The Home Office has published its response to a 2022 public consultation on emergency evacuation support for vulnerable residents in high-rise buildings
Dame Diana Johnson DBE, Minister of State (Minister for Policing, Fire, and Crime Prevention) announced the release of the government’s response during a House of Commons debate on 2 December 2024, where she stated:
“I am today publishing the Government’s response to the Emergency Evacuation Information Sharing Plus [EEIS+] consultation, which provides further detail of our new Residential Personal Emergency Evacuation Plan [PEEP] policy.”
She added that the policy would introduce “new measures to improve the fire safety for vulnerable residents in high-rise and higher-risk residential blocks of flats”. It also represented a “milestone in addressing the recommendations of the Grenfell Tower Inquiry”, which Dame Diana said was “a key priority for this government”.
The original EEIS+ consultation, which ran in 2022, sought views on a proposed five-step process. It involved the responsible persons (RPs) defining a building evacuation strategy, identifying those residents who needed support to evacuate, utilising a Person-Centred Fire Risk Assessment (PCFRA) checklist, sharing information with the local Fire and Rescue Service (FRS), and enabling the FRS to access and use that information in the event of a fire.
As such, the RP would carry out a PCFRA for any resident “whose ability to self-evacuate is compromised in their building”. The assessment enables the RP to identify the risks to the individual’s fire safety and their ability to evacuate in the event of a fire. Based on this information, they would then work with the resident to consider “what interventions might be reasonable to put in place to mitigate against the risks identified in the PCFRA”.
Drawing on evidence gathered over the course of two years, which includes consultation workshops and the creation of a short-term Evacuation and Fire Safety Working Group, the Home Office states that it received over 500 responses in total (142 from the EEIS+ consultation itself), including from residents, disability groups, FRSs and the wider fire sector, local authorities, housing associations and other housing providers, academics, and numerous professional bodies.
It concluded there was “widespread support” among stakeholders for specific measures to support vulnerable residents of high-rise and higher-risk buildings and that the five-step process mentioned above was deliverable. As such, legislation would be introduced to deliver a version of the five-step process, including a distinct type of PEEP for residential settings, known as ‘residential PEEPS’.
As reported by Inside Housing, regarding existing PEEPs commonly found in workplaces in the UK and their applicability in high-rise residental buildings – a key reccommendation from Phase 1 of the Grenfell Tower Inquiry report – the Home Office said there were “no clear examples of workplace-type PEEPs within a residential setting which are practical and deliverable at scale in a proportionate and safe manner”.
It added: “It would be contrary to the public interest to mandate workplace-type PEEPs within a residential setting where the evidence does not demonstrate that they are universally practical, proportionate or safe for RPs to implement, save perhaps in very limited specific circumstances which are unlikely to be of wider application.”
"Given the familiarity of the terminology, as well as the fact that workplace-type PEEPs have not been evidenced in residential settings, the term ‘Residential PEEP’ will therefore be used to describe the new process which will be established through Regulation. This will maintain a clear distinction from the traditional workplace-type PEEPs used in some premises while marking it as a complementary model for residential settings," the Home Office said.
The new regulations would mandate residential PEEPs for all high-rise residential buildings and for residential buildings between 11 metres and 18 metres with simultaneous evacuation strategies in place. As part of the PCFRA requirement, RPs would be mandated to “undertake reasonable steps to identify vulnerable residents and take a ‘reasonable endeavours’ approach to follow through with that identification if contact is not easily established, while leaving the final decision on whether to come forward with the residents themselves”.
The Home Office added the PCFRA process offered a “well-established route for RPs”, and although mandated in the regulation, RPs would still be allowed the “flexibility to continue with existing processes as appropriate and adapted for their local circumstances and resident populations”.
Building level evacuation plans would also be required for all high-rise residential buildings and for residential buildings between 11 metres and 18 metres with simultaneous evacuation strategies in place, with the Home Office also concluding: “In the event of a fire, the FRS will fight the fire and undertake the evacuation and rescue of vulnerable residents. To support FRSs in carrying out these emergency evacuations, we will require, in Regulation, specific information on all vulnerable residents in in-scope buildings to be made available by RPs to their local FRS. This will be supported by Article 50 guidance.”
In her ministerial foreword, Dame Diana said: “Protection of the most vulnerable people in our society is a key priority for government, and making improvements to fire safety is a vital part of this protection. With the Grenfell Tower tragedy and the publication of the public inquiry’s final report on 4 September at the forefront of my mind, this protection is more vital than ever. That is why I am pleased to publish the response to the Emergency Evacuation Information Sharing Plus consultation and to introduce a set of measures called Residential Personal Emergency Evacuation Plans (Residential PEEPs) policy – addressing three of the Grenfell Tower Inquiry’s Phase 1 recommendations aimed at government.”
She added: “With the publication of this response document, we will move to lay Regulations to deliver the Residential PEEPs policy. Our engagement with key stakeholders, including disability stakeholder organisations, will continue, to help to ensure a smooth road to implementation, including the production of supporting guidance that will sit alongside the Regulations.”
Responding to the government's decision to introduce 'residential PEEPs' instead of the Grenfell Tower Inquiry's initial recommendation, Disability Rights UK said: "All disabled residents in all residential blocks should be given the right to a PEEP if they need support and adjustments to leave the block in the event of a fire. This is what needs to be done if disabled lives are to be equally valued.
"We urge the government to do the right thing and require building owners and managers to implement Personal Emergency Evacuation Plans, as the Grenfell Tower Inquiry report recommends."
You can access the full government response here.