
A Fire Risk Assessment required in a Care Home in the United Kingdom
Yes. A suitable and sufficient fire risk assessment (FRA) is a legal requirement for every care home in the United Kingdom. It is not optional, and a generic “office-style” assessment is not enough. Care homes are treated as high-risk premises because residents are often sleeping, have reduced mobility or awareness, and many cannot evacuate without help.
The duty sits with the responsible person (England and Wales) or dutyholder (Scotland / Northern Ireland)—typically the provider, owner, or registered manager who has control of the premises. Legal accountability cannot be passed to a contractor, although a competent specialist should usually carry out the assessment.
Legislation by nation
The findings of the assessment must be recorded. That includes significant risks, people especially at risk, and the measures taken or planned.
Fire safety risk assessment: residential care premises (published under Article 50 of the Fire Safety Order). It applies to permanently staffed residential and nursing homes where many residents would need assistance in a fire. It does not apply to day centres with no residents, ordinary sheltered housing with no care, or hospitals.
Scotland
Scottish Government: Practical fire safety guidance for existing care homes.
Northern Ireland
Equivalent residential-care fire safety risk assessment guidance used with NIFRS / RQIA expectations.
Wales
The Fire Safety Order still applies. Care Inspectorate Wales and the Regulated Services Regulations add premises-safety duties on the registered provider and responsible individual.CQC (England) treats fire safety as part of Regulation 12 (safe care and treatment) and Regulation 15 (premises and equipment). Inspectors routinely ask for the current FRA, evidence that actions have been completed, PEEPs, training, drills, alarm and emergency-lighting records, and fire-door checks. An outdated or inadequate FRA can affect the rating and trigger enforcement.
What “suitable and sufficient” means in a care home The assessment must look at the building and the people. Typical issues that a competent care-home FRA must address:
The usual five-step process
Related points that often sit alongside the FRA
cityfire.co.uk
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Nation
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Main law
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Regulator / enforcer
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England & Wales
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Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 (as amended by the Fire Safety Act 2021 and later regulations)
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Local fire and rescue service; CQC also inspects fire safety in England
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Scotland
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Fire (Scotland) Act 2005 and Fire Safety (Scotland) Regulations 2006
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Scottish Fire and Rescue Service
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Northern Ireland
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Fire and Rescue Services (Northern Ireland) Order 2006 and Fire Safety Regulations (NI) 2010
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Northern Ireland Fire & Rescue Service; RQIA also looks at fire safety
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Scottish Government: Practical fire safety guidance for existing care homes.
Equivalent residential-care fire safety risk assessment guidance used with NIFRS / RQIA expectations.
The Fire Safety Order still applies. Care Inspectorate Wales and the Regulated Services Regulations add premises-safety duties on the registered provider and responsible individual.CQC (England) treats fire safety as part of Regulation 12 (safe care and treatment) and Regulation 15 (premises and equipment). Inspectors routinely ask for the current FRA, evidence that actions have been completed, PEEPs, training, drills, alarm and emergency-lighting records, and fire-door checks. An outdated or inadequate FRA can affect the rating and trigger enforcement.
- Who is at risk, day and night: residents by dependency (including dementia, hearing/vision impairment, oxygen use, bedbound residents), staff numbers on each shift, visitors and contractors.
- How a fire could start: cooking, smoking, electrical equipment, laundry, medical oxygen, mobility scooters, contractors’ hot works, arson.
- How fire would spread: compartmentation, fire doors (including whether they are wedged), ceiling voids, service penetrations, external walls where relevant.
- Detection and warning: care homes normally need a high-specification automatic system (commonly Category L1 coverage of bedrooms, corridors and ancillary rooms), not just smoke alarms in a few places.
- Evacuation strategy: usually progressive horizontal evacuation—move residents through a fire-resisting compartment wall into an adjoining protected zone on the same floor, then further only if needed. Immediate simultaneous evacuation of the whole building is rarely realistic.
- Staffing and procedures: enough trained staff at night to move the most dependent residents in the first compartment; fire drills that test the actual strategy.
- Personal Emergency Evacuation Plans (PEEPs) for every resident who cannot self-evacuate. These must be kept current as needs change.
- Maintenance: alarms, emergency lighting, extinguishers, fire doors, any suppression system.
- An action plan with owners and timescales.
- Identify fire hazards.
- Identify people at risk (especially those who cannot escape unaided).
- Evaluate the risk, remove or reduce hazards, and decide what fire precautions are needed.
- Record the findings, prepare the emergency plan, inform and train staff.
- Review the assessment.
- a full reassessment at least annually is expected
- many fire authorities and inspectors look for a review every six months, because dependency profiles change quickly
- review immediately after incidents, alterations, or enforcement
- New-build care homes in England: sprinklers are now widely required under building regulations for new care homes; existing buildings are judged on risk, not a blanket retrofit rule. Scotland already expects suppression in new care homes.
- Fire Safety Act 2021: structure, external walls and (where relevant) flat entrance doors must be considered in the FRA.
- Residential PEEPs regulations 2025/26 apply to certain high-rise / higher-risk blocks of flats, not to a typical staffed care home as a workplace. Care homes already have a stronger, resident-by-resident PEEP duty under the Fire Safety Order and care regulation.
CALL 0800 776 5018 to Obtain a Price for a Fire Risk Assessment or to book an appointment . E Mail : sales@fireinspector.co.uk
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