Fire & Rescue service wins European award

Date published: 06/02/2008

Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service (GMFRS) have been recognised for their innovative system of personnel management in an international competition. The new systems were recognised as not only substantially reducing costs, saving £3 million per year, but also improving service quality. GMFRS has achieved this  by introducing flexible contracts and new duty systems as part of their modernisation programme.

GMFRS were visited by members of the judging panel from the European Public Services Awards (EPSA). The panel visited as GMFRS had been shortlisted as one of 18 finalists (from an initial list of over 300 organisations) for the EPSA award for public sector innovation.

The EPSA recognised six public administration bodies from Belgium, Germany, Great Britain, Romania and Sweden for exemplary achievement in modernising their structures and processes. The EPSA brings together the best and most innovative performers from the European public sector.

The initiators of the EPSA hope that this award will motivate other administration bodies to learn from good examples and fundamentally modernize their administrative structures and methods. In recognition of efforts to modernise administrative structures Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service were awarded with the Innovation Award in the "Targeting with Scarce Resources" category.

Assistant Chief Fire Officer Steve Beckley said: "The recognition for this work both nationally and internationally is very rewarding. Our staff have been in great demand to explain the 5 watch system to other Fire and Rescue Services and also to advise on the change management processes involved. We have advised 26 other Fire and Rescue Services in the UK, many of whom are now actively engaged with roster design consultants in the development of more efficient and flexible systems for their workforces similar to ours." 

Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Authority (GMFRA) Vice Chairman Councillor John Bell said: "This is just one of the many examples of innovative practices that our Service is using to increase effectiveness. I am extremely proud of the inspiring and ground breaking methods that we are utilising in order to further improve the first class Fire and Rescue Service that we provide."