
A Fire Risk Assessment is required in a Church or Church Hall in the United Kingdom
Yes. A fire risk assessment is a legal requirement for a church or church hall in the United Kingdom. There is no exemption because the building is used for worship, is listed, is volunteer-run, or has no paid staff.
The duty sits on the responsible person — the person or body with control of the premises. In practice that is usually the PCC, trustees, church council, elders, or churchwardens (and anyone else who has control of part of the building, including hirers for the time they occupy it).
Which law applies
Church and church hall are not the same assessment . The church and a separate (or separately used) hall should not be treated as one . A hall is often the higher-risk building: kitchen and cooking, stored furniture, stage, community lettings, children’s groups, evening use, and sometimes overnight use. If it is a distinct building or used for different activities, it needs its own assessment, or at least a clearly separated section covering its hazards, occupancy and escape. Hirers also have duties for their own activities; you still remain responsible for the building and for coordinating with them.
What the assessment must cover , Official Home Office guidance treats churches and halls as places of assembly:
The usual five steps are:
Who should carry it out The responsible person can do it themselves if they are competent for that building. Competence means understanding both general fire safety and the particular risks of the premises (heritage fabric, assembly use, hall kitchen/events). A small single-storey chapel may be within a well-briefed lay person’s reach. A listed church with tower, gallery, crypt, hall lettings or complex means of escape usually needs a competent external assessor. PAS 79-1 is a common methodology but is guidance, not a legal form.
Insurers such as Ecclesiastical publish church-specific templates and notes; those can help structure the record, but they do not replace a suitable and sufficient assessment of your building.Practical next steps
- England and Wales: Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005. Article 9 requires a suitable and sufficient assessment of the risks to “relevant persons” (anyone lawfully on or near the premises). From 1 October 2023 the assessment must be recorded in full, together with the fire safety arrangements, the identity of the person who carried it out, and the responsible person’s name and a UK address — even if there are no employees. If you appoint someone else to do or review it, they must be competent.
- Scotland: Fire (Scotland) Act 2005 and Fire Safety (Scotland) Regulations 2006. Congregational trustees/duty holders must carry out a fire safety risk assessment. A written record is legally required where there are five or more employees; it is strongly recommended in every case.
- Northern Ireland: Fire and Rescue Services (Northern Ireland) Order 2006 and Fire Safety Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2010. The same principle applies to churches and halls as relevant premises.
- Small/medium: up to 60 / up to 300 people — Fire Safety assessment for Small or Medium Places of assembly
- Large: more than 300 people - Fire Safety Risk assessment for large places of assessmbly
- Identify fire hazards — ignition (candles, electrics, heaters, cooking, arson), fuel (timber structure, furnishings, stored chairs, decorations, cleaning materials), and oxygen.
- Identify people at risk — congregation, clergy, volunteers, children, older and mobility-impaired people, contractors, and people unfamiliar with the building at weddings, funerals and events.
- Evaluate the risk and decide what to do — remove or reduce hazards; then provide detection/warning, escape routes and exits, emergency lighting, extinguishers, signage, and management measures.
- Record, plan, inform, instruct and train — write the findings and action plan; have an emergency plan; brief volunteers and hirers; practise evacuation where appropriate.
- Review — at least when the building, layout, use, occupancy or equipment changes, and after any incident. Annual review is widely treated as good practice.
- Confirm who the responsible person is (minute it if it is a PCC/trustees).
- Decide whether the church and hall need separate assessments.
- Use the official places-of-assembly guide that matches your capacity.
- Complete (or commission) the assessment and record it in full.
- Implement the action plan, maintain equipment, brief volunteers and hirers, and diary a review.
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