Mid and West Wales Fire and Rescue Service (MAWWFRS) is continuing to progress through its journey of transforming and improving its workplace culture.
Working to a series of recommendations outlined in Crest Advisory’s Independent Culture Review, published in 2025, MAWWFRS has implemented a variety of steps to ensure long-term, tangible and sustainable changes to the organisation’s culture.
The review followed the Welsh Government’s acceptance in March 2024 of a proposal from both MAWWFRS and North Wales Fire and Rescue Service to better understand the progress of improvements to organisational culture in each Service. The Independent Culture Review provided an in-depth assessment of the cultural landscape within MAWWFRS and identified both strengths and areas for improvement.
Over the past year, MAWWFRS has put in place several major initiatives designed to deliver long‑term, sustainable cultural improvement. These include:
Strengthened leadership and cultural development
Independent culture specialists Senseia have been commissioned to support the Service for two years, delivering leadership workshops and one‑to‑one development across senior and middle management. A new Leadership and Organisational Development Group is modernising leadership pathways and progression.
Stronger staff voice
The People and Culture Team (PACT) are now embedded as a central mechanism for staff engagement, ensuring lived experiences shape decisions and organisational change.
Clearer governance, decision‑making
Insights from a “Blueprint for Change” workshop and the Community Risk Management Plan (CRMP) 2040 are informing updated governance arrangements and a new Service‑wide Change Management Framework.
Improved recruitment, standards, and support
The Service has strengthened transparency in recruitment and promotion, expanded training and digital learning, and continued to develop wellbeing provision and professional standards.
Renewed Commitment for Change
As MAWWFRS approaches its 30th anniversary in April, the organisation is entering a period of renewed ambition and purposeful change.
The appointment of a new Chief Fire Officer, Craig Flannery, in December 2025, has brought fresh leadership and a renewed focus and commitment to bring tangible and sustainable change to the organisation.
Chief Fire Officer Flannery said:
“As we enter this new chapter for Mid and West Wales Fire and Rescue Service, my priority is to ensure that cultural change is not just discussed but delivered. Our staff deserve a workplace where they feel valued, supported and empowered, and our communities deserve a Service that is consistently the best it can be.
“We are taking meaningful steps to strengthen trust, improve our systems and behaviours, and create an environment where everyone can thrive. This is a long‑term commitment, and I am determined that the actions we take now will bring lasting benefits for both our people and the communities we serve.”
This renewed focus aims to enhance the Service’s ability to deliver outstanding prevention, protection and emergency response to the communities of Mid and West Wales, both now and for the future.