The Fire Safety Act 2021
The Fire Safety Act 2021 (the Act) came into force on the 16 May 2022. This act makes changes to the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, often simply called the Fire Safety Order.
The Act clarifies that responsible persons (RPs) for multi-occupied residential buildings must manage and reduce the risk of fire for the structure and external walls of the building, including cladding, balconies and windows, and entrance doors to individual flats that open into common parts.
The Act applies to England and Wales.
What does the Fire Safety Act 2021 do?
The Act clarifies that where a building contains two or more sets of domestic premises, the Fire Safety Order applies to:
- the building’s structure and external walls (including windows, balconies, cladding, insulation and fixings) and any common parts
- all doors between domestic premises and common parts such as flat entrance doors (or any other relevant door)
What is the Fire Risk Assessment Prioritisation Tool (FRAPT)
The Protection Policy and Reform Unit has supported the Home Office in the production of a new Fire Risk Assessment Prioritisation Tool (FRAPT). The FRAPT is an online tool designed to assist responsible persons to develop a strategy to prioritise their buildings to review their fire risk assessments, to ensure they take into account the clarifications outlined in the Act.
See our Fire Risk Assessment Prioritisiation Tool (FRAPT) page for further information and details of how to access the Tool.
RPs should be prepared for the changes and are encouraged to begin using FRAPT to start forming their fire risk assessment review prioritisation strategies. Before doing so however, they should consider the guidance.
RPs should ensure:
- their reviewed assessments take into account the requirements of the FSO (as amended).
- be ready to share additional information with FRSs from the 23 January 2023 (see our submit your documents page for further details)
- comply with the new Regulations - see our Fire Safety Regulations page