What is the Fire Safety Act 2021?

The Fire Safety Act 2021 amends the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 (the Fire Safety Order). The act applies to England and Wales, however further information on how the act applies in Wales can be found on the Welsh Government website.

The act requires Responsible Persons of multi‑occupied residential buildings with two or more sets of domestic premises to update their fire risk assessment to include an assessment of the building’s structure, external walls, balconies and windows and flat entrance doors to individual flats that open into common parts.

In some cases, a Responsible Person will be able to update the fire risk assessment themselves, however where the update requires an assessment of materials which make up a building’s external wall system the Responsible Person may need to contract a suitably competent fire risk assessor to undertake that assessment for them.

For more information, view the Government’s policy paper or review other UK standards and regulations.

*Please note: The above summary is based on FireAngel’s interpretation of The Fire Safety Act 2021, always refer to the standard for specific guidance