Outside view

By Gavin Tomlinson, Chair of NFCC Protection and Business Safety Committee

It comes with little surprise, given the horrifying and tragic events of the Grenfell Tower fire five years ago, that the fire safety obligations of housing providers have come under intense scrutiny.

From this, we’ve seen a raft of new legislation, guidance and policy. Just recently, the Building Safety Act received Royal Assent. The act seeks to augment the regulatory regime for all buildings, including a more stringent fire and structural safety regime. It’s yet to come fully into force and will be supported by many new regulations in due course.

Prior to this, the Fire Safety Act hit the statute books to, among other things, provide clarity to the provisions of the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order. This clarity is very significant to housing providers and needs to be fully understood. The Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022 set out a number of requirements of the responsible persons of multi-occupied residential buildings.

Government continues to press on with reform. Even now, a bill to make provision for the regulation of social housing – about the terms of approved schemes for the investigation of housing complaints and for connected purposes – is making its way through Parliament. And whilst in its early stages, the bill seeks to further enhance the government’s levelling-up agenda. These are all welcome developments.

Reform in this area is immense – but, perhaps, not moving as speedily as many would wish. Nevertheless, the need for these improvements is clear.

Housing providers are well placed to increase the standard of fire safety within their properties, without waiting for legislative measures to be put in place. NFCC would urge all those with fire safety responsibilities to familiarise themselves with these developments to undertake – and continue – this critical work to improve safety and reduce risk.

While the breadth of developments might feel overwhelming, there’s help available. Information, guidance and help sheets can be found on the government and National Fire Chiefs Council (NFCC) websites. Information can also be provided by the many reputable and competent fire safety advisors, sector groups and, of course, the local fire and rescue service.

All residents should be safe in their own homes, regardless of whether they live in a private rented sector or a social housing property. The shake-up of the sector was evidently required, and the weight of change is understood as being fully necessary in seeking real and determined change.

The devasting events of summer 2017, and the subsequent lessons learned, must continue to focus the minds of those in positions to make these changes. NFCC are working with fire and rescue services across the UK, and partner organisations, to drive changes to increase fire safety. By ensuring sufficient measures are in place to increase safety in the event of a fire, and to prevent fires from happening in the first place, housing providers are central to these crucial efforts.