A detailed update on the recruitment and retention of on-call firefighters will be presented to members of Nottinghamshire and City of Nottingham Fire and Rescue Authority later this week, as the Service seeks to stabilise and strengthen a workforce that underpins fire cover across much of the county.
The report, due to be discussed at the Community Safety Committee on 9 January 2026, sets out the scale of the challenge facing on-call fire services nationally and explains how Nottinghamshire Fire and Rescue Service has taken a more proactive and, in some cases, innovative approach to arresting decline in availability.
On-call firefighters remain a cornerstone of local fire cover in Nottinghamshire. Sixteen of the county’s 24 fire stations operate with on-call sections and the majority of the Service’s 30 fire appliances rely on on-call crewing, particularly during daytime hours. In practical terms, this means that large parts of the county, including market towns and rural communities, depend on firefighters who live or work close enough to their station to respond when alerted, often alongside other employment.
Nationally, however, the on-call model has been under sustained pressure for more than a decade. Fire and rescue services across England have reported shrinking recruitment pools, higher resignation rates and falling appliance availability. Research cited in the report shows on-call firefighter numbers have fallen by around a quarter since 2015, with resignation rates significantly higher than among wholetime firefighters and average on-call appliance availability nationally now standing at just 66 per cent. Inspectors have repeatedly highlighted recruitment and retention as a fragile area, influenced by changing work patterns, longer commuting distances and reduced employer flexibility.
Against that backdrop, Nottinghamshire Fire and Rescue Service says it has focused heavily on maintaining appliance availability as its primary measure of success. The Service sets a target of keeping on-call appliances available for at least 85 per cent of the time, with no individual station expected to fall below 70 per cent. At the start of the current financial year, the Service employed 243 on-call firefighters, around a third of whom also hold dual roles within the organisation.
Availability varies sharply between stations, largely reflecting establishment levels. Stapleford, with an establishment of 20 firefighters, has achieved availability of more than 95 per cent so far this year, while Southwell, with nine firefighters, has averaged just under 49 per cent. The Service uses this data to prioritise recruitment activity, targeting stations where low numbers pose the greatest operational risk.
A dedicated On-Call Support Team has been central to this approach. Using census data and local profiling, the team identifies potential recruitment zones based on how many people live within a realistic response distance of each station and whether extending that zone could still deliver acceptable turnout times. Recruitment campaigns are run annually and typically span six months, combining traditional advertising with local engagement, employer liaison and station-based “have-a-go” events.
The Service has also sought to address barriers that historically discouraged applicants. In 2021 it introduced a modular “safe-to-ride” training pathway, allowing initial training to be spread over up to 12 months rather than requiring a continuous 13-week course, a change that has been cited by recruits as a key factor in making the role viable alongside other employment. More recently, a new family-focused information offer has been developed, including webinars led by relatives of existing on-call firefighters, to ensure potential recruits and their families fully understand the commitment involved.
These efforts have delivered modest but notable results. The most recent recruitment campaign attracted 93 applicants, with 21 due to begin training during 2026. The Service expects to end the current financial year with a small net increase in on-call firefighter numbers, bucking the national trend of year-on-year decline.
Recruitment alone, however, has not been enough to protect appliance availability. The report highlights how shortages of qualified incident commanders or emergency appliance drivers can leave otherwise well-established stations unable to mobilise. At Harworth, for example, long-term sickness affecting a key supervisory role led to a sharp drop in availability last autumn, prompting short-term dual-employment arrangements and targeted training to restore resilience.
Retention is described as equally critical. Eighty-five of Nottinghamshire’s on-call firefighters have between 10 and 40 years’ service, a level of commitment the report says cannot be overstated given the requirement to provide up to 120 hours of availability per week. To support retention, the Service has expanded opportunities for on-call firefighters to attend incidents, crew specialist appliances and undertake prevention and protection work traditionally reserved for wholetime staff.
Structural changes have also been introduced. New banded contracts, launched in April 2025, offer greater flexibility in contracted hours, allowing firefighters to reduce or increase their commitment as personal circumstances change rather than leaving the Service altogether. The option to migrate into wholetime roles remains open, with several on-call firefighters making that transition during the past year.
Members will be asked to note that the cost of these initiatives is being met within existing budgets and to continue supporting recruitment efforts through their local networks. The report concludes that maintaining a resilient on-call workforce requires constant attention, local engagement and flexibility, but argues that Nottinghamshire’s approach shows it is possible to stabilise availability even as national pressures continue to mount.
