CFOA - Who we are
- CFOA is a professional membership association and a registered charity, which has been representing the Fire Service and the communities they serve for more than 60 years - CFOA is not a trade union.
- The Association provides independent and valuable advice to government on fire prevention, protection and intervention issues as well as on a wide range of community safety and rescue matters.
- Membership is made up from a strong blend of both uniformed and non-uniformed personnel.
Charitable objects
The Association’s objects are to reduce the loss of life, personal injury and damage to property and the environment by improving the quality of fire fighting, rescue, fire protection and fire prevention in the United Kingdom. These aims are pursued through the provision of advice, information, leadership, research, informed comments and other services to the relevant bodies and to the Association’s own members.
Membership of the Association
The following persons shall be eligible to be ordinary members:
(a) Brigade managers employed by fire and rescue authorities in the United Kingdom;
(b) Other persons employed by fire and rescue authorities and elsewhere in the public services of the United Kingdom who, in the opinion of the Board, can demonstrate competence
that is equivalent to that of a brigade manager or an area manager: and
(c) Area managers employed by fire and rescue authorities in the United Kingdom.
Each ordinary member shall be entitled to one vote.
Therefore I propose the following changes to the text for the website
Ordinary membership of the Association is open to brigade managers / chief executives and area managers and equivalent in local authority fire brigades and other persons who, in the
opinion of the Board, have comparable responsibilities elsewhere in the public services of the United Kingdom. There are approximately 420 members of the
Association.
When ordinary members retire or resign from the fire service they are eligible to become past members. There are approximately 300 past members. The Association also has 1 honorary
member.
Funding
The Association is funded by a combination of a Communities and Local Government grant, subscriptions from Fire and Rescue Services and individual membership subscriptions.
Organisation
The Association has existed in various forms since 1941. It was incorporated as a company limited by guarantee on 2 December 1998, and became a registered charity on 19 February 1999.
The Association is governed by a board of up to ten directors, including the President, the Vice President, and the Vice President Elect.
CFOA is managed by a small team based at our Tamworth Headquarters, who provide support to the Directors, Presidential Team and membership.
There are eight directors on the Association’s Board, each of whom is also a trustee of the charity. The directors include the President, the Vice-President and the Vice-President Elect of the Association. The Vice-President Elect is elected by ballot of all ordinary members, becoming Vice-President and President after a year in each of the preceding offices. Four other directors are also elected by ballot of all ordinary members for a two to three year term. The Board can co-opt up to three Board directors for a period of one year.
The President chairs the Board. The President and other members of the presidential team take the lead on behalf of the Board in driving forward the Association’s business, and in promoting liaison and partnership with the many stakeholders in the fire community.
Below board level, business is organised in to Strategic Directorates, each of which is headed by a director. Each directorate encompasses, as appropriate, a number of standing committees or working groups, lead officers for particular references, and a number of task and finish groups. The portfolios cover Operational Response, Prevention and Protection, Human Resources and Performance and Improvement.
Each member of the Association belongs to one of eleven regions, which follow the boundaries of the regional development agencies. Regions provide important opportunities for local working.
At a local level, members of the Association have both regional and independent representatives on a Sounding Board which includes membership from the UK’s devolved administrations, and acts as a sub-set of the main CFOA Board to suggest areas for discussion and also for the board to take soundings on specific strategic issues.
All aspects of governance, business organisation and business process constantly adapt as the Association meets continually changing challenges.
Practitioners' Forum
In June 2003, a government white paper (Our Fire and Rescue Service) launched a period of unprecedented change and modernisation of the service, which until then had experienced relatively little change and a mostly low political profile for more than fifty years. Modernisation has extended to the institutions of the service. The Practitioners’ Forum was established as the body through which practitioners and other stakeholders in the fire industry would work together to provide advice to government on policy development, and the driving force in managing change and implementing reform in the service. The Association was asked by government to provide the chair and secretariat of this new and influential Forum, thus placing it in a pivotal position in relation to the service and the modernisation agenda.
Related Organisations
There are two related organisations:
- 'CFOA (Services) Ltd' (CSL) is a subsidiary company of the Association, the main purpose of which is to undertake any activities that are not charitable, and to achieve tax efficiencies for the group. CSL gift aids all of its profit to the charity. CSL is administered by CFOA staff at HQ.
- 'Fire Conferences and Exhibitions Ltd' (FCEL) is a company limited by shares, of which the Association is a one-third shareholder. The other shares are held by The Institution of Fire Engineers (IFE) and The Fire Protection Association (FPA).
- 'CFOA (National Resilience) Ltd' (CNR) is a company set up to provide an assurance function for national resilience assets.
Communities and Local Government
