience and thought strengthens us, enabling better decision-making, stronger relationships with our communities, and a safer, more inclusive Service for everyone.

Through our Culture and Ethics Strategy, we are committed to creating a workplace where every colleague feels valued, respected and able to perform at their best. This includes continuing our positive action efforts to attract, support and retain people from underrepresented groups, ensuring that everyone sees SFRS as a place where they can belong and thrive.

The Public Sector Equality Duty set out in the Equality Act 2010 requires public bodies to consider all individuals when carrying out their day-to-day work, but our vision is that everyone representing the Service will be an ambassador of EDI. Our ambition goes further: we want everyone representing SFRS to be ambassadors for our values, modelling positive behaviours, challenging poor culture and helping to shape an environment where inclusion is part of “how we do things here.”

By embedding culture, ethics and inclusion into everything we do, from recruitment and development to leadership, prevention and frontline operations, we aim to build a Service that is fair, representative and trusted by the communities we serve.

Health and safety

Surrey Fire and Rescue Service is committed to ensuring the health, safety, and wellbeing of all employees and people who may be affected by our work. This commitment underpins all aspects of our operational and non-operational activities, in alignment with our statutory obligations under the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 and associated regulations.

Our priority is to provide a safe working environment, supported by robust systems, processes, and training that minimise risk and promote a culture of safety, accountability and continuous improvement.

We will ensure the following:

  • Leadership and Accountability – The Service Leadership Team holds ultimate responsibility for health and safety performance, embedding it as a core value across the organisation.
  • Risk Management – Comprehensive and regularly reviewed risk assessments will identify and control hazards, ensuring safe systems of work are consistently applied. This includes reviewing and updating the Occupational Health, Safety, and Wellbeing Risk Register to ensure all identified risks are documented, monitored, and mitigated effectively.
  • Competence and Training – All staff receive appropriate training, resources and equipment to enable them to carry out their duties safely and effectively.
  • Continuous Improvement – Health and safety performance will be monitored through audits, inspections, investigations, near-miss reporting, and feedback mechanisms, promoting a proactive approach to risk management and organisational learning.

Leadership development

We want our Service to be a professional and well-led organisation, exemplifying the Fire and Rescue Service Core Code of Ethics.

The development of outstanding leadership skills, knowledge and abilities across all levels and teams is supported by our Talent Management Framework. This includes the attraction of talent to the service through fair and transparent processes, easy to navigate promotional processes as well as clear career pathways and development opportunities for individuals across all our teams. All of this is underpinned by a blended approach to development which includes coaching, mentoring, core learning, leadership development programmes, e-learning, secondments and joint training.

Collaboration, partnership and cross organisational working

SFRS remains our primary focus, ensuring that we deliver a safe, effective, and resilient service for the communities we serve. Our commitment is to maintain operational excellence and embed best practice across all areas of our work through organisational learning. To achieve this, we have formally integrated the National Fire Chiefs Council (NFCC) Strategic Gap Analysis within the Operational Policy and Assurance Team (OPAT), ensuring that National Operational Guidance (NOG) alignment is central to our assurance frameworks. This approach provides streamlined governance, improved oversight, and reinforces our dedication to meeting statutory responsibilities and our own strategic objectives.

NOG represents industry best practice for developing operational policies, procedures, and training that enable firefighters to respond effectively and safely. While SFRS continues to lead on delivering its own priorities, we also recognise the benefits of collaboration. Through the 3F partnership with East and West Sussex Fire and Rescue Services, we are working together on key areas such as command support and breathing apparatus (Also including Kent FRS) to enhance interoperability and efficiency. This collaboration supports joint ways of working, including harmonised control and mobilising procedures.

Implementing NOG consistently across all three services promotes:

  • Shared electronic training resources, lesson plans, and equipment information
  • Standardised documentation templates, terminology, and operational concepts
  • A unified approach to risk information, hazard identification, and control measures, including the exchange of temporary risk data

This harmonisation strengthens cross-border interoperability and creates opportunities for joint procurement initiatives, delivering value for money and improved resilience. While interoperability within the tri-service region is a key priority, SFRS continues to maintain a clear focus on its own strategic aims and objectives. Our alignment with national guidance ensures consistency and supports long-term operational effectiveness for Surrey

Joint fire control projects

A notable example of collaborative working is the establishment of a tri-service emergency control room on 17 November 2021, following the successful onboarding of East Sussex FRS. This shared facility enables Control Room Operators to dispatch resources for three services, (Surrey, East and West Sussex Fire and Rescue Services) enhancing resilience and operational flexibility. The upgraded primary control room and high-tech secondary fallback site demonstrate the Service’s commitment to fulfilling its statutory duty to collaborate under the Policing and Crime Act 2017, delivering tangible benefits for communities.

Other projects

We work with partners across multiple sectors to seek improved efficiency and effectiveness through collaboration and integration. We are proud to collaborate with many other groups and charities to support our staff and the wider community including those on this list, which is by no means exhaustive:

Service performance

We produce a performance highlight report each year which gives information on, amongst other things, the number and types of incidents that we attend, how quickly we respond and the number of SAWVs we complete. In addition to the data we collect on response to incidents and safety activities (for both businesses and the community), we gather information about our performance from a range of other sources.

Benchmarking – County Services (no coastline)

The NFCC have developed new ‘family groups’ of Fire and Rescue Services (FRS), based on sharing similar characteristics. SFRS is part of the County Services family group (18 FRS in total) where there is no coastline bordering the County. Where possible it is the averages from this family group which is used to benchmark performance.

Station assurance visits and continuous improvement

Station assurance visits are a key mechanism for identifying operational best practices and organisational learning. They introduce a standardised and consistent approach to measuring performance, ensuring that outcomes demonstrate improvement, enable corrective action, and reduce operational risk.

The service carries out team audits across Surrey fire stations. These assurance visits, jointly managed by Borough and Station Commanders and supported by the OPAT, play a key role in closing the loop with organisational learning and development through trend analysis. This process provides real-time review and adaptation of both training and operational practices.

OPAT undertakes sampling of assurance visits, both in person and through reviewing completed reports, ensuring standardisation and confirming that organisational learning identified at local, regional, and national levels is understood. Where significant organisational learning is identified, OPAT conducts unannounced no notice audits to ensure corrective actions have been implemented by station management teams.

Performance data indicates that only 5% of teams (three) required unannounced, no notice audits. OPAT collects and analyses submitted data to identify trends and areas for improvement. These visits also confirm that organisational learning from station level debriefs, post event reviews, procedural alerts, and operational bulletins have been embedded. Additionally, they verify the dissemination of Organisational Learning (OL) and Joint Organisational Learning (JOL) publications.

Topical Areas Assessed in 2024/25

  • Wildfire preparedness
  • Rapid Deployment procedures
  • New equipment (Smoke Curtains)
  • High-rise procedures
  • Command Support functions
  • Operational Incident Monitoring
  • Analytical Risk Assessments
  • Officer Command Hours

In addition to these themes, teams were asked general questions on NOG, trends identified and communicated through OPAT functions and standardised message formats.

Operational Policy and Assurance Team Enhancements 2024–25

OPAT workstreams are further strengthened through collaborative engagement with multi-agency partners and the Surrey LRF, ensuring that lessons learned and best practices are embedded across the wider resilience network.

OPAT plays a critical role in gathering best practices and lessons learned to strengthen operational knowledge and procedures. This is achieved by monitoring performance data from both local, regional and national sources and ensuring alignment with the Service, the NFCC Fire Standards Board, and Good Practice Guide.

Where insights have the potential to benefit other services, OPAT shares them through the NFCC OL platform.

Reality Testing

While Operational Assurance focuses on operational knowledge, reality testing assesses non-operational awareness across the organisation. Topics include the Core Code of Ethics, CRMP development, and new OPAT reporting trackers (e.g., service exercises, incident feedback, Officer Command Hours). Outcomes help improve communication and confirm staff awareness of critical organisational priorities.

Strategic Gap Analysis (SGA) Workflow

OPAT has implemented a Strategic Gap Analysis process via SharePoint, enabling transparent tracking of NOG alignment. Tasks are reviewed monthly by department managers, with approved actions uploaded to the NFCC SGA Dashboard. This system supports national reporting and aligns with NFCC strategic development goals.

Assurance and improvement

For the development of our CRMP 2025 – 2030 we commissioned an external independent body, Nottingham Trent University, to review our activity and quality assure that our plans meet the risk identified in the development process.

Nottingham Trent University offers a unique set of expertise to review CRMPs and is the leading university in the UK in this area. With expertise across the blue light services, they have insight and research profiles across community needs analysis and risk perception, profiling, mapping and management.

The report from Nottingham Trent University stated that the:

“CRP delivers a high-quality evidence base that can be effectively used both to shape long-term strategic thinking and planning, and to suitably inform operational resource allocation and management to provide an appropriate response to the concentrated fire, flood and road traffic collision risks faced by SFRS”.

The implementation of fire standards set out by the NFCC is monitored within the service, and compliance tracked and recorded.

HMICFRS

In July 2017, HMICFRS extended its remit to include inspections of England’s FRS and in 2023, SFRS had its third inspection, assessing the service’s effectiveness, efficiency and how well we look after our people.

The 2023 inspection assessed us against the characteristics of good performance and increased the graded judgements from 4 to 5, including an ‘adequate’ grading.

The report of findings was published in September 2023 and raised 24 areas for improvement, and a cause of concern regarding our RBIP.

An action plan to address the Cause of Concern was produced and submitted back to the HMICFRS within 28 days and the Service actively progressed the actions.

In February 2024, the HMICFRS carried out a revisit to review progress against our action plan and concluded:

“We were pleased to see the significant steps the service had taken in response to the cause of concern we issued.

We are pleased that the service has improved its RBIP and the way in which it is managed.

We recognise the considerable work that the service has carried out to support these improvements. As a result, we now consider this cause of concern to be discharged.

We will continue to monitor the service’s progress as part of our next scheduled inspection of the service.”

An Inspection Improvement Plan (IIP) was also developed, taking each area for improvement and identifying what actions need to be implemented to address them.

Throughout 2024/205 we continued to progress these actions, and this is robustly monitored and reported on monthly, via our Service governance structure. The plan is scrutinised quarterly by the HMICFRS and the Portfolio Holder for SFRS, and by the Communities, Environment and Highways Select Committee on a bi-annual basis. Our 2025-27 HMICFRS inspection commenced on 17 November 2025 with the document request phase, followed by the inspection fieldwork on the week beginning 19 January 2026.

How the Service manages risk and business continuity

The Surrey LRF brings together all agencies with a significant role to play in responding to and recovery from the effect of emergencies and was formed to meet the requirements of the Civil Contingencies Act 2004. The LRF has the responsibility of planning and preparing for local incidents and large-scale emergencies as well as identifying potential risks.

To prevent or mitigate the impact of any incident within our communities, the LRF produces emergency plans and ensures that these are reviewed and exercised throughout the year. The LRF delivers a compilation of agreed risk profiles for the area through a Community Risk Register (see below), as well as encouraging a systematic, planned and co-ordinated approach for the agencies that need to respond. This addresses all aspects of policy in relation to:

  • Risk
  • Planning for emergencies and business continuity management
  • Publishing information about risk assessments and plans
  • Arrangements to warn and inform the public
  • Other aspects of civil protection duty (including the promotion of business continuity management by local authorities).

Using the UK Government's Resilience Framework as its guide, the LRF and its constituent partners look to build resilience across society by creating a shared understanding of risks, focusing on prevention, and providing the information which will both inform the public and enable them to stay safe.

Surrey Community Risk Register (PDF) provides public information about the hazards that exist within Surrey and the control measures that are in place to mitigate their impact. The register has been published in response to the Civil Contingencies Act 2004. Further information is available through the Gov.UK Prepare website and the SCC website.

Emergency management and business continuity policy

The Civil Contingencies Act 2004 places a duty on the Service to put in place business continuity arrangements to enable core functions to be maintained in the face of a serious and/or widespread disruptive event, including disruption to services during an emergency. Surrey Fire and Rescue Service had achieved 100% it its last ISO 22301 in Business Continuity Management in October 2022 when it took the decision to align with SCC in adopting Organisational Resilience. Organisational Resilience enables the Service to take its next steps in a journey to anticipate, prepare, respond and adapt to disruptions and continue to prosper as a service to support its communities.

Emergency planning

Fire and Rescue Authorities (FRAs) are 'category 1 responders' under the Civil Contingencies Act 2004. This means they are subject to the full set of civil protection duties, including assessing the risk of emergencies happening (ranging from widespread flooding to terrorist attacks) and using this to inform contingency planning. FRAs must ensure that emergency plans and business continuity management arrangements are in place, exercised and able to be initiated, when required, to maintain business critical functions, such as our support to vulnerable residents and our ability to handle 999 calls. chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear hazards

The Fire and Rescue Services (Emergencies) (England) Order 2007 requires FRAs, where provision of resources has been made by central government, to respond to incidents, both within and outside the authority area, involving chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear hazards and urban search and rescue to ensure that reasonable steps are taken to prevent or limit serious harm to the environment.

National Mutual Assistance Protocol and the Fire and Rescue Act 2004, Section 13 and 16 Agreements

These require FRAs to make a reasonable response to requests for assistance in relation to any large-scale emergency outside their area. We have arrangements in place for mutual assistance with all neighbouring FRAs to improve resilience and capacity in bordering areas.

Governance and assurance

Good corporate governance underpins confidence in public services and should be transparent to all stakeholders.

Cabinet member

The Cabinet Member for Fire and Rescue, and Resilience has overall responsibility for the policy direction of the Service and acts as the Surrey County Council (SCC) lead.

Select Committees

Select Committees are made up of elected members and have three specific roles:

  • Scrutiny
  • Overview, policy review and development
  • Performance management.

The Service falls within the remit of the Communities, Environment and Highways Select Committee.

Constitution of the council

SCC has a constitution that sets out how the council conducts its business, how decisions are made and the procedures to be followed to make sure that these are efficient, transparent and accountable to local people. Some of these processes are required by the law, while others are a matter for the council to determine itself. The constitution is updated at meetings of full council to ensure that it reflects changes in legislation and stays relevant to local needs. For more information and the latest version see the council's constitution.

Code of corporate governance

SCC's Code of Corporate Governance (found in the Constitution of the Council) sets out the mechanisms for monitoring and reviewing the corporate governance arrangements, which enables the council to identify good governance practice and areas for improvement. For more information see how decisions are made.

Annual governance statement and statement of accounts

SCC annually reviews the effectiveness of its governance arrangements and produces an Annual Governance Statement (AGS), which summarises the governance framework and environment in place during the year. The AGS is signed by the Chief Executive and the Leader of the Council and is included within the statement of accounts, as required by statute.

Audit and Governance Committee

The remit of the Audit and Governance Committee includes responsibility for corporate governance, risk management, the statement of accounts as well as internal and external audits.

Internal audit

The Internal Audit function of SCC is undertaken by Orbis Internal Audit, which is a shared services partnership between Brighton and Hove City Council, East Sussex County Council and SCC. The aim of this service is to ensure SCC's processes are robust, and that the council appropriately uses public money to achieve its objectives. Audits of key financial systems cover all directorates and services including SFRS.

Additionally, audits of specific FRS functions and activities are undertaken periodically based on an assessment of risk and in agreement with management. Any issues would be raised with the Service Leadership Team (SLT). Audit reports and agreed actions arising from these audits are reported in summary to the Audit and Governance Committee and may be referred to the relevant Select Committee if necessary. Ownership of agreed actions arising from audits remains in the remit of officers.

Service governance framework

The Service's governance framework includes the following.

  • The governance operating model.
  • The organisational design, strategy and business planning processes.
  • SLT members' oversight and responsibilities broken down by role.
  • Working Groups with clear terms of reference.
  • A means by which any individual in the Service can raise an idea, propose a change to an existing policy, etc. via the Generic Business Case, and receive a formal response.
  • Improved provision of data, as per recipients' needs, and the monitoring of performance and risk across all areas/teams within the Service.
  • Supporting frameworks, such as the Performance Management Framework, Risk Management Framework and Service Documentation Framework.

Fire legislation

We have statutory responsibilities laid down in legislation to provide an effective, economic and efficient fire and rescue service. At 31 March 2023 these were:

  • Local Government Act 1999
  • Civil Contingencies Act 2004
  • Fire and Rescue Services Act 2004
  • Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005
  • Localism Act 2011
  • Policing and Crime Act 2017
  • Fire and Rescue National Framework for England 2018
  • Fire Safety Act 2021
  • Building Safety Act 2022
  • Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022
  • Serious Violence Duty 2022.

Localism Act 2011

The Localism Act 2011 requires local authorities to:

  • Promote and maintain high standards of conduct by their members and co-opted members. In response SCC has drawn up a Member Code of Conduct that is both clear and relevant.

Financial Assurance

Surrey Fire and Rescue Service is part of Surrey County Council (the FRA) and therefore receives its funding as part of the county council’s budget planning process. During the period 2023/24 Surrey Fire and Rescue Service was a standalone Directorate in Surrey County Council.

Surrey County Council (SCC) produces a Medium-Term Financial Strategy (MTFS) which it reviews every year. The MTFS sets out revenue and capital budgets for the next five years. The budget includes known pressures, including assumed inflationary increases for staffing, supplies and services, and planned efficiency savings.

In 2023/24 SFRS, including the Emergency Management Team, has an annual revenue budget of £39m. SFRS currently has a Capital Programme of £21m across the 5-year MTFS period which includes replacement of fire appliances, other vehicles and equipment. In addition, there were Fire and Rescue-related capital budgets within Property, which the Service does not directly manage.

Financial governance

Each year SCC publishes a set of accounts for public consumption. The statement of accounts include the financial performance of SFRS over a given financial year, which always runs from 1 April to 31 March.

External audit

SCC has external auditors appointed by central government to assess their financial standing.

The authority's appointed auditor, Ernst & Young, undertakes an annual audit of the financial standing of the county council. They are required, under the Code of Audit Practice, to highlight all issues of significance arising from an audit, in the form of an annual audit opinion.

Recent audit opinions can be found on the SCC's website along with the statement of accounts.

Financial transparency

The Localism Act 2011 requires local authorities to publish their remuneration policies. The Pay policy statements page of the SCC's website provides a number of documents relating to pay. These include the Pay Policy Statement and the Equal Pay Policy Statement. SCC publishes information about its procurement strategy and governance.

Your views matter

Your views are very important to us, we want to know what you think about us, our services and the way we deliver them.

We work hard to deliver quality services and we welcome feedback which enables us to improve our performance.

Feedback

You can contact us as follows:

  • Email: sfcontactqueries@surreycc.gov.uk
  • Telephone: 03456 009 009 (8.45am-4.30pm weekdays, excluding bank holidays)
  • Write to us: Surrey Fire and Rescue Service Headquarters, Woodhatch Place 11 Cockshot Hill Reigate Surrey RH2 8EF
  • Textphone (via Text Relay): 18001 03456 009 009
  • Telephone from overseas: +44 20 8541 9944 (9am-5pm weekdays, excluding bank holidays)
  • Text: 07860 053 465 for deaf and hearing-impaired residents only (Monday to Friday: 9am-5pm)
  • Emergency Short Message Service (SMS): The emergency SMS service lets deaf, hard of hearing and speech-impaired people in the UK send an SMS text message to the UK 999 service
  • Sign Language Video Relay Service
  • Fax: 020 8541 9575.

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