South Wales Fire and Rescue Service still missing high-risk inspection targets

Nation.Cymru staff

South Wales Fire and Rescue Service is still failing to meet its targets for inspecting high-risk buildings despite making significant progress on reforms following a damning review into its culture, inspectors have found.

A follow-up assessment by His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) found the service had laid “some sound foundations” for improvement, but nine recommendations and all three causes of concern identified during a previous inspection remain open.

The findings come more than two years after an independent review uncovered widespread bullying, harassment and discrimination within the service, prompting the Welsh Government to remove elected members from their governance roles and appoint four commissioners to oversee its recovery.

A full HMICFRS inspection, carried out between October and December 2024 and published in May 2025, identified three causes of concern relating to risk assessment, recording operational risk information and protecting the public through fire safety inspections. Inspectors made 12 recommendations for improvement.

Inspectors have now reviewed the progress made between October 2025 and March 2026.

Three recommendations have been closed after improvements to staff training for site-specific risk visits, responses to statutory building control consultations and arrangements for providing specialist fire safety advice outside normal working hours.

However, concerns remain over the service’s ability to inspect high-risk premises.

Its risk-based inspection programme aims to complete around 1,000 high-risk fire safety audits each year. Inspectors found that although the service expected to carry out 250 audits between October and December 2025, it completed only 97.

While a new performance management framework has been introduced, HMICFRS said it remained unclear how the service would achieve the number of inspections required.

The report also highlighted ongoing staffing pressures.

Although there were 32 qualified fire safety officers able to carry out audits at high-risk properties, not all routinely undertook inspections and many staff across the organisation remained in temporary posts.

“We found that the service hadn’t made enough progress in this area and issues with capacity and carrying out high-risk audits continued,” inspectors said.

Inspectors also said the service was making progress in introducing new technology to improve how operational risks are identified and managed, including new risk management software and plans to introduce tablet devices for staff. However, they said there was “still work to do” before the systems were fully implemented and delivering the intended improvements.

The assessment noted progress on implementing recommendations from the Grenfell Tower Inquiry. As of December 2025, the service said it was working on all 71 recommendations, with 26 completed and awaiting sign-off and a further 30 in progress.

HMICFRS also welcomed improvements to governance, including the introduction of a performance management framework, a strategic change committee chaired by one of the commissioners and a project management office to oversee delivery of the improvement programme.

In its conclusion, the inspectorate said: “We were pleased to see the significant steps the service had taken in response to the causes of concern we issued. The service has built some sound foundations on which it can continue to develop and improve.

“Despite the progress the service has made with cause of concern recommendations, there is still more work to do.”

‘Significant progress’

Responding to the report, chief fire officer Fin Monahan said the findings recognised the “significant progress” made by staff.

“The overall message is encouraging,” he said.

“HMICFRS recognises that colleagues all over the Service are making positive progress and we have established strong foundations with a comprehensive action plan that addresses the recommendations.

“However, as the inspection team point out, most of the recommendations will take time, so there is still work to do, and maintaining momentum will be important as we continue our improvement journey.”

“We remain fully committed to building on these green shoots of change and delivering our improvement programme, and ensuring the communities we serve receive the highest standards of service.”

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