Welcome to the consultation for the Leading the Service and Leading and Developing People Fire Standards.
The two Fire Standards were published initially in December 2022. Since their publication, the Fire Standards Board have explored a number of topics where new Fire Standards may support the sector, including finance and asset management. With support of the sector, the Board has determined that standalone fire standards on these topics were not appropriate and would fit better built into published Fire Standards. The Board has worked with experts within the sector to determine where these topics may fit and as a result, has made amendments to the Leading the Service and Leading and Developing People Fire Standards.
In parallel, HMICFRS released “Standards of behaviour: The handling of misconduct in fire and rescue services”. The Board welcomed this report and took steps to establish how they could support the sector in establishing a positive culture and its handling of misconduct. Alongside specialist practitioners across the sector, the Board reviewed the recommendations set out by HMICFRS and made further amendments to the Leading the Service and Leading and Developing People Fire Standards.
This consultation seeks to gather views about the proposed amendments to the Leading the Service and Leading and Developing People Fire Standards as well as the impact on those organisations who will be expected to align to it.
Please review the draft documents before responding to the consultation. The proposed changes can be found in the red text:
Leading the Service Fire Standard
Leading and Developing People Fire Standard
There is a save and continue function that can be used throughout the consultation so that you can return to your response later and pick up where you left off. If you want to review the questions in advance of completion, you can view this pdf version: Leading the Service / Leading and developing People Fire Standards consultation question set
This consultation will close at the end of the day on Monday 09 February 2026
If you have any questions about this consultation, please contact the Fire Standards team: fsb@nfcc.org.uk
Many thanks for taking the time to respond, your feedback is appreciated.