Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022

Following the devastating Grenfell Tower Fire in 2017, the Grenfell Tower Inquiry was established. To meet the Inquiry’s Phase 2 recommendations, the Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022 (the Regulations) were introduced. 

The Act applies to England and Wales. However, the Regulations only apply to England. Information on how the Act applies within Wales can be found on the Welsh Government website.

The PPRU has supported the Home Office Task and Finish Group in the production of a new Fire Risk Assessment Prioritisation Tool (FRAPT). 

Most of the requirements set out in the Regulations are imposed on the responsible person (RP), which RPs need to plan and prepare for ahead of the Regulations coming into force.

The regulations require RPs in multi-occupied residential buildings to take specific actions, depending on the height of the building: 

• Some provisions apply regardless of height.

• More are needed once a building reaches 11 metres, and 

• further requirements are introduced when a building reaches 18 metres (or seven storeys) or more.  

The Regulations set out requirements for responsible persons of all multi-occupied residential buildings, of two or more sets of domestic premises: 

• Fire Safety Instructions: they must provide relevant fire safety instructions to their residents on how to report a fire and what a resident must do once a fire has occurred.

• Fire Door Information: they must provide residents with information relating to the importance of fire doors in fire safety.

The Regulations also set out requirements for RPs of multi-occupied residential buildings of over 11 metres in height:

• Annual and quarterly checks fire door: They must undertake best endeavours to carry out annual checks of flat entrance doors. They must undertake quarterly checks of all fire doors in the common parts.

The Regulations for high-rise residential buildings (at least 18m or seven storeys in height) also require responsible persons to: 

• Building Plans: provide their local fire and rescue service (FRS) with up-to-date building floor plans by electronic means and to place a hard copy of these plans, alongside a single page building plan which identifies key firefighting equipment, in a secure information box on site.

• External Wall Systems: provide to their local FRS with information about the design and materials of a high-rise building’s external wall system and to inform the FRS of any material changes to these walls. Also, they will be required to provide information in relation to the level of risk that the design and materials of the external wall structure gives rise to and any mitigating steps taken.

• Lifts and other Key Fire-Fighting Equipment: undertake monthly checks on the operation of lifts intended for use by firefighters, and evacuation lifts in their building and check the functionality of other key pieces of firefighting equipment.  They will also be required to report any defective lifts or equipment to their local FRS as soon as possible after detection if the fault cannot be fixed within 24 hours, and to record the outcome of checks and make them available to residents. 

• Secure Information Boxes: install and maintain a secure information box in their building.  This box must contain the name and contact details of the RP and hard copies of the building floor plans.

• Wayfinding Signage: install signage visible in low light or smoky conditions that identifies flat and floor numbers in the stairwells of relevant buildings.  

The FSA commenced on 16 May 2022. This means that RPs should now (if they have not already done so) consider when to review their fire risk assessments, to ensure these take account of any risk from the external wall. It is important that RPs are directed to, and consider the more detailed guidance from the Home Office about when and how to go about this. 

A new Fire Risk Assessment Prioritisation Tool has been made available. The prioritisation tool is an online tool designed to support Responsible Persons to develop a prioritisation strategy for updating their fire risk assessments, following commencement. The prioritisation tool can be accessed within The Fire Safety Act commencement guidance.

For the other changes, including the requirements to provide additional information to FRSs, The Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022 came into force on 23 January 2023. 

You can find out more by visiting the NFCC website.

View The Fire Safety Act and factsheets and guidance. The Fire Safety (England) Regulations can be found on the UK Government website.  

The Home Office has produced a series of fact sheets which provide more detailed information on what the Regulations mean in England: 

• Overview Fact Sheet

• Secure Information Box Fact Sheet

• Design and Materials of External Walls Fact Sheet

• Floor Plans and Building Plan Fact Sheet

• Lifts and Essential Fire-fighting Equipment Fact Sheet

• Wayfinding Signage Face Sheet

• Information to Residents Fact Sheet

• Fire Doors Fact Sheet

Information on how the Act applies within Wales can be found on the Welsh Government website.