Fire and rescue services workforce
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- 1. Navigate to Main facts and figures section
- 2. Navigate toBy ethnicity and type of role section
- 3. Navigate toBy ethnicity and type of role over time section
- 4. Navigate toBy type of role within each ethnic group section
- 5. Navigate toBy ethnicity and area (firefighters only) section
- 6. Navigate toBy ethnicity and duty type (firefighters only) section
- 7. Navigate to Methodology section
- 8. Navigate to Data sources section
- 9. Navigate to Download the data section
1. Main facts and figures
- in 2019, 95.7% of firefighters in England were White (out of those whose ethnicity was known)
- for comparison, 85.1% of working age people in England (aged 16 to 64 years) were White at the time of the 2011 Census
- from 2011 to 2019, the total number of firefighters went down from around 43,000 to around 35,000
- there was a decrease in the number of firefighters in every ethnic group except the Mixed and Asian ethnic groups
- overall, the percentage of fire and rescue services staff (including support staff) from Asian, Black, Mixed and Other backgrounds went up from 4.0% in 2011 to 5.0% in 2019
Things you need to know
The percentages shown here are based on fire and rescue services staff whose ethnicity was known.
In 2019, ethnicity wasn’t known for 9.5% of staff. Broken down by role, ethnicity wasn’t known for:
- 9.6% of firefighters
- 6.4% of fire control staff
- 9.3% of support staff
The tables on this page include the number of staff whose ethnicity wasn't known.
The numbers and percentages shown here include all part-time and full-time fire and rescue services staff.
See the Fire statistics data tables for 'full-time equivalent' (FTE) numbers. These are not broken down by ethnicity.
‘On-call’ firefighters (also known as ‘retained’ firefighters) may have more than one contract of employment. In this case, they are counted more than once in the workforce statistics.
Data comes from the personnel records for the 45 fire and rescue services in England. Population estimates are based on the 2011 Census (the latest available figures).
You should treat the comparison between workforce and population figures with caution, because:
- the ethnicity categories used in the 2011 Census are slightly different from those used in the fire and rescue staff data – in particular, the Chinese ethnic group is part of the 'Asian group' in the Census data, and part of the ‘Other’ group in the fire and rescue staff data
- the areas served by each fire and rescue service do not exactly match the geographical areas covered by Census data presented
- it is likely that there have been some population changes since 2011 that aren't accounted for in the Census data
What the data measures
The data shows the number of staff working in fire and rescue services in England, and the percentage of the workforce from each ethnic group. The figures are based on a snapshot taken on 31 March every year.
Firefighters in these data include:
- ‘wholetime’ firefighters – full-time firefighters of all ranks
- on-call firefighters (also known as ‘retained’ firefighters) – fully trained firefighters who may have other work but respond when needed during their ‘on call’ hours
Wholetime firefighters make up around two-thirds of all firefighters.
Fire control staff answer emergency calls and organise the response by firefighters.
Support staff work in areas such as finance, administration and property management.
Please see page 11 of the detailed workforce descriptions (PDF opens in a new window or tab) (PDF, 22 pages, 409KB) for more information on the definitions of different parts of the fire service workforce.
The ethnic categories used in this data
Fire and rescue services in England use the following ethnic categories for their staff:
- Asian or Asian British
- Black or Black British
- Chinese
- Mixed
- White British or Irish
- any other White background
- any other minority ethnic background
- ethnic origin not stated
For the purposes of this data, these categories have been grouped into the following broad ethnic categories from the 2001 Census:
- Asian/Asian British
- Black/African/Caribbean/Black British
- Mixed/Multiple ethnic groups
- White
- Other ethnic group (including Chinese)
2. By ethnicity and type of role
| Firefighters | Fire control | Support Staff | All Staff | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ethnicity | Firefighters % | Firefighters Number | Fire control % | Fire control Number | Support Staff % | Support Staff Number | All Staff % | All Staff Number |
| All | N/A* | 35,023 | N/A* | 1,134 | N/A* | 8,028 | N/A* | 44,185 |
| Asian | 0.7 | 219 | 0.4 | 4 | 2.8 | 207 | 1.1 | 430 |
| Black | 1.3 | 427 | 0.8 | 8 | 3.0 | 221 | 1.6 | 656 |
| Mixed | 1.8 | 577 | 1.3 | 14 | 1.3 | 93 | 1.7 | 684 |
| White | 95.7 | 30,285 | 97.5 | 1,034 | 92.0 | 6,693 | 95.0 | 38,012 |
| Other including Chinese | 0.5 | 145 | 0.1 | 1 | 0.9 | 64 | 0.5 | 210 |
Download table data for ‘By ethnicity and type of role’ (CSV) Source data for ‘By ethnicity and type of role’ (CSV)
Summary of Fire and rescue services workforce By ethnicity and type of role Summary
Percentages shown here are based on staff whose ethnicity was known. Working age population comparisons use data from the 2011 Census.
This data shows that, in 2019:
- 95.0% of all fire and rescue staff in England were White
- 95.7% of firefighters were White
- firefighters with Mixed ethnicity made up 1.8% of firefighters, making them the second largest ethnic group after White
- for comparison, 85.1% of working age people in England (aged 16 to 64 years) were White at the time of the 2011 Census
- 14.9% of working age people were from Asian, Black, Mixed and Other backgrounds
- 8.0% of support staff were from the Asian, Black, Mixed and Other (including Chinese) ethnic groups combined, the highest percentage of staff from these groups out of all types of role
3. By ethnicity and type of role over time
| Firefighters | Fire control | Support Staff | All Staff | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ethnicity | Firefighters % 2011 | Firefighters Number 2011 | Firefighters % 2019 | Firefighters Number 2019 | Fire control % 2011 | Fire control Number 2011 | Fire control % 2019 | Fire control Number 2019 | Support Staff % 2011 | Support Staff Number 2011 | Support Staff % 2019 | Support Staff Number 2019 | All Staff % 2011 | All Staff Number 2011 | All Staff % 2019 | All Staff Number 2019 |
| Asian | 0.5 | 212 | 0.7 | 219 | 0.3 | 5 | 0.4 | 4 | 2.6 | 224 | 2.8 | 207 | 0.9 | 441 | 1.1 | 430 |
| Black | 1.3 | 519 | 1.3 | 427 | 0.6 | 8 | 0.8 | 8 | 2.5 | 215 | 3.0 | 221 | 1.5 | 742 | 1.6 | 656 |
| Mixed | 1.2 | 473 | 1.8 | 577 | 1.2 | 17 | 1.3 | 14 | 0.9 | 82 | 1.3 | 93 | 1.2 | 572 | 1.7 | 684 |
| White | 96.5 | 38,061 | 95.7 | 30,285 | 97.7 | 1,407 | 97.5 | 1,034 | 93.3 | 8,143 | 92.0 | 6,693 | 96.0 | 47,611 | 95.0 | 38,012 |
| Other including Chinese | 0.4 | 174 | 0.5 | 145 | 0.2 | 3 | 0.1 | 1 | 0.7 | 60 | 0.9 | 64 | 0.5 | 237 | 0.5 | 210 |
| Unknown | N/A* | 3,921 | N/A* | 3,370 | N/A* | 116 | N/A* | 73 | N/A* | 624 | N/A* | 750 | N/A* | 4,661 | N/A* | 4,193 |
Download table data for ‘By ethnicity and type of role over time’ (CSV) Source data for ‘By ethnicity and type of role over time’ (CSV)
Summary of Fire and rescue services workforce By ethnicity and type of role over time Summary
Percentages shown here are based on staff whose ethnicity was known.
This data shows that, from 2011 to 2019:
- the number of firefighters decreased in every ethnic group except the Mixed and Asian groups, which had small increases
- the number of White firefighters went down by 20% (from 38,061 to 30,285)
- in comparison, the total number of firefighters from Asian, Black, Mixed and Other backgrounds went down by under 1% (from 1,378 to 1,368)
- the percentage of firefighters who had Mixed ethnicity went up from 1.2% to 1.8%, the biggest increase out of all ethnic groups
- the percentage of fire and rescue staff (in all roles) from Asian, Black, Mixed and Other backgrounds went up from 4.0% to 5.0%
- the percentage of support staff from Asian, Black, Mixed and Other backgrounds went up from 6.7% to 8.0% (though the number of staff increased from 581 to 585)
- the increase in the percentage of staff from Asian, Black and Other backgrounds is due mainly to the decrease in the number of White staff
4. By type of role within each ethnic group
| Fire control | Firefighters | Support Staff | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ethnicity | Fire control % | Fire control Number | Firefighters % | Firefighters Number | Support Staff % | Support Staff Number |
| All | 2.6 | 1,134 | 79.3 | 35,023 | 18.2 | 8,028 |
| Asian | 0.9 | 4 | 50.9 | 219 | 48.1 | 207 |
| Black | 1.2 | 8 | 65.1 | 427 | 33.7 | 221 |
| Mixed | 2.0 | 14 | 84.4 | 577 | 13.6 | 93 |
| White | 2.7 | 1,034 | 79.7 | 30,285 | 17.6 | 6,693 |
| Other including Chinese | 0.5 | 1 | 69.0 | 145 | 30.5 | 64 |
| Unknown | N/A* | 73 | N/A* | 3,370 | N/A* | 750 |
Download table data for ‘By type of role within each ethnic group’ (CSV) Source data for ‘By type of role within each ethnic group’ (CSV)
Summary of Fire and rescue services workforce By type of role within each ethnic group Summary
This data shows that, in 2019:
- 79.7% of all White staff and 84.4% of those with Mixed ethnicity were firefighters
- in comparison, 50.9% of all Asian staff, 65.1% of Black staff, and 69.0% of those from the Other (including Chinese) ethnic group were firefighters
- 48.1% of all Asian staff were in support staff roles, compared with 17.6% of all White staff
- staff from Black (33.7%) and Other (30.5%) backgrounds also had higher percentages in support staff roles than White staff
5. By ethnicity and area (firefighters only)
| Asian | Black | Mixed | White | Other including Chinese | Unknown | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Geography | Asian % of firefighters | Asian Number of firefighters | Black % of firefighters | Black Number of firefighters | Mixed % of firefighters | Mixed Number of firefighters | White % of firefighters | White Number of firefighters | Other inc Chinese % of firefighters | Other inc Chinese Number of firefighters | Unknown % of firefighters | Unknown Number of firefighters |
| Avon | 0.0 | 0 | 0.8 | 5 | 0.8 | 5 | 97.8 | 614 | 0.6 | 4 | N/A* | 64 |
| Bedfordshire | 0.2 | 1 | 1.0 | 4 | 2.7 | 11 | 96.1 | 396 | 0.0 | 0 | N/A* | 17 |
| Berkshire | 0.4 | 2 | 0.7 | 3 | 1.3 | 6 | 97.3 | 438 | 0.2 | 1 | N/A* | 1 |
| Buckinghamshire | 0.3 | 1 | 0.6 | 2 | 2.2 | 7 | 96.9 | 308 | 0.0 | 0 | N/A* | 34 |
| Cambridgeshire | 0.5 | 2 | 0.2 | 1 | 2.0 | 8 | 97.3 | 391 | 0.0 | 0 | N/A* | 14 |
| Cheshire | 0.5 | 3 | 0.5 | 3 | 0.6 | 4 | 98.0 | 645 | 0.5 | 3 | N/A* | 14 |
| Cleveland | 0.5 | 2 | 0.5 | 2 | 0.2 | 1 | 98.6 | 433 | 0.2 | 1 | N/A* | 0 |
| Cornwall | 0.0 | 0 | 0.4 | 2 | 0.9 | 4 | 98.5 | 456 | 0.2 | 1 | N/A* | 130 |
| Cumbria | 0.2 | 1 | 0.2 | 1 | 0.0 | 0 | 99.3 | 442 | 0.2 | 1 | N/A* | 137 |
| Derbyshire | 0.8 | 5 | 0.0 | 0 | 0.8 | 5 | 98.3 | 633 | 0.2 | 1 | N/A* | 27 |
| Devon and Somerset | 0.0 | 0 | 0.1 | 1 | 0.6 | 9 | 99.2 | 1,556 | 0.2 | 3 | N/A* | 104 |
| Dorset and Wiltshire | 0.0 | 0 | 0.2 | 2 | 0.6 | 5 | 98.7 | 866 | 0.5 | 4 | N/A* | 128 |
| Durham | 0.0 | 0 | 0.9 | 4 | 1.4 | 6 | 97.7 | 418 | 0.0 | 0 | N/A* | 47 |
| East Sussex | 0.2 | 1 | 0.4 | 2 | 2.3 | 13 | 96.9 | 539 | 0.2 | 1 | N/A* | 31 |
| England | 0.7 | 219 | 1.3 | 427 | 1.8 | 577 | 95.7 | 30,285 | 0.5 | 145 | N/A* | 3,370 |
| Essex | 0.4 | 2 | 0.4 | 2 | 1.3 | 7 | 97.8 | 524 | 0.2 | 1 | N/A* | 593 |
| Gloucestershire | 0.9 | 3 | 0.6 | 2 | 1.2 | 4 | 97.0 | 322 | 0.3 | 1 | N/A* | 84 |
| Greater London | 1.8 | 84 | 5.3 | 247 | 4.8 | 220 | 86.6 | 4,004 | 1.4 | 66 | N/A* | 62 |
| Greater Manchester | 1.0 | 12 | 1.1 | 13 | 2.9 | 35 | 94.9 | 1,146 | 0.2 | 2 | N/A* | 160 |
| Hampshire | 0.2 | 3 | 0.1 | 1 | 0.5 | 6 | 99.0 | 1,191 | 0.2 | 2 | N/A* | 152 |
| Hereford and Worcester | 0.2 | 1 | 0.0 | 0 | 1.9 | 11 | 97.7 | 560 | 0.2 | 1 | N/A* | 17 |
| Hertfordshire | 1.1 | 7 | 0.8 | 5 | 1.2 | 8 | 96.3 | 632 | 0.6 | 4 | N/A* | 28 |
| Humberside | 0.1 | 1 | 0.5 | 4 | 0.8 | 6 | 98.6 | 773 | 0.0 | 0 | N/A* | 52 |
| Isle Of Wight | 0.0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 100.0 | 151 | 0.0 | 0 | N/A* | 21 |
| Isles of Scilly | 0.0 | 0 | 2.4 | 1 | 0.0 | 0 | 97.6 | 41 | 0.0 | 0 | N/A* | 0 |
| Kent | 0.1 | 1 | 0.3 | 2 | 0.5 | 4 | 98.4 | 744 | 0.7 | 5 | N/A* | 383 |
| Lancashire | 1.1 | 12 | 0.3 | 3 | 1.1 | 11 | 97.0 | 1,014 | 0.5 | 5 | N/A* | 27 |
| Leicestershire | 0.4 | 2 | 0.4 | 2 | 1.8 | 9 | 97.5 | 501 | 0.0 | 0 | N/A* | 37 |
| Lincolnshire | 0.3 | 2 | 0.0 | 0 | 1.2 | 7 | 98.5 | 580 | 0.0 | 0 | N/A* | 18 |
| Merseyside | 0.0 | 0 | 0.9 | 7 | 3.7 | 29 | 94.1 | 744 | 1.4 | 11 | N/A* | 11 |
| Norfolk | 0.0 | 0 | 0.2 | 1 | 0.3 | 2 | 99.4 | 624 | 0.2 | 1 | N/A* | 100 |
| North Yorkshire | 0.3 | 2 | 0.2 | 1 | 0.2 | 1 | 99.0 | 571 | 0.3 | 2 | N/A* | 80 |
| Northamptonshire | 0.0 | 0 | 0.3 | 1 | 1.7 | 5 | 98.0 | 290 | 0.0 | 0 | N/A* | 146 |
| Northumberland | 0.0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0.7 | 2 | 99.3 | 274 | 0.0 | 0 | N/A* | 12 |
| Nottinghamshire | 0.9 | 6 | 0.9 | 6 | 2.2 | 15 | 96.0 | 651 | 0.0 | 0 | N/A* | 37 |
| Oxfordshire | 0.0 | 0 | 0.4 | 2 | 1.0 | 5 | 98.3 | 511 | 0.4 | 2 | N/A* | 55 |
| Shropshire | 0.0 | 0 | 1.0 | 4 | 0.3 | 1 | 98.7 | 385 | 0.0 | 0 | N/A* | 121 |
| South Yorkshire | 0.2 | 1 | 1.2 | 8 | 2.0 | 13 | 96.2 | 627 | 0.5 | 3 | N/A* | 1 |
| Staffordshire | 1.5 | 10 | 0.9 | 6 | 0.7 | 5 | 96.9 | 667 | 0.0 | 0 | N/A* | 2 |
| Suffolk | 0.0 | 0 | 0.2 | 1 | 1.4 | 6 | 97.7 | 421 | 0.7 | 3 | N/A* | 160 |
| Surrey | 0.7 | 4 | 0.2 | 1 | 1.2 | 7 | 97.9 | 550 | 0.0 | 0 | N/A* | 32 |
| Tyne and Wear | 0.5 | 3 | 0.2 | 1 | 1.0 | 6 | 97.7 | 561 | 0.5 | 3 | N/A* | 27 |
| Warwickshire | 0.9 | 3 | 1.3 | 4 | 0.9 | 3 | 96.8 | 307 | 0.0 | 0 | N/A* | 78 |
| West Midlands | 1.7 | 24 | 4.2 | 58 | 3.8 | 52 | 89.7 | 1,238 | 0.6 | 8 | N/A* | 25 |
| West Sussex | 0.0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0.4 | 2 | 99.4 | 505 | 0.2 | 1 | N/A* | 94 |
| West Yorkshire | 1.7 | 18 | 1.1 | 12 | 1.0 | 11 | 95.9 | 1,041 | 0.4 | 4 | N/A* | 7 |
Download table data for ‘By ethnicity and area (firefighters only)’ (CSV) Source data for ‘By ethnicity and area (firefighters only)’ (CSV)
Summary of Fire and rescue services workforce By ethnicity and area (firefighters only) Summary
Percentages shown here are based on staff whose ethnicity was known. The areas served by each fire and rescue service do not exactly match the geographical areas covered by Census data. Please use the population figures with caution.
This data shows that, in 2019:
- London had the highest percentage of firefighters from Asian, Black, Mixed and Other backgrounds (13.4%) out of all fire and rescue services
- by comparison, 40.2% of people in London were from Asian, Black, Mixed and Other backgrounds at the time of the 2011 Census
- West Sussex (0.6%), Cumbria (0.6%) and Norfolk (0.7%) had the smallest percentage of firefighters from Asian, Black, Mixed and Other backgrounds
- in the West Midlands, 10.3% of firefighters were from the Asian, Black, Mixed and Other backgrounds, compared with 29.9% of the general population
6. By ethnicity and duty type (firefighters only)
| Full-time ('Wholetime') firefighters | On-call ('retained') firefighters | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ethnicity | Full-time ('Wholetime') firefighters % | Full-time ('Wholetime') firefighters Number | On-call ('retained') firefighters % | On-call ('retained') firefighters Number |
| Asian | 0.9 | 198 | 0.2 | 21 |
| Black | 1.9 | 398 | 0.3 | 29 |
| Mixed | 2.4 | 500 | 0.7 | 77 |
| White | 94.2 | 19,974 | 98.6 | 10,311 |
| Other including Chinese | 0.6 | 123 | 0.2 | 22 |
| Unknown | N/A* | 1,608 | N/A* | 1,762 |
Download table data for ‘By ethnicity and duty type (firefighters only)’ (CSV) Source data for ‘By ethnicity and duty type (firefighters only)’ (CSV)
Summary of Fire and rescue services workforce By ethnicity and duty type (firefighters only) Summary
Percentages shown here are based on staff whose ethnicity was known.
This data shows that, in 2019:
- staff from Asian, Black, Mixed and Other backgrounds made up 5.8% of all full-time firefighters and 1.4% of all on-call firefighters
7. Methodology
Data is collected from each of the 45 fire and rescue services in England.
Fire and rescue services keep records of all their staff on human resources and payroll systems. Data is checked by the Home Office before publication.
Rounding
Percentages are rounded to 1 decimal place. They are worked out using unrounded numbers. For this reason, some totals in the charts and tables may not add up to 100%.
Related publications
Quality and methodology information
8. Data sources
Source
Fire and rescue workforce and pensions statistics: England April 2018 to March 2019 second edition
Type of data
Administrative data
Type of statistic
Official statistics
Publisher
Home Office
Publication frequency
Yearly
Purpose of data source
Ethnicity and gender data is used by fire and rescue services as part of diversity monitoring schemes.
9. Download the data
This file contains the following: measure, ethnicity, year, fire and rescue service area, type of role, type of duty, percentage, number.