In a letter to industry stakeholders, the National Resilience and Fire Safety Unit has confirmed it will legally introduce “mandatory competence requirements for fire risk assessors”
Dated 1 April 2025, the letter reads:
“It will be of significant interest to those of you interested in fire risk assessor competence, that we intend to bring into law, mandatory competence requirements for fire risk assessors, to be independently verified by a UKAS-accredited certification body and overseen by a regulator.”
Penned by Jenna Marsh, Deputy Director of the National Resilience and Fire Safety Unit, the Home Office announcement follows the government’s recent response to the Grenfell Tower Inquiry Phase 2 report. Published on 4 September 2024, Sir Martin Moore-Bick noted in the report that there had been concerns over the competence of some commercial fire risk assessors and the absence of any scheme of regulation. It stated:
“We therefore recommend that the government establish a system of mandatory accreditation to certify the competence of fire risk assessors by setting standards for qualification and continuing professional development and such other measures as may be considered necessary or desirable. We think it necessary for an accreditation system to be mandatory in order to ensure the competence of all those who offer their services as fire risk assessors.”
In its response issued on 26 February 2025, the government confirmed that it would take action on all 58 recommendations of the report, with some accepted in principle. The recommendation for a mandatory accreditation system for fire risk assessors was accepted in full. In the letter, Marsh confirmed that “certification bodies will also be required to use standards currently being developed by the British Standards Institution, against which they must assess competence.
“I understand that, as stakeholders, you will have questions about what this will mean for you and wanted to assure you that we will continue to engage with you as the arrangements develop,” she added.
Marsh added: “To reflect the new commitments made by government, we are also revising our governance structures for oversight of the work to regulate the fire risk assessor sector, and we will be in touch with details once confirmed.”
In September 2024, the Home Office published its research and analysis on the competency, capacity, and experience of fire risk assessors in England, following a survey of more than 1,400 assessors. As previously reported by the FPA, the study sought to gauge a clearer understanding of the assessor role and highlighted that most assessors had several years of experience conducting fire risk assessments, with 63% having more than 5 years of experience. However, many assessors were “not certificated” nor did they “undertake formal refresher training”, which the Home Office said suggested “opportunities to professionalise and establish higher professional standards”.
It concluded: “There may be scope for the standardisation and verification of competency through compulsory channels via a framework which incentivises good practice and behaviour among FRAs. Any development of certification schemes should consider potential barriers, such as cost, as well as what will draw FRAs to such schemes, to ensure they enable them to evidence the skills they provide their clients.”