Leicestershire Fire and Rescue Service has become the first fire and rescue service to achieve CIPD People Development Partner status, through its commitment to professional development.
Leicestershire Fire and Rescue Service (LFRS) has changed how its people function works. Since an external review in 2023, it has moved from a traditional HR model to a People team with named People Partners, clearer support for managers and a structured approach to professional development.
Working with us since May 2025, LFRS has used CIPD standards and tools to build confidence, professional identity and consistency across its People and Leadership and Organisational Development (L&OD) teams. As a result of this sustained commitment, we’re proud to recognise LFRS as the first fire and rescue service to achieve CIPD People Development Partner (PDP) status.
LFRS employs 711 full-time equivalent colleagues. Its people strategy aims for an engaged and productive workforce, with a focus on leadership development, wellbeing, inclusion and workforce planning.
By 2023, LFRS had recognised that its HR function needed to change. The team was committed and experienced, but its structure and ways of working didn’t always give managers a clear route to the right support. Escalation, decision-making and oversight were concentrated in one role, and advice risked feeling reactive rather than planned. Pressures around workforce planning, increasingly complex employee relations and leadership resources meant the function needed to become more strategic, visible and consistent.
In November 2023, LFRS commissioned an external review to get a candid outside view of how the team worked. It looked at structure, ways of working, role clarity and how the wider Service saw the HR function. The review found gaps in systems and role clarity, a team that tended to work in isolation and a Service that wasn’t sure what the team was for.
LFRS wanted to move from a traditional HR model to a modern people function that adds more value across the Service. It also wanted to build management capability and professional confidence within the team, so colleagues could act as trusted advisers, not just answer queries.
LFRS turned to us as the professional body for the people profession. Several colleagues were already committed to CIPD qualifications or membership, so becoming a People Development Partner gave the Service a credible framework to build on, along with structure and external challenge.
Workshops on team dynamics and development followed the review, giving colleagues from across the team space to reflect on how they worked together. In April 2025, LFRS introduced a named People Partner model and rebranded from HR to People, giving managers and departments clear points of contact.
The CIPD began working with LFRS in May 2025, starting with a Connect Session to help colleagues understand the value of professional membership and how it supports professional growth, career progression and the development of a skilled and future-focused workforce.
In May 2026, the People and L&OD teams completed our Development Insight Tool, a self-assessment that measures capability against the CIPD Profession Map. Every colleague took part, a 100% response rate, and each now has an individual development plan for the next 12 to 24 months.
The results show a team that works professionally and is strong on accountability, communication and stakeholder relationships. Development priorities include business acumen, particularly financial literacy, along with change capability and understanding how technology affects people.
LFRS is using the plans to inform qualification routes, coaching, project exposure and workforce planning within the function. It is also running three workshops on core knowledge, core behaviours and specialist knowledge, aligned to the Profession Map.
Professional development now runs from entry level to Chartered. LFRS funds CIPD membership for 12 colleagues, around half the function. In June 2026, the People Services Manager moved from Associate to Chartered Member through our Experience Assessment route. Where colleagues need the credentials, the Service funds CIPD qualifications. Two colleagues have completed apprenticeships through the apprenticeship levy, with a third in the pipeline, and two others have completed a qualification funded outside the levy. LFRS plans for four colleagues to take Level 5 qualifications over the next two years.
Its CIPD HR-inform subscription gives the team up-to-date policies and employment law guidance. In spring 2026, LFRS also delivered management sessions on employment law updates, menopause and trade unions, for more than 50 managers across the Service.
LFRS has not treated any of this as a standalone HR project. It links to the direction of the Service, including its wider realignment, and to the need to build professional capability across the whole people agenda.
“What stands out about LFRS is their genuine commitment to their people. Their focus on aligning with the Profession Map is creating clear development pathways and building capability for the future. Their enthusiasm, openness and drive have made them an absolute pleasure to partner with.”
It’s still early to measure every impact, but the foundations are in place. Every colleague in the People and L&OD teams has taken part in development insights and has a development plan. Half the function has Service-funded CIPD membership and five colleagues are Chartered Members.
Named People Partners now build relationships with managers in their areas. When a manager faces a complex people issue, it no longer escalates straight to one role. The People Partner helps the manager clarify the issue, find the relevant procedures, prepare for conversations and agree a proportionate way forward. Managers know who to approach, and matters are handled more consistently and at the right level.
The team has also shifted its emphasis towards enabling managers, not just giving answers. It now supports managers to take more ownership and deal with people matters earlier and with more confidence, and the development plans help it coach managers through better conversations. The team is more visible, more accessible and more closely aligned to the areas it supports, and the benefits reach beyond the people team to the wider Service.
“Since working with the CIPD, our people team has become more professionally confident and better able to support managers and the wider Service. We are on the journey of moving away from a reactive HR service to a visible, confident and professional partner to the wider Service.”
With PDP status achieved, LFRS will keep building on its foundations. Over the next 12 months, it plans to:
Success means colleagues taking greater ownership of their own development as the Service realigns, managers getting more consistent and confident people support, and a directorate that works in a joined-up way.
We’ll continue to act as both a professional framework and a source of external challenge, including support on the Profession Map, reward capability and professional pathways. LFRS also sees potential to explore what this approach could offer across the wider fire and rescue sector, where many services face similar workforce, leadership and capability challenges.
To find out how the CIPD can support you in building a confident, professional people function, get in touch.