Industry Page 1: Fire and Rescue / Aviation Fire

Fire and rescue services invest significantly in training their people. The problem isn’t commitment to competency, it’s the systems used to evidence it. When records live on paper, in spreadsheets, or across disconnected platforms, the risk is invisible. Until an inspection makes it suddenly, expensively visible.

Getting the framework right isn’t just a design exercise. It’s the foundation on which everything else depends.

The symptoms are familiar across every service we’ve worked with:

On-call currency that can’t be evidenced when a qualified crew member is needed for an operational response

Watch manager sign-offs with no traceable audit trail beyond a paper form that may or may not be findable

HMICFRS inspections requiring competency evidence that takes days to compile — if it can be compiled at all

Renewal and re-assessment dates missed because no system flags them proactively

Whole-time and on-call records managed separately with no unified view of workforce readiness

Succession and promotion decisions made on assumption rather than evidenced competency data

SQEP, Suitably Qualified and Experienced Person, is the standard that defines whether someone is genuinely ready for their role. In fire and rescue, that means the right training, the assessed competence, and the formal sign-off. From firefighter through to station manager.

HMICFRS inspections, operational incidents, and bid submissions all demand the same answer to the same question:

“Is this person SQEP for this task, right now?”

eSQEP is the platform that makes that question answerable, instantly, accurately, and with a complete audit trail.

eSQEP handles both role-based assessed competency and mandatory training compliance in the same system, for every watch level, every workforce type, and every crewing model. Whole-time, on-call, mixed crewing and control room staff, all in one place.

Watch manager sign-off - built in, not bolted on.

Competency frameworks configured by role and watch level. The watch manager or line assessor is assigned to each individual, the workflow routes to them, not the other way round. Every sign-off is timestamped, versioned and available for inspection without a paper chase. Assessments carry expiry dates. Nothing slips through.

And in eSQEP, assessors are assessed too. Your watch managers' and assessors' own competency records are held in the same platform, their qualification to assess is current, evidenced and auditable. The assurance chain is complete.

On-call currency and succession readiness, tracked in real time.

Define exactly what each role requires. eSQEP shows where each individual meets those requirements and where the gaps are. For the role they hold today. For the role they're working towards. Succession and promotion readiness visible at a glance, based on real competency data, not a manager's best estimate.

SQEPtech was founded by Bobbie King and Jonathan Ball to help organisations know, with confidence, that their people have the right competencies for the roles they’re in. Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service was one of our first clients. eSQEP was built with an operational, assessed FRS workforce in mind from day one.

The work we delivered with Greater Manchester Combined Authority and GMFRS was recognised as a finalist for the Learning Technologies Award for Best Learning Technologies Project in the UK Public/Non-Profit Sector, independent, industry validation that what we built together wasn’t just functional. It was exemplary.

We have worked extensively with FRS clients to help define what can become the standard for National Occupational Guidance (NOG) and National Occupational Standards (NOS) in fire. We understand the operational reality, the inspection regime and the workforce complexity, because we’ve been inside it.

Every client gets the full attention of a team that genuinely cares how the implementation lands. We treat every engagement as its own.

Workforce types and use cases

Whether you’re preparing for an HMICFRS inspection, managing a mixed whole-time and retained workforce, or trying to move your competency records off paper for good, we’d like to show you what’s possible.