The Role
London Fire Brigade is currently looking to fill positions at Group Commander level.
London Fire Brigade is one of the largest fire and rescue services in the world, serving a complex and dynamic city. London has almost 9 million people living in it and the City of Westminster alone has a population density of over 100 times the national average. At 6 per cent, London still has one of the highest population growth rates of any United Kingdom region in the last five years. London’s skyline has changed from a sprawling low-rise city to a high-rise metropolis, home to 70% of England’s high-rise buildings. London also has significant transport infrastructure which serves hundreds of millions of people every day. There are over 300 different languages spoken in London which makes it the most diverse city in the world, where 40 per cent of its population identify as non-white.
As part of our Community Risk Management Plan for 2023 to 2029, Your London Fire Brigade, we are changing and transforming how we work to ensure that London’s communities continue to get the services they need between 2023 and 2029. Through our plan we will do more to focus our resources on the vulnerable and continue to prioritise attendance times and getting our first fire engine to an incident in under six minutes on average. We will also be with our communities more in outreach work, providing support after an incident and also enabling communities to use fire stations as their own. We will also be modernising our online services to ensure Londoners can get the advice they need.
To apply, please complete the online application form and make sure you give yourself plenty of time to complete and submit it prior to the closing date, as late or un-submitted applications cannot be accepted.
Please read the Assessment Overview section below to make sure you submit all documents required with your online application form. The closing date for submitting applications is 4 PM on 02 October 2023.
Please note any correspondence received from us will be via e-mail and sent to the address you provide on your application form.
We value the diversity of our employees and aim to recruit a workforce which reflects our diverse communities across London. The London Fire Commissioner is an Equal Opportunities Employer and we positively welcome applications from all suitably qualified individuals, irrespective of people's age, disability, gender, race or ethnicity, religion or belief, sexual orientation, or other personal circumstances. We have guidance in place to ensure that all applicants are treated fairly and consistently at every stage of the recruitment process, including the consideration of reasonable adjustments for people who have a disability.
Eligibility
To be eligible to apply for this rank you must:
Be a competent and substantive Station Commander who has demonstrated competence against the requirements of the Station Commander role map in an operational post. External candidates will also need to be serving as a whole time competent and substantive Station Manager/Commander in a local government brigade.
Be Level 2 Incident Command qualified and in ticket.
Hold a full UK driving licence.
Be free of any current formal disciplinary sanctions
Before submission of your application you will be required to undertake a professional development discussion for your line managers to support your application. Please factor this into your timeline.
Assessment Overview
To apply please complete the online application form by 4 PM on 02 October 2023 and upload all the documents you will need to submit with your application form: a CV, a covering letter, an expression of interest form and your Incident Command qualifications.
Internal applicants - you also need to factor in time for your line management chain to complete parts 2 & 3 of the expression of interest form.
Your application should include:
1. Your current CV;
2. A covering letter (no more than 1500 words) detailing how your skill set meet all those required as a group commander (covering three specific areas: Empowers and coaches others - gives autonomy to others and helps them grow; Takes ownership and responsibility - demonstrates personal accountability and Forward-looking - demonstrates adaptability and anticipates change positively). You can decide how you distribute the words allowed; In the application form, four text boxes are available for you to type your statement (You are allowed 4,000 characters per text box).
3. Proof of your Level 2 Incident Command qualification and if applicable, your current Level 2 revalidation qualification (saved as a single document).
4. Your expression of interest form. Applicants will also need to upload their expression of interest forms (Internal applicants - parts 1, 2 & 3 completed and for external applicants - part 1 completed only). Please download the expression of interest form and read the instructions.
Assessment Process
Please note that the assessment process is sequential – you will need to be successful in each stage in order to progress to the next. Assessments will commence upon submission of application and Stages 1 & 2 will be rolling until the commencement of stage 3 which will begin w/c 30 October 2023.
Stage 1:
The evidence presented with your application will be assessed and if shortlisted you will be invited to an initial sift interview (70% or above required to move to the next stage). This interview will last no more than 30 minutes can be conducted live or via Teams. Please indicate your preference in your application so we can schedule accordingly. w/c 09 October 2023
Stage 2:
Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion exercise, this will follow upon successful completion of stage 1 and will be in person. (75% or above is required, candidates scoring between 50% and 74% will be placed on a development programme but can proceed to the next stage). Successful candidates from stage 1 will be seen on a rolling basis.
Stage 3:
Successful candidates from stage 2 will be invited to an Incident Command Exercise (a score of 75% or above is required), scheduled to be held from w/c 30 October 2023. Successful candidates from stage 3 will be invited to a final stage interview.
Stage 4:
Final stage structured interview (70% or above is required)
Interviews may be tailored for specialist roles at GC level, candidates will be invited to apply for these roles if they feel they have the relevant skills, knowledge, and experience.
Knowledge Test. 75% or above is required before candidates can be placed on the run. We advise applicants to begin studying for the test now. A detailed bibliography is provided which allows candidates to focus on the areas of knowledge required.
Please state in your on-line application form all your unavailable dates within the next few months and please keep the recruitment team informed of any additional unavailable dates you may have for the duration of the recruitment process.
Additional Information
For external candidates, in line with the Basic Personnel Security Standard (BPSS) employment checks will be completed by successful candidates, which will include a basic criminal records check. Successful candidate will be required to declare any convictions for offences which are not spent under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 and any offer of employment is subject to the LFC receiving a criminal records disclosure which it considers satisfactory. Successful candidates should apply to the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) to get a copy of their criminal record and share the original disclosure certificate with the LFC. The check will only show convictions that are not ‘spent’. It will cost the successful candidates £18 (current charge) and usually takes up to 14 days.
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