Research and analysis

Responsible persons in England: changes in fire safety legislation

Published 30 September 2024

Applies to England

1. Executive summary

1.1 Research background and research questions

Since the tragic fire at Grenfell Tower in 2017, fire safety legislation has changed significantly with the introduction of the Fire Safety Act (FSA) 2021, the Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022 (FSER) and the Building Safety Act (BSA) 2022.

In 2023, the Home Office conducted a survey to develop an understanding of how responsible persons (RPs) in accordance with the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order (FSO) 2005 in England have responded to these changes. This report summarises the results of the survey. It aims to help understand RPs in England, their buildings, and their approach to conducting fire risk assessments, including who they appoint to assist them and how they make that choice. It answers the following research questions:

Research question 1: Who are RPs in England and what is their building stock?

Research question 2: What have RPs done in response to the new requirements within the Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022 (FSER)?

Research question 3: What are RPs’ experiences working with fire risk assessors (FRAs) who conduct fire risk assessments?

Research question 4: What are the differences in the experiences RPs have between external and in-house FRAs?

Research question 5: To what extent are RPs prepared to implement Section 156 of the BSA?

1.2 Acknowledgments

With special thanks to all participants who were part of this study and took the time to complete the survey. We would also like to thank stakeholders, organisations and other departments and devolved administrations who helped to develop and promote the survey.

The author, Silviya Gancheva, would also like to thank policy colleagues James Aulton and Joseph Lester for their input into the study, as well other contributing members of the research team (Amy Butler, Harrai Singh, Alice Plumridge, Darrelle Cocozza and Will Dawes).

1.3 Method

The report is based on data collected using an online survey completed by a sample of RPs in England. It asks questions related to RPs, the buildings for which they are responsible, and the fire risk assessments conducted within those buildings. It also seeks to understand their awareness, preparedness and experiences in relation to changes to fire safety legislation. In completing a fire risk assessment, an RP must identify fire hazards, and people on the premises at risk, and evaluate, remove or reduce any risks. They should consider issues such as emergency routes and exits, firefighting equipment, staff training, dangerous substances and the needs of vulnerable people. Assessments are a judgement-based assessment of risk, so may vary between assessors.

The population of RPs is currently largely unknown and there are no reliable comprehensive listings of RPs available. Therefore, we invited RPs who have previously engaged with the Home Office, such as Fire Risk Assessment Prioritisation Tool (FRAPT) users, to complete the survey. We also shared the survey with relevant stakeholder organisations who have engaged with the Home Office regarding fire safety, at relevant industry events and to organisations found through open-source searches.

The findings in this report therefore reflect the RPs who participated in the study, and it is uncertain if these are representative of all RPs in England. When we mention RPs throughout this report, we are talking only about those who responded to the survey and are not making a generalisation about all RPs in England.

We received 420 responses, 362 of which were from RPs in England, and which form the basis of this analysis. The team conducted significance tests and used a 95% confidence level for indicating statistically significant differences between RP sub-groups. Throughout the report, we only refer to statistically significant differences between sub-groups.

1.4 Findings

The findings of this report focus on RPs in England and reflect awareness, preparedness and experience of RPs with fire safety legislation that, in some instances, applies to England only.

Research question 1: Who are RPs in England and what is their housing stock?

RPs and their organisations tend to work in the private sector and are responsible for a diverse number of buildings. RPs have a wide portfolio of building types and services they or their organisations provide.

The RPs surveyed mainly work within the private sector (61%) compared to public or third sector (24%), and in the residential management sector (14%). RPs also tend to be responsible for a few buildings - between one and 10 buildings (56%).

Some RPs (37%) are responsible for only buildings that fall under the FSER (buildings with residential use) while other RPs (24%) are both responsible for residential (as under the FSER) and for non-residential buildings.

RPs and their organisations most commonly provide services such as being facilities managers (25%), working in residential care, social housing and holiday/short term lets (18% each), real estate (16%) and private provider of housing (11%).

RPs differ in the type of FRA they use to conduct their fire risk assessments: overall, half of RPs (49%) use external FRAs and a third of RPs (32%) use in-house FRAs. The remaining 17% of RPs use both external and in-house FRAs.

Research question 2: What have RPs done in response to the new requirements within the Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022 (FSER)?

Overall, the findings indicate a high level of compliance with implementing FSER, suggesting the legislation has generally led to implementation of fire safety changes and checks as intended. The RPs we surveyed typically agreed that they have provided their residents with the information required by the FSER since January 2023. Findings show that most RPs agreed with statements about implementing actions related to their buildings, sharing fire safety information with residents (90%) and sharing information about fire doors (83%).

Levels of preparedness for various actions expected of RPs with buildings over 11 metres and 18 metres were found to be high. For RPs with buildings over 11 metres this includes undertaking annual checks on all flat entrance fire doors (86% have started this) and quarterly checks on fire doors in the common parts of the building (82% have started this).

Equally, RPs responsible for at least one building over 18 metres showed high levels of agreement with actions related to the fire safety of their buildings and sharing information with local fire and rescue services (FRSs). This includes activities such as installing a secure information box with copies of building floor plans and floor plan footprints (85%) and sharing building and floor plans with their local FRS (74%).

The results suggest RPs use a diverse group of people to conduct the fire door checks of the buildings for which they are responsible, and the great majority (94%) are confident in following FSER fire door guidance. Such people vary in their roles within organisations and may also vary in their capacity to conduct fire door checks. For instance, while two-thirds (65%) of RPs indicate they or their organisation carry out the fire door checks, other RPs use a third-party contractor (43%); repairs and maintenance personnel (30%) or a caretaker (18%).

Research question 3: What are RPs’ experiences working with fire risk assessors who conduct fire risk assessments?

RPs generally think they understand the information provided by their FRAs (85%). Equally, RPs report high levels of confidence in selecting a competent FRA (41% said they are ‘very confident’ and 42% said ‘fairly confident’). In addition, more than two-thirds of RPs stated that they ensure their FRAs belong to a relevant professional registration scheme (67%) and report a diverse group of UKAS-accredited (20%), non-UKAS accredited bodies (29%) and both UKAS and non-UKAS accredited bodies (15%) by which their FRAs are certificated.

However, some RPs are not able to identify the scheme their FRAs belong to (27%). This could be because RPs do not have access to this information or because they have limited involvement in the hiring/selection process of their FRAs. Alternatively, RPs with external FRAs may consider their FRAs to be competent through previous fire checks, but they may not remember specific details about the scheme their FRA belongs to.

RPs place a higher level of importance on the qualifications, certification and experience of their prospective FRAs than on recommendations by other RPs. In their decision to hire or select FRAs, RPs or their organisations rely more on formal channels (such as using accredited organisation (46%) or specialised channels (28%)) than informal channels (using online searches (18%) or recommendations / word of mouth (23%)).

RPs report mixed levels of engagement with their FRAs during fire risk assessments and mixed levels of satisfaction with the quality of the services provided by their FRAs. Around half of RPs (49%) accompany their FRAs frequently (‘always’ or ‘often’) during fire risk assessments. Three-fifths of RPs (60%) report being satisfied’ with the services provided by their FRAs, around one in 7 (14%) were dissatisfied. One in 10 (11%) said they are neither satisfied nor dissatisfied and another 11% did not know. Furthermore, RPs highlighted difficulties such as waiting times (28%), the standard of the assessment (24%), and ascertaining the competence of FRAs (23%), as well as challenges in understanding the regulations and how to implement them on time.

RPs report a good level of awareness and use of the Fire Risk Assessment Prioritisation Tool (FRAPT). Three-quarters (76%) have heard about the FRAPT, and out of them four-fifths (80%) have used it in the past. This likely reflects the approach we took to sample RPs for this study, which drew in part on FRAPT users and their contacts.

Research question 4: What are the differences in the experiences RPs have between external and in-house fire risk assessors (FRAs)?

Findings suggest there is little difference between RPs with external and in-house FRAs even after accounting for differences in sector, service type, or the RP’s building responsibilities (such as being responsible for buildings under FSER). However, RPs with in-house FRAs tend to be less engaged with the fire risk assessment process compared to RPs with external FRAs, perhaps because RPs using external FRAs need to engage more in the assessment process.

RPs with external FRAs were more likely to say they or their organisation ensure their FRAs belong to relevant professional registration schemes (84% versus 41% for RPs with in-house FRAs). While difficult to isolate a single explanation for these differences, RPs with in-house FRAs may have their own competence criteria, which they may assess to be different from those in the professionalisation schemes.

RPs with external FRAs reported that their FRAs often provide both fire risk assessments and Fire Risk Appraisal of External Walls (FRAEW). This is considerably higher for RPs with external FRAs than for RPs with in-house FRAs (27% versus 13%). There is also a tendency for RPs with external FRAs to use formal hiring (that is, accredited organisations or fire risk register of assessors) channels (43% versus 19% for RPs with in-house FRAs) and to say that qualifications and certification of their FRAs are ‘very important’ for them (94% versus 80% for RPs with in-house FRAs).

RPs with external FRAs are more satisfied with their FRAs compared to RPs with in-house FRAs (71% versus 48% are ‘very satisfied’ or ‘fairly satisfied’). This difference is driven by RPs with external FRAs being more likely to express views about the quality of services they receive from their FRAs (just 2% do not know if they are satisfied or dissatisfied with the quality of their FRAs compared with 30% for RPs with in-house FRAs).

Research question 5: To what extent were RPs prepared to implement Section 156 of the BSA?

Section 156 of the BSA was not yet in force when the research was conducted but a factsheet setting out the new requirements had been published in July 2023. Just under half of RPs (44%) were aware of Section 156 of the BSA facing challenges such as understanding the new requirements (25%), engagement with residents (18%) and cost (17%).

However, when asked about what they intended to do without the question identifying them as Section 156 requirements, RPs reported higher levels of agreement such as recording the completion of fire risk assessments in full (96%) and identifying (80%) or share (89%) fire safety information with other RPs, Accountable Persons and Principal Accountable Persons.

1.5 Conclusion

RPs surveyed predominantly operate within the private sector and are responsible for a small number of buildings. The median number of buildings for which RPs are responsible for is 6 buildings, while RPs most frequently report they or their organisation are responsible for a single building.

Findings suggest RPs are largely aware of the FSER in the months leading up to their implementation and are highly confident regarding perceived compliance with the FSER indicating effective dissemination of fire safety information. This suggests that the survey respondents would generally be in a position to follow and implement FSER as required. However, it would be useful to explore any changes over time in following the FSER and whether they have been correctly applied across a wider pool of RPs. Further investigations by others may explore opportunities to measure the impact of these inputs towards fire safety to understand the effectiveness of the legislation and its impact on the safety of residents in the event of fire. RPs’ perceived satisfaction levels concerning the quality of services provided by FRAs varies across different RP groups. RPs in the private sector and RPs in the public or third sector show similar levels of satisfaction with the quality of services provided (60% versus 69% respectively are ‘satisfied). However, RPs with external FRAs show higher levels of perceived satisfaction with their FRAs (71% of RPs with external FRAs versus 48% of RPs with in-house FRAs are satisfied).

The high levels self-reported intention to implement specific activities without identifying them as Section 156 of BSA requirements, indicate that despite not being aware of Section 156, RPs are responding and adapting to specific upcoming requirements effectively.

2. Introduction

2.1 Context and background

Since the tragic fire at Grenfell Tower in 2017, fire safety legislation has changed significantly with the introduction of the Fire Safety Act (FSA) 2021, the Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022 (FSER) and the Building Safety Act (BSA) 2022.

The FSA clarified the scope of the FSO to make clear it applies to the structure, external walls and individual flat entrance doors between domestic premises and the common parts of multi-occupied residential buildings, which RPs must consider when conducting fire risk assessments.

The FSER introduced requirements for RPs of medium-rise (between 11 to 18 metres) and high-rise (above 18 metres) blocks of flats to provide information to FRSs. This is to assist the FRS with operational planning and providing additional safety measures, which include checks on fire doors and firefighting equipment, provision of fire safety instructions and information on fire doors.

The RP is the person responsible for fire safety on premises under the FSO. They are the person in control of the premises, whether as an employer for a workplace, or the owner of the premises. There are other duty holders who have the same duties as RPs, depending on the extent of their control over the premises. Under Article 9 of the FSO, RPs have a duty to complete a suitable and sufficient fire risk assessment of their premises. RPs may use FRAs. FRA is a professional who RP may employ to assist them in making or reviewing a fire risk assessment.

Section 156 of the BSA aims to improve cooperation and coordination between RPs and increase the recording and sharing of fire safety information, thus creating a continual record throughout a building’s lifespan.

The Home Office undertook this research as part of the work to monitor and review these legislative changes. It seeks to inform an understanding of how RPs in England have responded to current and future changes, and the impact the changes have had on RPs and relevant persons using their premises, such as residents, guests and employees.

This research aims to inform ongoing work in relation to policy on fire risk assessor professionalisation. The Grenfell Tower Inquiry Phase 2 report recommended that government mandate certification of fire risk assessors (FRAs). This survey helps provide, for the first time, information on RPs’ experience in appointing FRAs and will support the government in responding to this recommendation. This survey ran alongside a survey of FRAs themselves in England and together will help give us a clearer picture of FRA and RP behaviour. It asks questions related to FRAs, their previous experience, their training, whether they are certificated or professional body members, and the buildings they work on. The findings of the survey, alongside our report on Fire risk assessors in England, will help inform our understanding of the sector in England.

2.2 Research questions

This research primarily aims to understand the preparedness and experiences of RPs in response to recent changes in fire safety legislation in England by answering the following research questions:

Research question 1: Who are RPs in England and what is their building stock?

Research question 2: What have RPs done in response to the new requirements within the Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022 (FSER)?

Research question 3: What are RPs’ experiences working with fire risk assessors who conduct fire risk assessments?

Research question 4: What are the differences in the experiences RPs have between external and in-house fire risk assessors?

Research question 5: To what extent are RPs prepared to implement Section 156 of the BSA?

We have structured the report so that each chapter in the main body addresses a specific research question, except for question 4, which is covered in each of the chapters. Throughout this report, we refer to responsible persons as RPs and to fire risk assessors as FRAs or assessors.

2.3 Research approach and design

The research outlined in this report comprises an online survey of RPs in England. Home Office researchers developed research materials in collaboration with fire policy colleagues, the National Fire Chiefs Council (NFCC), and stakeholders in the fire sector. The survey sought to provide a thematic overview of RPs’ awareness and experience of recent changes to fire safety legislation within England.

2.3.1 Questionnaire design

We worked together with various stakeholders and designed a questionnaire to provide answers to the research questions described in section 2.2. The survey, which we have included in Appendix A, covered questions linked to:

• RPs and the buildings for which they are responsible
• RP’s awareness of, and experiences of following, the FSA and FSER
• RP’s awareness of and preparedness for the further changes in Section 156 of BSA
• the relationship between RPs and FRAs

2.3.2 Participation of RPs in the online survey

The population of RPs is currently largely unknown and there are no reliable comprehensive listings of RPs available. We explored whether to purchase a sample of relevant company/job role contact details from a business database provider but discounted this option, as we could not identify a robust database.

Therefore, we invited RPs who have previously engaged with the Home Office, such as FRAPT users, to complete the survey.

In addition, we invited other stakeholders to complete the survey, by liaising with relevant stakeholder organisations who have engaged with us on RPs (for example, professional membership groups, large employers, fire safety media organisations and other government departments). We also promoted the survey by attending conferences and other events, and by searching for open-source new contacts. We encouraged all contacts to share the survey with their peers within and beyond their organisations.

2.3.3 Fieldwork

The online platform SmartSurvey hosted the survey. Fieldwork ran between 6 July and 4 September 2023, with a reminder email sent to maximise response rates, as it ran over the summer holiday season.

We received 420 responses and analysed 362 responses from RPs working in England responsible for 152,485 premises (we removed 58 responses because they were invalid due to missing data, duplicate entries, or because respondents are not an RP). The cleaning and coding of the data was quality assured. However, the actual base number of responses varies from question to question. This is because participants could skip questions to which they were unable or unwilling to provide information.

The findings in this report reflect the RPs who participated in the study, and it is uncertain if these views represent all RPs in England. We continually promoted the survey and cascaded invitations to increase the number and breadth of responses beyond those who already interact with government and/or professional bodies. While we cannot assume our sample of RPs is representative, the report provides useful evidence to answer the research questions.

2.3.4. Quantitative analysis

We exported the survey data collected in SmartSurvey into a spreadsheet and subsequently analysed it using RStudio. We analysed these descriptive statistics via categorical and sub-group analysis. The team conducted significance tests (proportion test, Chi-square test, Fisher’s Exact Test and Analysis of variance (ANOVA), where appropriate) and used a 95% confidence level to indicate statistically significant differences between RP sub-groups. The main sub-groups are the types of sectors within which RPs work, the type of service they or their organisation provide, the number of buildings for which RPs are responsible or the type of FRAs RPs use. Throughout the report, we only refer to statistically significant differences between sub-groups.

We also coded and analysed open-ended questions using thematic analysis and provided quality assurance by checking all calculations and outputs.

2.3.5 Ethics and data protection

To ensure high ethics and safeguarding standards, we conducted the study in accordance with Government Social Research guidelines: GSR Professional Guidance - Ethical Assurance for Social Research in Government. To ensure they understood the research process entirely, we provided potential participants with a detailed online information sheet and privacy notice, so they provided fully informed consent to take part in the research (see Appendix B). This outlined the project aims, what would be required of participants, and how their data would be handled.

We collected and handled data in line with Data Protection Act 2018 and the UK General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Only researchers working on the project had access to the data gathered.

3. Who are the RPs in England and what is their building stock?

This chapter seeks to answer research question 1: Who are RPs in England and what is their building stock? All surveyed RPs responded to a series of questions about themselves and the buildings for which they are responsible. The findings in this chapter reflect the RPs who participated in the study, and it is uncertain if these are representative of all RPs in England.

3.1 Who are RPs in England?

This section explores the type of sectors within which RPs work, the type of services they or their organisations provide, and the buildings for which they are responsible. It seeks to provide a better understanding of the profile of the RPs in England.

Table 1 summarises the profile of RPs surveyed by sector, including the number of buildings for which they are responsible, the services they or their organisations provide, and whether they are responsible for at least one building where Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022 (FSER) apply. Additional figures are available in Appendix C: Research question 1.

Three-fifths (61%) of RPs report they work in the private sector, a quarter (25%) work in the public or third sector and about one in 7 (14%) work in the residential management sector.

The RPs surveyed report being responsible for a total of 152,485 buildings with each RP responsible for between a single building and 33,500 buildings. The median number of buildings for which RPs are responsible for is 6 buildings, while RPs most frequently report they or their organisation are responsible for a single building. Almost a third (31%) of RPs are responsible for a single building, with another quarter (26%) responsible for between 2 to 10 buildings. Almost half of RPs (44%) are responsible for 11 or more buildings (15% stating 11 to 50, another 15% responsible for 51 to 200 and 14% responsible for more than 200).

Almost two-thirds (61%) of RPs are responsible for at least one building where FSER apply, including 37% responsible only for FSER buildings and 24% responsible for FSER and non-FSER buildings. FSER buildings include those with some residential use (multi-occupied residential buildings, mixed-use buildings, buildings converted into flats, sheltered housing, houses of multiple occupation and/or educational premises that contain at least 2 sets of domestic premises). Another two-fifths (39%) of RPs are responsible for buildings where FSER do not apply.

We asked RPs to identify, from a list, which service best describes the service they or their organisation provides. The most common type of service RPs provide is as a facilities manager (25%). This is followed by services around residential care (18%), social housing (18%), holiday/short-term services (18%) and real estate services (16%). One in ten (11%) RPs consider themselves to be a private provider of housing and 5% provide services in higher education accommodation.

Around half (49%) of RPs state their fire risk assessments are conducted by an external/out-of-house assessor, a third (32%) report they do this in-house, while the remainder (17%) report using a mixture of both external and in-house FRAs.

Table 1: Breakdown of RPs who responded to the survey

	Total n = 362	n	% of RPs
Sector	Private sector	220	61%
	Other type of private company (limited company / public limited company)	106	29%
	Private sector landlord	70	19%
	Property management agent or company	39	11%
	Private letting agency	5	1%
	Public or third sector	87	24%
	Housing association or other not-for-profit housing provider	49	14%
	Other public sector organisation	22	6%
	Local authority (borough, district and city council)	16	4%
	Residential management	49	14%
	Residents’ Management Company [RMC] or Right to Manage Company [RTM]	49	14%
	Other	6	2%
	Commonhold Association	0	0%
Number of buildings	Single building	110	30%
	2 to 10 buildings	94	26%
	11 to 50 buildings	53	15%
	51 to 200 buildings	54	15%
	Over 200 buildings	51	14%
Services provided by RP or their organisation (more than one answer possible)	Facilities manager	90	25%
	Residential care	65	18%
	Social housing	64	18%
	Holiday/short term	64	18%
	Real estate	57	16%
	Private provider of housing	41	11%
	Higher education	19	5%
	Food and beverage services	6	2%
	Real estate on a fee/contract	5	1%
	Education activities	5	1%
	Hotels	3	1%
	Other	2	1%
RP responsible for at least one building where FSER 2022 apply	FSER do not apply	141	39%
	FSER apply	134	37%
	Mix of buildings	87	24%
RP responsible for a building over 11 metres		141	39%
RP responsible for a building over 18 metres		88	24%
Who carries out fire risk assessments?	External/out-of-house FRAs	178	49%
	In-house FRAs	116	32%
	Both external and in-house FRAs	63	17%

4. What have RPs done in response to the new requirements within the Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022?

This chapter aims to answer research question 2 (what have RPs done in response to the new requirements within the Fire Safety (England) regulations 2022) and understand more about surveyed RPs who are responsible for buildings where the FSER apply. The FSER introduced requirements for RPs of medium-rise and high-rise blocks of flats to provide information to FRSs. This is to assist RPs with operational planning and provide additional safety measures, including provision of fire safety instructions and information on fire doors. The findings in this chapter reflect the RPs who participated in the study, and it is uncertain if these are representative of all RPs in England.

This chapter focuses on RPs’ views, and experiences of following the FSER, and additional specific requirements related to the height of their buildings (such as fire door checks and sharing fire information). RPs responsible for buildings over 11 metres in height are expected to follow and comply with specific requirements related to their fire doors. Relevant groups of RPs affected by the legislation responded to specific questions. Table 2 shows the number of surveyed RPs in each of the sub-groups discussed in this chapter.

The chapter also aims to understand whether RPs agreed they have undertaken certain actions, regarding information sharing with their residents, such as fire safety instructions and information on the importance of fire doors. For reporting purposes when referring to RPs level of agreement in the text we grouped ‘strongly agree’ and ‘tend to agree’ categories into an ‘agree’ category.

Table 2: Breakdown of surveyed RPs responsible for a building where FSER apply

		n	% of RPs with a building where FSER 2022 apply
RPs responsible for at least one building where FSER 2022 apply		221	-
RPs with:	Additional specific regulations related to fire doors of RPs with buildings over 11 metres	141	64%
RPs with:	Additional specific regulations related to RPs with buildings over 18 metres	88	40%

4.1 What is the proportion of RPs responsible for at least one building where the Fire Safety England Regulations 2022 apply? Have they taken specific actions regarding their buildings since January 2023?

Around three-fifths (61%; 221) of responding RPs are responsible for at least one building where the FSER apply.

We asked these 221 RPs about their level of preparedness for various actions expected of them by the legislation. Table 3 summarises the activities RPs are expected to take since January 2023 by the height or the building for which they are responsible. An important consequence of being responsible for a building where the FSER apply is that RPs must share fire safety instructions with residents and provide them with information about the importance of fire doors. Nine in 10 (90%) agreed they have shared fire safety instructions with their residents, and more than four-fifths (83%) agreed they have shared information about the importance of fire doors with their residents, since January 2023.

RPs responsible for a single building tended to agree less that they share information about the importance of fire doors with residents (65%) compared with RPs responsible for 11 to 50 buildings (83%), and RPs responsible for 51 to 200 buildings (78%). This suggests that RPs with a larger number of buildings appear more likely to comply with this aspect of the FSER.

There are no differences between RPs based on the sector in which they work, the type of service they provide, and whether they are responsible for a building over 11 metres compared to RPs working in the public or third sectors and RPs in residential management, on how much they agreed with statements about sharing fire safety information with residents and sharing information about the importance of fire doors.

Table 3: RPs’ level of agreement with statements that describe activities taken since January 2023

Statement	Strongly agree	Tend to agree	Neither agree nor disagree	Tend to disagree	Strongly disagree	Do not know	Not applicable
RPs with at least one building where FSER apply (n=221)
I (or my organisation) shared fire safety instructions with residents, including evacuation strategies for the buildings for which I am a responsible person	75%	15%	3%	4%	2%	-	-
I (or my organisation) provided residents with information about the importance of fire doors (the need to keep shut, not tamper with and report faults relating to fire doors) for the buildings for which I am a responsible person	66%	17%	7%	5%	3%	-	-
Responsibilities for RPs with at least one building above 11 metres (n=141)
Started undertaking quarterly checks of all fire doors in the common parts of the building	71%	11%	4%	7%	6%	0%	-
Started undertaking annual checks of all flat entrance fire doors of the buildings	70%	16%	4%	4%	6%	0%	-
Responsibilities for RPs (buildings above 18 metres) (n=88)							-
I (or my organisation) installed a secure information box which has hard copies of the building floorplans and floorplans footprint	69%	16%	6%	2%	3%	1%	1%
I (or my organisation) installed wayfinding signage which identifies floor and flat numbers in the building’s stairways and lobbies	60%	16%	11%	7%	1%	1%	0%
I (or my organisation) shared information on the design and materials of the external wall with my local fire and rescue service	60%	12%	11%	5%	6%	2%	1%
I (or my organisation) shared building and floor plans with the local fire and rescue service	59%	15%	14%	2%	7%	1%	1%
I (or my organisation) have started undertaking monthly checks of lifts used by firefighters within the buildings	57%	10%	3%	1%	5%	1%	20%

Source: Responsible persons survey

Notes:

1. Bases: RPs responsible for at least one building where FSER 2022 apply = 221.
2. Bases: RPs responsible for a building over 11 metres = 141.
3. Bases: RPs responsible for a building over 18 metres = 88.
4. Q9. For each of the statements below, please indicate the extent to which you agree or disagree they describe activities taken by you since January 2023.
5. Q13. Thinking about these building(s) with a height greater than or equal to 11 metres, for each of the statements below, please indicate the extent to which you agree or disagree they describe activities you have taken since January 2023.
6. Q21. Thinking about the buildings with a height of 18 metres or more for which you are a responsible person, for each of the statements below, please indicate the extent to which you agree or disagree they describe activities taken since January 2023.

4.2 What, if any, are the differences in who conducts fire door checks of buildings over 11 metres for which RPs are responsible?

Two-thirds (64%; 141) of RPs responsible for at least one building where the FSER apply are also responsible for at least one building over 11 metres. These RPs are responsible for a total of 134,386 buildings, with a median number of 74 buildings each.

The FSER require these RPs to follow additional measures regarding to the fire safety of their buildings and particularly checks on fire doors (such as checks on communal and flat entrance fire doors, knowledge of fire door guidance and the approach to conducting checks on fire doors).

We asked RPs to provide information about who is conducting the fire door checks on their buildings. Figure 1 shows the diversity of people involved in fire door checks where two-thirds (65%) of RPs indicated they or their organisation carry out the fire door checks; 4 in 10 (43%) use a third-party contractor; 3 in 10 (30%) indicate repairs and maintenance personnel perform the checks and almost one in 5 (18%) use a caretaker. Only 3% stated that nobody conducts the checks on their fire doors. The results suggest RPs report appointing someone to conduct fire door checks for the buildings for which they are responsible. However, such people vary in their roles within organisations and may also vary in their capacity to conduct fire door checks.

Figure 1: Proportion of RP types carrying out the checks on fire doors in the buildings for which they are responsible

Source: Responsible persons survey

Notes:

1. Base: RPs with additional specific regulations related to fire doors of RPs with buildings over 11 metres =141.
2. Q12. To the best of your knowledge, who, if anyone, is carrying out the checks on fire doors in the buildings for which you are a responsible person? (multiple answer options).

To compare if RPs who conduct checks on their fire doors differ by whether they (or their organisation) carry out the checks or someone else does this externally, we split the answers into 3 categories:

• RPs or their organisations conduct the door checks
• someone else is conducting the checks (caretaker, managing agent, housing officer, repairs and maintenance personnel, third party contractor)
• a mixture of both

Figure D11 in Appendix D: Research question 2 shows the distribution of these 3 groups.

Of the RPs responsible for undertaking fire door checks, almost 4 in 10 (37%) stated that they use a mixture of both options when they conduct the fire door checks for their buildings; more than a third (35%) stated that someone conducts the checks for them; and almost 3 in 10 (28%) indicated they or their organisation conducts the checks. Given the highest response from RPs is that they use a mixture of both, it is possible that RPs may use someone else to do their first fire door checks, then do it internally for subsequent fire door checks considering the latter as reviews. RPs may also use someone else to conduct the checks on flat entrance doors and conduct checks in doors in the common parts internally.

RPs responsible for a single building are more likely to check fire doors themselves (67%) compared with RPs responsible for 11 to 50 buildings (20%) and RPs responsible for 51 to 200 buildings (7%).

RPs with external FRAs are more likely than RPs with in-house FRAs to have their door checks done by someone else (47% versus 11%); RPs with external FRAs are also more likely than RPs who use both external and in-house FRAs to have their door checks done by someone else (47% versus 29%).

4.2.1 What are RPs’ levels of knowledge and confidence related to fire door guidance?

RPs answered questions about their familiarity with the FSER fire door guidance and confidence in following it. Out of 141 RPs responsible for at least one building over 11 metres, 92% (130 RPs) agreed they have heard about the fire door guidance. Out of those that have heard about the guidance, more than 9 in 10 (94%) are either ‘very confident’ (62%) or ‘fairly confident’ (32%). Furthermore, less than one in 10 (7%) are either not ‘very confident’ (5%) or ‘not at all confident’ (2%) in following the guidance.

RPs who have their fire door checks conducted by someone else feel less confident about following ‘Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022: fire door’ guidance to the common areas and flat fire doors for the buildings that they are a RP for (41% are ‘very confident’) compared with both RPs who do this themselves (78%) and to RPs who have a mixture of both (67%). This suggests that RPs not confident in following the fire door guidance initially may have decided to outsource this service to someone else. RPs may also not have taken the time to familiarise themselves with the fire door guidance as they already have someone else who can do this for them.

4.2.2 How do RPs determine if a fire door needs to be replaced or repaired?

We asked RPs to provide additional open-ended responses related to the approach they use to determine if the fire doors in their buildings need to be repaired or replaced. Out of 141 RPs responsible for at least one building over 11 metres, 132 (94%) provided answers. Figure 2 shows that approximately half (52%) of them conduct visual or physical inspections and more than a third (36%) seek advice from a professional, qualified person or expert. In contrast, just 4% use their fire risk assessments to check fire doors.

We looked at the responses from those who use visual or physical checks to determine whether a door needs to be replaced or repaired. Some RPs specified what they look for during a visual or physical check, that is, ‘in relation to door closer functionality, gaps, hinges, and seals for example, if the door isn’t self-closing, cracked/broken panels, isn’t close fitting, isn’t minimum thickness’.

Others specified the different circumstances where replacing the door is more appropriate than repairing the door. For example, a door would need to be repaired ‘if it fails on gaps, door closer or visual damage’ but would instead need to be replaced ‘if door gaps top both leaves and bottom are excessive or the damage to the door (is) not viable for repair’, for example, (if) police have raided the property.

The second largest category of RPs are those who seek advice from a professional/qualified person (36%) to determine whether a door needs to be replaced or repaired. In their more detailed responses, RPs identified this advice may come from, ‘suitable qualified third-party contractors’ or a ‘competent fire door inspector’, while others indicated they use a combination of both approaches. For instance, using ‘the criteria within the guidance to assess the condition of the door. A suitably competent contractor then verifies that the door should be repaired or replaced’.

Figure 2: RP’s approach to determine if a fire door needs to be replaced or repaired

Source: Responsible persons survey

Notes:

1. Base: RPs with additional specific regulations related to fire doors of RPs with buildings over 11 metres who responded to Q17 = 132.
2. Q17. To the best of your knowledge, how do you determine if a fire door needs to be replaced or repaired?

4.2.3 To what extent have the RPs responsible for at least one building over 11 metres undertaken actions related to checks on their fire doors?

RPs responsible for buildings over 11 metres must comply with different fire door checks, based on whether they are responsible for either a communal or flat entrance door. We asked these RPs to share if they agree or disagree with 2 statements about their communal or flat entrance fire doors. Of these 141 RPs, more than 4 in 5 (86%) agreed they have started undertaking annual checks on all flat entrance fire doors, and 4 in 5 (82%) agreed they have started undertaking quarterly checks on all fire doors in the common parts of their buildings since January 2023. Further information is available in Table 3 in Appendix D: Research question 2.

4.2.4 To what extent have RPs responsible for at least one building over 18 metres undertaken actions related to the fire safety of their buildings?

RPs responsible for at least one building over 18 metres (88 RPs) responded to questions asking if they agree to have taken specific actions since January 2023 related to their buildings. These RPs are responsible for a total of 93,658 buildings with a median number of 154 buildings each. The majority of these RPs agreed they have taken actions as a result of recent fire safety legislation, including that they have:

• installed a secure information box with copies of building floor plans and floorplans footprint (85%)
• installed way-finding signage which identifies floor and flat numbers in the building’s stairways and lobbies (76%)
• shared building and floor plans with their local FRS (74%)
• shared information on the design and material of the external wall with their local FRS (72%)
• started undertaking monthly checks of lifts used by firefighters within the buildings (67%); however, a fifth (20%) indicate this activity is not applicable to them; the high percentage of RPs responding that this does not apply to them (20%) could be because their buildings do not have lifts or firefighting equipment listed in the regulations

Additional information is available in Table 3 in Appendix D: Research question 2.

4.3. What do RPs think can be improved with the Fire Safety England Regulations 2022 (FSER)?

Out of 221 RPs with a building under the FSER, three-fifths (60%; 133) provided open-ended feedback about how the FSER could be improved. Figure 3 shows that the most frequent suggestions for improvement by RPs focus on the ‘clarity’ of the FSER (31%) and how the scope of the FSER needs to be considered, redefined or clarified (21%).

For instance, one RP mentioned that the legislation is ‘very hard for (a) layperson to follow’, while another referred to both the clarity and the scope of the regulations by pointing out difficulties in ‘deciphering which terms apply to low-rise buildings versus high-rise buildings and rented accommodation versus owner-occupied’.

Figure 3: What RPs think could be improved with the Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022

Source: Responsible persons survey

Notes:

1. Base: RPs responsible for at least one building where FSER 2022 apply and who responded to Q23 = 133.
2. Q23. Please use this space to describe anything you think could be improved with the Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022.

5. What are RPs’ experiences working with fire risk assessors who conduct fire risk assessments?

This chapter answers research question 3 (What are RPs’ experiences working with fire risk assessors who conduct fire risk assessments?). It aims to understand more about RPs’ relationship with FRAs, their approach to carrying out fire risk assessments, including who they appoint to assist them and how they make that choice. All RPs (362) responded to a series of questions about their experience with FRAs, their interaction with FRAs before, during and after fire risk assessments, and how RPs select competent FRAs. Lastly, this chapter discusses RPs’ experiences with using the FRAPT. For reporting purposes when referring to RPs level of agreement in the text we grouped ‘strongly agree’ and ‘tend to agree’ categories into an ‘agree’ category. The findings in this chapter reflect the RPs who participated in the study, and it is uncertain if these are representative of all RPs in England.

5.1 What are RPs’ experiences working with FRAs who conduct fire risk assessments?

All RPs (362) surveyed answered a series of questions to understand the type of FRAs who carry out fire risk assessments for RPs and the services they provide. Table 4 summarises FRAs’ profiles, and more information is available in figures E1 to E5 in Appendix E: Research question 3.

Table 4: Breakdown of RPs by their FRAs profile

	Total RPs = 362	n	% of RPs
Who carries out fire risk assessment?	Out-of-house/external FRAs	234	65%
	RP does the fire risk assessments themselves	106	29%
	In-house FRAs	87	24%
	Internal FRAs	6	2%
	Do not know	5	1%
Which services do FRAs provide?	Fire risk assessments only	258	73%
	Fire risk assessments that include FRAEW	75	21%
	FRAEW only	4	1%
	Do not know	17	5%
Does RP ensure their FRAs belong to any relevant professional registration scheme?	Yes	243	67%
	No	75	21%
	Not sure	36	10%
How confident is RP about selecting a competent FRA?	Very confident	148	41%
	Fairly confident	152	42%
	Not very confident	30	8%
	Not at all confident	10	3%
	Do not know	17	5%

Two-thirds (65%) of RPs stated that external/out-of-house FRAs conduct their fire risk assessments; and almost 3 in 10 (29%) conduct fire risk assessments themselves. A quarter (24%) use in-house FRAs (an employee), while only 2% use internal FRAs (such as a sub-contractor working solely for the RP or their organisation) to conduct the fire risk assessments. These results demonstrate the variety of professionals undertaking fire risk assessments.

We recorded the RPs’ answers to this question in 3 categories based on the type of FRAs RPs reported they use:

• external FRAs (49%) comprising ‘external/out-of-house FRAs’ and ‘internal FRAs’ answer options
• in-house FRAs (32%) comprising ‘in-house FRAs’ and ‘I do fire risk assessments myself’ answer options
• both external and in-house FRAs (17%) comprising RPs who have indicated using a combination of FRAs

Any comparisons between RPs are based on comparing these 3 groups.

Three-quarters (73%) of RPs reported their FRAs provide only fire risk assessments and one in 5 (21%) also include a Fire Risk Appraisal of External Walls (FRAEW) to their fire risk assessment. One in 20 (5%) do not know the services their FRA provides.

RPs with in-house FRAs are most likely to receive only fire risk assessments from their FRAs (82%) compared to RPs who use external FRAs (68%), as shown in figure 4.

RPs with external FRAs are more likely to undertake FRAEW with a fire risk assessment (27%) compared to RPs with in-house FRAs (13%); FRAEW can be done for any building with 2 or more domestic premises.

Figure 4: Proportion of RPs who use external FRAs and RPs who use in-house FRA by type of service their FRAs provide

Source: Responsible persons survey

Notes:

1. Base: All RPs = 362.
2. Q30. Which of the following does your fire risk assessor provide?
3. Q29. Who is carrying out fire risk assessments of the buildings for which you are a responsible person?

More than two-thirds (67%) of RPs reported they ensure their FRAs belong to a relevant professional registration scheme, while one in 5 (21%) say they do not ensure their FRAs belong to a relevant professional registration scheme, and one in 10 RPs (10%) are not sure.

RPs with external FRAs are more likely than RPs with in-house FRAs and RPs who use both external and in-house FRAs (84% versus 41% and 77% respectively) to say they ensure their FRAs belong to a relevant professional registration scheme (as figure 5 shows).

Figure 5: Proportion of RPs who use external FRAs and RPs who use in-house FRA by whether they or their organisation ensure those FRAs belong to a relevant professional registration scheme

Source: Responsible persons survey

Notes:

1. Base: All RPs = 362.
2. Q33. To the best of your knowledge, do you or your organisation ensure that the fire risk assessors who carry out the fire risk assessments of the buildings you are a responsible person for belong to any relevant professional registration schemes?
3. Q29. Who is carrying out fire risk assessments of the buildings for which you are a responsible person?

Four-fifths (83%) of RPs feel they are confident about selecting a competent FRA (41% of RPs feel they are ‘very confident’ and 42% feeling ‘fairly confident’). Fewer than one in 10 (8%) feel they are ‘not very confident’ and 3% are ‘not at all confident’ in selecting a competent assessor.

RPs with external FRAs are more confident about selecting competent FRAs compared to RPs with in-house FRAs. Almost half (46%) of RPs with external FRAs state they are ‘very confident’ in selecting competent FRAs compared to 36% of RPs who work with in-house FRAs. This suggests that the confidence an RP has in selecting a competent FRA varies, based on whether their FRA is external or in-house.

5.1.1 To what extent do RPs agree or disagree with statements related to the fire risk assessments on all buildings for which they are responsible?

RPs shared how much they agreed or disagreed with various statements related to their fire risk assessments (as shown in table 5 in Appendix E: Research question 3). There are high levels of agreement with each statement. The highest level of agreement is with the statement ‘I understand the information given in the fire risk assessment by the fire risk assessor(s)’ (85%). This is followed by ‘I feel that I (or my organisation) have completed fire risk assessments work on all buildings for which I am a responsible person’ (84%).

In addition, 80% of RPs agreed with the statement that ‘fire risk assessments are conducted when there is a significant change to the premises for which I (or my organisation) am a responsible person’ and 78% agreed they ‘understand the technical details in the fire risk assessment report provided by the fire risk assessor’ and that they ‘have access to relevant building information that can be shared with fire risk assessors’.

5.2 How do RPs interact with fire risk assessors (FRAs) before, during and after fire risk assessments of their buildings?

This section explores RPs’ interactions with their FRAs before, during and after the fire risk assessments of their buildings. RPs answered questions related to:

• the channels they use to hire/select FRAs
• the importance they place on different criteria during the hiring/selection process
• the difficulties they may experience during the fire risk assessments
• their levels of satisfaction with the services provided by FRAs after the fire risk assessments of the buildings for which they are responsible

5.2.1 Before fire risk assessments

We asked RPs to indicate the channels they or their organisation use in the process of selecting or hiring FRAs to understand more about the approach they take. RPs could select more than one channel they use. As figure 6 shows, almost half (46%) use accredited organisations; 3 in 10 (28%) use specialised channels such as a Fire Risk Register of Assessors; almost a quarter (23%) use more informal channels (such as recommendations or word of mouth), while more than a fifth (22%) contact their FRAs directly. More than a fifth (22%) also report they do not select new FRAs.

RPs who use external FRAs are more likely to use only formal channels in the process of selecting or hiring FRAs, compared to RPs with in-house FRAs (43% versus 19%).

RPs who use in-house FRAs are more likely than RPs with external FRAs to report they do not use any channels because they do not select new FRAs (59% versus 6%).

Figure 6: Proportion of RPs by channel they use when organising fire risk assessments

Source: Responsible persons survey

Notes:

1. Base: All RPs = 362.
2. Q31. What are the channels that you or your organisation use in the process of selecting/hiring a fire risk assessor? (RPs can choose more than one answer option).

RPs may place different levels of importance on various criteria when they select or hire their FRAs. We asked RPs to indicate the level of importance they place on several criteria, all of which relate to the initial stage of selecting or hiring an assessor. The majority of the 362 RPs who responded to these statements felt each criterion is ‘very important’ (as shown in table 6 in Appendix E: Research question 3), including:

• FRAs’ qualifications and training (81%)
• the certification of the company and/or individual FRAs (75%)
• FRAs’ experience in the types of building for which the RP or their organisation is responsible (75%)
• Professional Indemnity Insurance (PII) (67%)

A lower proportion of RPs considered recommendations by other RPs as being ‘very important’ (32%), however an additional third (35%) say they are ‘fairly important’.

Although the findings show that these criteria are important for the majority of RPs, there is a minority of RPs who do not find them as important. For example, 15% and 4% consider recommendations from other RPs as ‘not very important’ and ‘not at all important’, respectively. Similarly, 8% of RPs consider whether their FRA has PII as either ‘not very important’ or ‘not at all important’.

Whilst RPs with external and RPs with in-house FRAs place high importance on qualifications of their FRAs, RPs may differ in their ability to decide based on the information they have about their FRA. RPs with external FRAs may be more aware of this specific information about their FRAs than RPs with in-house FRAs. RPs with external FRAs are more likely to consider qualifications and training of FRAs (94% versus 80%), the certification of the company and/or individual FRAs (90% versus 74%), and whether the FRAs has PII (89% versus 57%) as ‘very important’ compared to RPs with in-house FRAs.

RPs were asked about the type of difficulties, if any, they have experienced when organising their fire risk assessments. Three-fifths (61%) reported experiencing difficulties when organising their fire risk assessments, while two-fifths (39%) did not report experiencing any difficulties. Waiting times for the fire risk assessments to be completed (28%), the standard of the fire risk assessment (such as unsatisfactory quality) (24%) and ascertaining if the FRA is competent (23%) are the most common difficulties RPs mentioned (as figure 7 shows).

Figure 7: Proportion of RPs by the type of difficulty they have experienced in organising fire risk assessments

Source: Responsible persons survey

Notes:

1. Base: All RPs = 362.
2. Q37. Which, if any, of the following difficulties have you (or your organisation) experienced in organising the fire risk assessments of the buildings for which you are a responsible person?

While RPs with external and in-house FRAs share similarities in the difficulties they experience, RPs with external FRAs are more likely than RPs with in-house FRAs to say they have experienced difficulties with waiting times for the fire risk assessment to be completed (34% versus 16%). This difference could be influenced by RPs with in-house FRAs being part of the same company as their FRAs, which could help mitigate the impact of waiting times.

5.2.2 During fire risk assessments

RPs answered questions related to the frequency with which they or representatives in their organisations accompany FRAs during fire risk assessments. Almost half of the RPs (49%) claimed to accompany their FRAs frequently (either ‘always’ (33%) or ‘often’ (16%)); a fifth (20%) stated they accompany their FRAs ‘sometimes’; while another fifth (21%) of RPs accompany their FRAs ‘rarely’ (11%) or ‘never’ (10%).

RPs with external FRAs are more likely to report that they always accompany their FRAs (37%) than RPs with in-house FRAs (29%).

RPs with in-house FRAs are more likely than RPs with external FRAs to say they do not know how often they accompany their FRAs (19% versus 1%).

Three-quarters (74%) of this subset of 267 RPs provided additional open-ended responses related to what they considered to be the most challenging aspects of conducting fire risk assessments as figure 8 shows.

For a quarter (26%) of this subset (267 RPs), this relates to ‘understanding the regulations’ with responses, including how the information is ‘unclear’, ‘overwhelming’ and ‘hard to understand what is relevant’. Some RPs mention that the guidance is ‘very generalised but every property is different’.

For a fifth (21%) of the 267 RPs who responded to this question, the most challenging aspects relate to ‘implementing changes required accurately and on time’. These RPs identified their own resources as a barrier to implementing the changes because they are ‘costly, time consuming, and will need to be done when the properties are empty’, while others mentioned the issue of the availability of contractors ‘who are very busy’. Moreover, some of these RPs are concerned with ensuring that the changes they have implemented ‘accord with the appropriate regulations’.

A fifth (19%) of these 267 RPs mentioned the ‘assessor’s lack of understanding of the building or organisation’. While some RPs identified challenges such as finding an FRA who is competent or who ‘has the right qualifications and experience’, there are some who also highlighted the importance of having an FRA that can ‘really understand the building and not just put in generic statements’ and ‘understands how [the] building is used’.

Figure 8: Types of challenges RPs face in conducting fire risk assessments

Source: Responsible persons survey

Notes:

1. Base: RPs who answered Q42 = 267.
2. Q42. What do you think are the most challenging aspects for you in conducting fire risk assessments?

5.2.3 After fire risk assessments

We asked RPs to indicate how satisfied or dissatisfied they are with the quality of the service provided by their FRAs and to share their views about the service they receive from their FRAs. As shown in figure 9, three-fifths (60%) are satisfied with the service they have received from their FRAs (38% state they are ‘very satisfied’, and a quarter (22%) are ‘fairly satisfied’). Approximately one in 7 (14%) are dissatisfied with the service (5% ‘very dissatisfied’ and 9% ‘fairly dissatisfied’). One in 10 (11%) state they are ‘neither satisfied nor dissatisfied’ with the service and a further one in 10 (11%) do not know.

RPs with external FRAs show higher levels of satisfaction with their FRAs compared to RPs with in-house FRAs (71% versus 48% are ‘very satisfied’ or ‘fairly satisfied’). However, this difference is driven by the higher proportion of RPs who do not know how satisfied or dissatisfied they are with the services provided by their FRAs (30%) compared to RPs with external FRAs (2%) and RPs with both external and in-house FRAs (2%).

Figure 9: RP level of satisfaction with the quality of the service provided by their FRAs

Source: Responsible persons survey

Notes:

1. Base: All RPs = 362.
2. Q38. Overall, how satisfied or dissatisfied are you with the quality of the service provided by your fire risk assessor(s)?

5.3 Do RPs believe they select competent fire risk assessors and if so, how?

This section explores RPs’ knowledge of their FRA’s certification competence levels; whether FRAs are certificated by different professional registration schemes (such as UKAS-accredited and non-UKAS accredited bodies), including whether there are any differences by the sector within which RPs work; the services they provide; the number of buildings for which they are responsible; and whether they have at least one building where the FSER apply.

We first looked at RPs’ knowledge of FRAs’ accreditation/certification levels and how this impacts RPs’ perception of FRA professionalism. A total of 279 (75% of 362 RPs) either stated they ensure their FRAs are certificated by a professional registration scheme (67%) or are not sure (10%). One-fifth (21%; 75) do not ensure this for their FRAs.

FRAs can belong to multiple professional registration schemes, some of which are accredited by UKAS, and some which are not accredited by UKAS. More information is available in table 8 in Appendix E: Research question 3.

Figure 10 shows the diversity of UKAS accredited and non-UKAS accredited bodies by which the FRAs of the 279 RPs who responded to this question are certificated. Most RPs (58%) indicated their FRAs are certificated by a non-UKAS accredited body - almost 3 in 10 (27%) by the Institute of Fire Engineers (IFE); almost a fifth (17%) by the Institute of Fire Prevention Officers (IFPO); and one in 7 (14%) by the Institute of Fire Safety Managers (IFSM).

However, almost two-fifths (38%) of RPs also reported their FRAs being certificated under schemes which require accreditation, including a quarter (26%) by BAFE SP205 and 12% by Warrington. Almost 3 in 10 (27%) RPs indicated they do not know the scheme for which their FRAs are certificated and less than one in 10 (8%) mention ‘other schemes’.

RPs with in-house FRAs are more likely than RPs with external FRAs to say their FRAs are certificated by a non-UKAS accredited body (44% versus 29%).

RPs with in-house FRAs are also more likely than RPs with external FRAs to say they do not know the type of professional registration scheme their FRAs belong to (40% versus 25%).

Figure 10: Proportion of RPs indicating the professional registration scheme for which their FRAs are certificated

Source: Responsible persons survey

Notes:

1. Base: RPs who ensure their FRAs is certificated by a professional registration scheme, or they are not sure = 279.
2. Q34. Which professional registration scheme do fire risk assessors who carry out your building(s)’ fire risk assessment(s) belong to? (Participants can choose multiple answer options).

We further explore which RPs are more likely to have FRAs certificated by accredited, or non-accredited bodies by: the types of sector that RPs work in, the type of service they provide; the number of buildings for which they are responsible; and if they are responsible for at least one building over 11 metres. For those RPs who ensure their FRAs belong to a professional registration scheme, there is no clear preference for seeking out FRAs certificated by a UKAS-accredited body. Additional information is available in figures E22 to E25 in Appendix E: Research question 3.

5.4 What are RPs’ experiences with the Fire Risk Assessment Prioritisation Tool (FRAPT)?

5.4.1 Who uses FRAPT? Are RPs likely to use FRAPT in the future?

The FRAPT is a government online tool to support RPs in prioritising their buildings when updating their fire risk assessments following commencement of Section One of the Fire Safety Act 2021. Out of 221 RPs who responded to questions related to FRAPT, three-quarters (76%) have heard about the FRAPT, and out of them four-fifths (80%) have used it in the past.

Those who currently use the FRAPT do not always say they will use it in the future. We asked RPs who have used FRAPT before if they are also likely to say they would be using it in the future. Of current users of the FRAPT (133 RPs), half (50%) are likely to use the FRAPT in the future (32% ‘very likely’ and 18% ‘fairly likely’), while 44% are either ‘not very likely’ to use it (33%) or ‘not at all likely’ (11%), as figure 11 shows. Further detail is available in figure E26 to E35 in Appendix E: Research question 3 - Section FRAPT).

Figure 11: Current users of the FRAPT and likelihood to use FRAPT in the future

Source: Responsible persons survey

Notes:

1. Base: All RPs who have used the FRAPT tool previously = 133.
2. Q28. How likely or unlikely is it that you or your organisation will be using the FRAPT to assist you to determine the priority of the buildings you or your organisation are a responsible person for in the next 6 months?

6. To what extent are RPs prepared to implement Section 156 of the BSA?

This chapter aims to answer research question 5 (To what extent are RPs prepared to implement Section 156 of the BSA) and understand more about RPs’ awareness of (at the time) incoming changes in the fire safety legislation, specifically Section 156 of BSA and RPs’ implementation of it. Section 156 of the BSA aims to improve cooperation and coordination between RPs, as well as increase the recording and sharing of fire safety information, thus creating a continual record throughout a building’s lifespan.

All surveyed RPs responded to a series of questions about their awareness of Section 156 of BSA and their implementation of it. The findings in this chapter reflect the RPs who participated in the study, and it is uncertain if these are representative of all RPs in England.

6.1 What are RPs’ levels of awareness of Section 156 of BSA?

We asked RPs how aware they felt about the then upcoming new or amended duties in the Fire Safety Order, introduced through Section 156 of BSA. These duties came into force on 1 October 2023, but not at the time of RPs completing the survey.

Out of 362 RPs, almost half are ‘extremely aware’ (12%) or ‘very aware’ (32%) of Section 156; 26% are ‘moderately aware’ and 17% ‘slightly aware’ of the changes brought in by Section 156. Only 13% of RPs are ‘not at all aware’ of Section 156.

RPs in the public or third sector are more likely to be aware of Section 156 compared to RPs in the private sector and in residential management sector. As figure 12 shows, 70% of RPs in the public or third sector are ‘extremely aware’ or ‘very aware’ compared to 39% of RPs in the private sector and 25% of RPs in residential management.

Figure 12: RPs’ awareness levels of Section 156 by the type of sector within which RPs work.

Source: Responsible persons survey

Notes:

1. Base: All RPs = 362.
2. Q43. How aware do you feel of the new or amended duties in the Fire Safety Order coming into force on 1 October 2023 which have been introduced through Section 156 of the Building Safety Act?
3. Q3. Are you, or do you represent a…?

On average, RPs responsible for more buildings are also more aware of Section 156. For instance, RPs responsible for over 200 buildings are more likely to be ‘extremely’ or ‘very’ aware of Section 156 (68%) compared to RPs responsible for a single building (31%) and RPs responsible for 2 to 10 buildings (38%). RPs responsible for a single building are less aware of Section 156 compared to RPs with 11 to 50 buildings. Almost half (44%) of RPs responsible for a single building said they are ‘not at all aware’ or ‘slightly aware’ of Section 156 compared to 21% of RPs responsible for 11 to 50 buildings, as figure 13 shows.

Figure 13: RPs’ level of awareness of Section 156 by the number of buildings for which they are responsible

Source: Responsible persons survey

Notes:

1. Base: All RPs = 362.
2. Q43. How aware do you feel of the new or amended duties in the Fire Safety Order coming into force on 1 October 2023 which have been introduced through Section 156 of the Building Safety Act?
3. Q5. Overall, how many buildings are you a responsible person for?

6.2. What is RPs’ intention to implement Section 156 of BSA?

RPs with at least some awareness of Section 156 of BSA answered additional questions about how likely they are to conduct specific activities as of 1 October 2023. Just under half of RPs (44%) were aware of Section 156 of the BSA. However, as Table 9 in Appendix F: Research question 5 shows, when asked about what they intended to do without the question identifying them as Section 156 requirements, RPs with some awareness of Section 156 reported being ‘very’ or ‘fairly’ likely to:

• record completed fire risk assessments in full (96%)
• share fire safety information with other RPs, accountable persons (APs) and principle accountable persons (PAPs) and residents (89%)
• identify other RPs, APs and PAPs (80%)

RPs (216) shared what they think are the most challenging aspects for them in implementing the new fire safety requirements under Section 156. As figure 14 shows, at the time of filling out the survey, RPs reported experiencing challenges in implementing upcoming changes in the legislation (which came into force on 1 October 2023).

A quarter of RPs (25%) stated their biggest challenge is understanding the new requirements they are expected to implement. For some RPs, the biggest challenge is understanding the requirements in specific areas and how they may apply to their buildings. For other RPs, the challenge is due to lack of knowledge about whether they are correctly implementing Section 156.

Almost one in 5 (18%) RPs reported challenges relating to engagement from residents. These challenges relate predominantly to managing the sharing of information with residents and challenges around ensuring residents have followed the information provided to them.

Almost a fifth (17%) shared cost as their biggest challenge. For some RPs these challenges are related to concerns about how cost of implementing Section 156 may have a further impact on the running costs of their business.

Figure 14: Most challenging aspects in implementing Section 156 of BSA

Source: Responsible persons survey

Notes:

1. Base: RPs with some awareness of Section 156 and who answered Q45 = 216.
2. Q45. What do you think are the most challenging aspects for you in implementing the new fire safety requirements under Section 156 of BSA? (Multiple answer options).

7. Conclusion

This report provides insight into RPs in England and provides a first high-level description of the types of RPs in England, the buildings they are responsible for and their relationship with FRAs. RPs predominantly operate within the private sector and manage a few buildings.

Findings suggest RPs are largely aware of the FSER and have a high degree of confidence regarding perceived compliance with the FSER, indicating effective dissemination of fire safety information. This is particularly notable in the maintenance of fire doors and the provision of fire safety instructions, suggesting a strong commitment to upholding safety standards across residential and non-residential buildings. This suggests the FSER has generally been followed and implemented as required. Additional work by others may explore opportunities to measure the impact of these inputs towards fire safety to understand the effectiveness of the legislation and its impact on the safety of residents in the event of fire.

RPs’ perceived satisfaction levels concerning the quality of services provided by FRAs varies across different RP groups. RPs in private sector and RPs in public or third sector show similar levels of satisfaction with the quality of services provided (60% versus 69% respectively are ‘satisfied’). However, RPs with external FRAs show higher levels of perceived satisfaction with their FRAs (71% of RPs with external FRAs versus 48% of RPs with in-house FRAs are ‘very satisfied’ or ‘fairly satisfied’).

The high levels of intentions to implement the requirements for new regulations, such as Section 156 of BSA, indicate that RPs are responding and adapting to these upcoming changes effectively.

Despite this, the results highlight a need for RPs to better understand legislative changes, in particular the importance of specifying roles, competences and training for RPs and their FRAs. As such, these findings underline the importance of clear guidance and the need for ongoing support. Further work by others may focus on reaching out to a wider group of RPs and communicate fire safety legislation with both RPs and their FRAs.

8. Limitations and future opportunities

While we cannot assume our sample of RPs is representative, the report provides the first and most comprehensive description of RPs in England. Although the research team made every effort to promote the survey, without a clear sampling frame of RPs and lack of connected database of the number of RPs in England, we do not know if our survey provides a representative view of RPs. However, the RPs we surveyed are responsible for a wide range of buildings (with 75% of RPs responsible for between one and 73 number of buildings) covering both residential and non-residential buildings, suggesting our survey captured a diverse sample of RPs.

Despite the high levels of self-reported compliance, we cannot be certain that high levels of preparedness around fire safety legislation found in this survey would be replicated with other RPs in England. While RPs with lower levels of preparedness in our survey are a minority, further investigation by others may explore RPs’ motivations and reasons, including whether continuing to refresh and promote the FSER guidance for various building types could have a positive impact for RPs and their understanding of fire safety regulations.

Our findings capture RPs’ views at a point in time (summer 2023), before the introduction of some of the legislation. We are unable to trace any developments in RPs’ views on fire safety since the survey was conducted, due to the paucity of available data about RPs’ role and experiences which would allow us to compare patterns over time. However, our findings offer robust and compelling evidence that marks a milestone in our understanding of RPs’ experiences and views of fire safety legislation. There remains potential for others to explore opportunities to build a database of RPs in England which could allow to compare trends in RPs’ actions over time and whether their preparedness with Section 156 of BSA resulted in its implementation.

The survey generally comprises mostly closed questions about RPs’ views and experiences conducting assessments. However, some of these experiences and views are more nuanced and detailed than the survey could collect. Future work may focus on more in-depth conversations with RPs, to understand the full range of challenges RPs experience in conducting assessments and following the latest fire safety regulations, based on the number and the type of buildings for which they are responsible. For instance, further investigation by others may focus on exploring in more depth the factors that inform RPs’ decision to use FRAPT in the future and to interrogate potential explanations for their decision. Nevertheless, our survey contains open-ended questions, which aim to supplement and enrich RPs’ views and perceptions about the degree to which they follow fire safety legislation.

RPs’ views captured are based on self-reported questions and, as such, RPs may have overestimated or underestimated their preparedness levels. RPs may be influenced by social desirability bias and a tendency to report behaviours in ways they feel are appropriate and which reflects better on them. Despite these risks, we made every effort to ensure the validity of our measures. Further work by others may explore opportunities to collect data on RPs’ actual behaviours by using more objective measures to capture RPs’ actions. A useful line of future inquiry by others could focus on the degree to which RPs have correctly implemented the FSER fire door guidance based on their self-reported familiarity with the guidance.

Finally, we explored differences between RPs with external and RPs with in-house FRAs based on their experiences with fire risk assessments. However, we do not know if the differences we detect are because of the types of FRAs RPs use or because of some other factors prior to the selection/hire of FRAs that may have informed RPs’ decisions, such as RPs’ prior views and experiences. Other researchers may wish to explore the impact of RPs changing from using external FRAs to using in-house FRAs (or vice versa) on their views about their FRAs, including whether past poor experience with certain type of FRAs may lead to a change in RPs’ views of their FRAs and the sector. Further examination by others could also explore the impact of a standardised selection/hiring process for in-house and external FRAs on RPs’ experiences and confidence in the fire risk assessments provided by FRAs.

9. Glossary

Accountable person (AP): Under the Building Safety Act 2022, an AP is an organisation or individual who owns or has a legal obligation to repair any common parts of the building.

Each building must have one clearly identifiable AP, known as the principle accountable person (PAP). They are the main AP for the premises.

Accredited Conformity Assessment Bodies: UKAS is the Accreditation Service for the United Kingdom and has a Memorandum of Understanding with the government.

Analysis of Variance (ANOVA): A statistical method used to test differences between 2 or more means. It is similar to the t-test, but the t-test is generally used for comparing 2 means, while ANOVA is used when there are more than 2 means to compare.

BAFE SP205: British Approvals for Fire Excellence Competency Scheme. Operated by 2 conformity assessment bodies, the National Security Inspectorate (NSI) and Security Systems and Alarms Inspection Board (SSAIB), both of which are UKAS- accredited. Certification of organisations and sole traders.

Chi-square test: A measure of the difference between the observed and expected values of the outcomes of a set of events or variables. Chi-square is useful for analysing such differences in categorical variables, especially those nominal in nature.

External fire risk assessor: Individuals or companies who are hired to carry out fire risk assessments on behalf of others and can be sole traders or part of a fire risk assessment company. This refers to those FRAs who, like contractors, are hired for a limited amount of time to conduct a fire risk assessment/s. In the FRA survey this encompasses those who selected any response to this question except ‘Not applicable – I only conduct fire risk assessment for buildings owned /managed for my own organisation, there is no external fee / charge’ to question 18. However, due to question wording being different in both surveys, these categories are not exact equivalents (please see Appendix E of the FRA survey and Appendix A of this survey.

Fire risk assessor (FRA): A professional who RP may employ may be employed by an RP to assist them in making or reviewing a fire risk assessment. This role is not presently defined in law.

Fisher’s Exact Test: Calculates the number of all possible contingency tables with the same row and column totals as the observed table. It then calculates the probability for the p-value by finding the proportion of possible tables that are more extreme than the observed table. While Chi-square is generally best for larger samples, Fisher’s is better for smaller samples (cell counts are smaller than 20; a cell has an expected value of 5 or less; the column or row marginal values are extremely uneven).

Fire Safety Act 2021 (FSA): The FSA amended the FSO to clarify that in buildings with 2 or more sets of domestic premises the FSO applies to these 2 elements:

• the structure and external walls of the building, including cladding, balconies and windows
• all doors between the domestic premises and the common parts (for example, entrance doors to individual flats which open on to common parts)

The effect of this is that fire risk assessments must include consideration of these elements.

The Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022 (FSER): The FSER introduced requirements for RPs of mid-rise and high-rise blocks of flats to provide information to FRSs to assist them with operational planning and provide additional safety measures, including provision of fire safety instructions and information on fire doors.

High-rise building: A building over 18 metres, or of 7 or more stories, in height.

In-house fire risk assessor: Employees within a company or organisation who complete fire risk assessments solely for premises that the company or organisation owns or manages. This refers to those FRAs who are employed by an organisation to conduct assessments for the building/s owned by the organisation, either as the focus of their role or alongside other duties. In the FRA survey this encompasses those who responded ‘Not applicable – I only conduct fire risk assessment for buildings owned /managed for my own organisation, there is no external fee / charge’ to question 17. However, due to differences in question wording between surveys, these categories are not exact equivalents (please see Appendix E of the FRA survey and Appendix A of this survey).

Internal fire risk assessor: Self-employed sub-contractor working solely for the RP or their organisation.

IFE-FRRA: Institution of Fire Engineers – Fire Risk Register of Assessors. Not currently accredited by UKAS but requires all registrants to obtain Engineering Council membership as fire engineers. Certification of individuals.

IFPO-FRAR: Institute of Fire Prevention Officers – The Fire Risk Assessor Register. Not currently accredited by UKAS. Certification of individuals.

IFSM-TFRAR: Institute of Fire Safety Managers – Tiered Fire Risk Assessor Register. Register separated into 3 tiers of competency. Not currently accredited by UKAS. Certification of individuals.

Low-rise building: A building below 11 metres in height.

Medium-rise buildings: A building between 11 and 18 metres in height.

Non-accredited Conformity Assessment Bodies: A scheme not accredited by UKAS.

Proportion test: Compares the sample’s proportion to the population’s proportion or compares the sample’s proportion to the proportion of another sample.

Responsible person (RP): The person responsible for fire safety on premises under the FSO. An employer who has some control over the workplace is a responsible person. For other types of premises, a responsible person can be anyone who has control over a premises in connection with carrying out a trade, business or other undertaking, for example, a landlord, manager or occupier; or the owner where this is not applicable. A responsible person ensures fire safety throughout the area of the premises which are under their control, including a requirement to complete a fire risk assessment.

Section 156 BSA: Section 156 of the Building Safety Act 2022 aims to improve cooperation and coordination between RPs and increase the recording and sharing of fire safety information, thus creating a continual record throughout a building’s lifespan.

United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS): An accreditation organisation in the UK. The Department for Business and Trade (DBT) appoints, on behalf of government as a whole, a single National Accreditation Body (NAB) for the UK. By means of The Accreditation Regulations 2009 (SI 2009 No. 3155), the United Kingdom UKAS is appointed as the NAB for the UK.

Warrington: Warrington Fire Testing and Certification, which offers fire risk assessor certification. UKAS- accredited. Certification of individuals and organisations.

Appendix A: Survey questionnaire

Q1. Are you ready to start the survey?

Yes, start the survey – GO TO Q2

No, close please

[Survey Starts]

Section 1 – About you and the buildings for which you are a Responsible Person

[New page] (ASK ALL)

The questions in this survey are about the buildings for which you or your organisation are a Responsible Person. An employer who has some control over the workplace is a Responsible Person. For other types of premises, a Responsible Person can be anyone who has control over a premises in connection with carrying out a trade, business or other undertaking, e.g. a landlord, manager or occupier; or the owner where this is not applicable.

A Responsible Person ensures fire safety throughout the area of the premises which are under their control, including a requirement to complete a fire risk assessment. You can find more information about Responsible Persons here

Q2. Are you a Responsible Person for your premises or are you responding on behalf of a Responsible Person?

(Please select one option)

Yes – I am responding as a Responsible Person – GO TO Section 1

Yes – I am responding on behalf of a Responsible Person – GO TO Section 1

NO – GO TO END AND CLOSE SURVEY

Do not know – GO TO Section 1

[New page]

Section 1 (ASK ALL)

About you and the buildings you are responsible for

Throughout this survey, we would like you to think about your role as a Responsible Person for your premise(s).

Please note that throughout the survey, when referring to ‘Responsible Person’ we include those responding on behalf of responsible persons.

This first section will help us learn more about you and the type of building(s) for which you are a Responsible Person.

Please provide information wherever possible.

Q3. Are you, or do you represent a…?

(Please select the one option that best fits)

Local Authority (borough, district and city council)

Housing Association or other not-for-profit housing provider

Private letting agency

Other type of private company (Limited company / Public Limited Company)

Residents’ Management Company [RMC] or Right to Manage Company [RTM]

Commonhold Association

Private sector landlord

Property management agent or company

Other public sector organisation

Other (please describe)

Q4. Which of the following best describes the services you or your organisation provide?

(Please select all that apply)

Registered provider of social housing

Private provider of housing

Residential care activities

Higher education activities

Real estate activities (renting and operating of own or leased real estate)

Real estate activities on a fee or contract basis

Facilities manager/Managing agent

Hotel(s) and similar accommodation

Holiday and other short-stay accommodation

Food and beverage service activities

Other (please describe)

[New page]

Q5. Overall, how many buildings are you a Responsible Person for?

(Please provide your best estimate)

IF

0 – GO TO END OF SURVEY

1 OR MORE – GO TO Q6.

[New page]

Q6. Thinking about the building(s) for which you are a Responsible Person, in which of the following geographical areas are they located?

IF

ENGLAND ONLY – GO TO Q8

ENGLAND + ANY OTHER NATION – GO TO Q7

NOT ENGLAND – GO TO Q49

NO ANSWER – GO TO Q7

(Please select all that apply)

England

Wales

Scotland

Northern Ireland

[New page]

Q7. Using the scale below, how aware are you of the differences between fire safety legislation in England and the other devolved administration(s)? In the UK, devolved administrations are Scottish government, Welsh government, and/or Northern Ireland Executive.

(Please select one option)

Not at all aware

Slightly aware

Moderately aware

Very aware

Extremely aware

Do not know

[New page]

The questions in this survey are about the buildings for which you are a Responsible Person for in England only. When responding, please refer to your buildings in England.

Q8. Thinking about the building(s) for which you are a Responsible Person, which of the following types of buildings are they?

(Please select all that apply)

Multi-occupied residential buildings (containing at least 2 sets of domestic premises) (GO TO SECTION 2)

Mixed use buildings (that has both residential and non-residential elements, e.g. a flat connected to a shop, doctor’s surgery or office) (GO TO SECTION 2)

Buildings converted into flats (houses or other flat conversions) (GO TO SECTION 2)

Offices and shops (GO TO SECTION 4)

Factories and Warehouses (GO TO SECTION 4)

Sheltered housing (GO TO SECTION 2)

Houses of multiple occupation (GO TO SECTION 2)

Hotels or hostels (GO TO SECTION 4)

Residential care premises (GO TO SECTION 4)

Educational premises (such as student accommodation buildings that do contain at least two sets of domestic premises) - (GO TO SECTION 2)

Educational premises (such as student accommodation buildings that do NOT contain at least two sets of domestic premises) (GO TO SECTION 4)

Theatres, cinemas and similar premises (GO TO SECTION 4)

Healthcare premises (such as hospitals or care homes) - (GO TO SECTION 4)

Transport premises and facilities (GO TO SECTION 4)

Other public buildings (GO TO SECTION 4)

Other (please describe) (GO TO SECTION 4)

[New page]

Section 2 - Information about the buildings for which you are a Responsible Person (Ask RPs of residential use properties)

You stated that you are a Responsible Person for at least one building with some residential use (multi-occupied residential buildings, mixed-use building(s), building(s) converted into flats, sheltered housing, houses of multiple occupation and/or educational premises that do contain at least two sets of domestic premises).

This section includes questions related to information sharing with residents and occupants, fire safety instructions, and questions about building height and fire risk assessments you have conducted.

Q9. For each of the statements below, please indicate the extent to which you agree or disagree they describe activities taken by you since January 2023.

(Please select one option for each row)

Statement	Agree-disagree scale
	Strongly agree	Tend to agree	Neither agree nor disagree	Tend to disagree	Strongly disagree	Do not know
I (or my organisation) shared fire safety instructions with residents, including evacuation strategies for the buildings for which I am a Responsible Person.

I (or my organisation) provided residents with information about the importance of fire doors (the need to keep shut, not tamper with and report faults relating to fire doors) for the buildings for which I am a Responsible Person.

Q10. Thinking about the building(s) for which you are a Responsible Person please provide your best estimate for the total number of:

(If you really cannot provide an estimate, leave blank)

	Space for best estimate
Individual dwellings contained within the building(s)
Residents occupying the building(s)
Residents that may find it difficult or have difficulties evacuating unaided in event of fire

[New page] Q11. Thinking about the buildings for which you are a Responsible Person, how many have a height which is greater than or equal to 11 metres?

(If you do not know exact numbers, please provide your best estimate)

IF

1 OR MORE – GO TO Q12.

0 – GO TO Q23.

[New page]

Q12. To the best of your knowledge, who, if anyone, is carrying out the checks on fire doors in the buildings for which you are a Responsible Person?

(Please select all that apply)

Nobody is carrying out the checks on fire doors

Me or my organisation

Caretakers (e.g. someone who you or your organisation employ to look after a building)

Managing agents

Housing officers

Repairs and maintenance personnel (including asset management)

Third party contractor

Do not know

Other (please describe)

[New page]

Q13. Thinking about these building(s) with height greater than or equal to 11 metres, for each of the statements below, please indicate the extent to which you agree or disagree they describe activities you have taken since January 2023.

(Please select one option for each row)

Statement	Agree-disagree scale
	Strongly agree	Tend to agree	Neither agree nor disagree	Tend to disagree	Strongly disagree	Do not know
Started undertaking quarterly checks of all fire doors in the common parts of the buildings
Started undertaking annual checks of all flat entrance fire doors of the buildings

[New page]

Q14. Have you heard of the Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022: fire door guidance?

(Please select one option)

Yes – GO TO Q15

No – GO TO Q16

Not sure – GO TO Q16

[New page]

Q15. Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022: fire door guidance provides information on how to conduct routine checks on fire doors and provide information to residents. The guidance can be found here

How confident do you feel about following “Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022: fire door” guidance to the common areas and flat fire doors in the buildings you are a Responsible Person for?

(Please select one)

Not at all confident

Not very confident

Fairly confident

Very confident

Do not know

[New page]

Q16. Using the space below, please describe the approach you take and any resources you use when checking fire doors in common areas and flat entrance fire doors in the buildings you are a Responsible Person for?

(If you do not know please state this here or skip the question)

Q17. (ALL WHO SEE SECTION 2) To the best of your knowledge, how do you determine if a fire door needs to be replaced or repaired?

(If you do not know please state this here or skip the question)

[New page]

Q18. Thinking about the buildings for which you are a Responsible Person, how many have a height which is greater than or equal to 11 metres but less than 18 metres?

(If you do not know exact numbers, please provide your best estimate)

IF

1 OR MORE – GO TO Q19

0 – GO TO Q20

[New page]

Q19. This question is about fire risk assessments that have been conducted on your buildings with a height which is greater than or equal to 11 metres but less than 18 metres.

Since May 2022, please provide your best estimates for the number of buildings you or your organisation have…

(If you really cannot provide an estimate, leave blank)

Statement	Space for best estimate
…completed fire risk assessments for
…not yet completed fire risk assessments for
…identified with potentially combustible materials on external walls

[New page]

Q20. Thinking about the buildings for which you are a Responsible Person for, how many are 18 metres of more in height?

(If you do not know the exact numbers, please provide your best estimate)

IF

1 OR MORE – GO TO Q21

0 – GO TO Q23

[New page]

Q21. Thinking about the buildings with a of height of 18 metres or more you are a Responsible Person, for each of the statements below, please indicate the extent to which you agree or disagree they describe activities taken since January 2023.

(Please select one option for each row)

Statement	Agree-disagree scale
	Strongly agree	Tend to agree	Neither agree nor disagree	Tend to disagree	Strongly disagree	Do not know	Not applicable
I (or my organisation) shared building and floor plans with the local Fire and Rescue Service
I (or my organisation) shared information on the design and materials of the external wall with my local Fire and Rescue Service
I (or my organisation) installed a secure information box which has hard copies of the building floorplans and floorplans footprint.
I (or my organisation) installed wayfinding signage which identifies floor and flat numbers in the building’s stairways and lobbies.
I (or my organisation) have started undertaking monthly checks of lifts used by firefighters within the buildings

Q22. The next question is about fire risk assessments you have conducted on your buildings of a height of 18 metres or more.

Since May 2022, please provide your best estimates for the number of buildings you or your organisation have…

(If you cannot really provide an estimate, leave blank)

Statement	Best estimate
…completed fire risk assessments for
…not yet completed fire risk assessments for
…identified buildings with potentially combustible materials on external walls

[New page]

Q23. (ASK ALL RPs WHO RESPOND TO SECTION 2) Please use this space to describe anything you think could be improved with the Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022.

(Please describe as fully as possible)

[New page]

Section 3 – Fire Risk Assessment Prioritisation Tool (FRAPT)

(TO BE ANSWERED BY THOSE RPs WHO ON Q8 HAVE:

Multi-occupied residential buildings (containing at least 2 sets of domestic premises)

Mixed use buildings (that has both residential and non-residential elements, e.g. a flat connected to a shop, doctor’s surgery or office)

Buildings converted into flats (houses or other flat conversions)

Sheltered housing

Houses of multiple occupation

Educational premises (such as student accommodation buildings that do contain at least two sets of domestic premises))

Q24. Have you heard of the Home Office’s Fire Risk Assessment Prioritisation Tool (FRAPT)?

(Please select one)

IF

Yes – GO TO Q25

No – GO TO SECTION 4

Not sure – GO TO SECTION 4

[New page]

This section asks questions about you or your organisation experience with the Home Office’s Fire Risk Assessment Prioritisation Tool (FRAPT). Please provide information, wherever possible.

Q25. Have you used the FRAPT to assist you to determine the priority for updating the fire risk assessments to include external walls of the buildings for which you are a Responsible Person.

(Please select one)

IF

Yes – GO TO Q26

No – GO TO Q28

Not sure – GO TO Q28

[New page]

Q26. How useful do you think the FRAPT is for guiding the prioritisation of fire risk assessment for a building?

(Please select one)

Not at all useful

Not very useful

Fairly useful

Very useful

Q27. As a result of using the online FRAPT, please provide your best estimate about the following:

(If you really cannot provide an estimate, leave blank)

Tier 1 buildings - very high priority buildings. This is because the responses suggest that there is a significant number of risk factors of external fire spread in a high-rise building in addition to compartmentation likely to be breached. Therefore, the Responsible Person should treat these buildings with very high priority.

Tier 2 buildings – high priority buildings. This is because the responses suggest that there is a risk of external fire spread in a high-rise building, in addition to compartmentation likely to be breached. Therefore, the Responsible Person should treat these buildings with high priority.

Statement	Space for best estimate
The number of full fire risk assessments you have completed.
The number of buildings identified in Tier 1 or Tier 2 by the tool.
The number of buildings identified in Tier 1 and Tier 2 for which you have requested a full fire risk assessment.

[New page]

Q28. How likely or unlikely is it that you or your organisation will be using the FRAPT to assist you to determine the priority of the buildings you or your organisation are a Responsible Person for in the next six months?

(Please select one)

Not at all likely

Not very likely

Fairly likely

Very likely

Do not know

Not applicable

[New page]

Section 4 (ASK ALL)

RPs and fire risk assessments

This section asks questions about fire risk assessments of the buildings for which you are a Responsible Person.

Please provide information, wherever possible

Q29. Who is carrying out fire risk assessments of the buildings for which you are a Responsible Person?

(Please select all that apply)

Out-of-house / external fire risk assessors – a contractor also working for other organisations

In-house fire risk assessors – an employee of you or your organisation

Internal fire risk assessors – self-employed sub-contractor working solely for you or your organisation

I do the fire risk assessment(s) myself

Do not know

Other (please specify)

[New page]

Q30. Which of the following does your fire risk assessor provide?

(Please select one)

Fire risk assessments only

Fire risk appraisals of external walls (FRAEW) only

Fire risk assessments that include fire risk appraisals of external walls (FRAEW)

Do not know

Other services (please specify)

[New page]

Q31. What are the channels that you or your organisation use in the process of selecting/hiring a fire risk assessor?

(Please select all that apply)

Using online searches

Using specialised channels such as Fire Risk Register of Assessors

Using accredited organisations

Recommendations / word of mouth

Asking your network for referrals or at network events

Contacting fire risk assessors directly

We don’t select new fire risk assessors

Don’t know

Other (please specify)

[New page]

Q32. Using the scale below, when selecting/hiring a fire risk assessor, how important are each of the following criteria for you or your organisation?

(Please select one option per row)

Statement	Not at all important	Not very important	Fairly important	Very important	Not applicable
Qualifications and training of fire risk assessors
Certification of the company and/or individual fire risk assessors
Experience in the types of building you or your organisation is the Responsible Person for
Fire Risk Assessor has Professional Indemnity Insurance (PII)
Recommendations from other Responsible Persons (or organisations)

[New page]

Q33. To the best of your knowledge, do you or your organisation ensure that the fire risk assessors who carry out the fire risk assessments of the buildings you are a Responsible Person for belong to any relevant professional registration schemes?

(Please select one option)

IF

Yes – GO TO Q34

No – GO TO Q35

Not sure – GO TO Q34

[New page]

Q34. Which professional registration scheme do fire risk assessors who carry out your building(s)’ fire risk assessment(s) belong to?

(Please select all that apply)

BAFE SP205 (via the Security Systems and Alarms Inspection Board (SSAIB) or National Security Inspectorate (NSI))

Fire Risk Assessors Certification Scheme (FRACS) – Warrington Fire Testing and Certification

The Fire Risk Assessor Register (FRAR) – Institute of Fire Prevention Officers (IFPO)

Fire Risk Register of Assessors (FRRA) – Institution of Fire Engineers (IFE)

Tiered Fire Risk Assessor Register (TFRAR) – Institute of Fire Safety Managers (IFSM) (Please state tier below)

None of the above schemes (which are validated by UKAS or the UK Engineering Council)

Do not know

Other (please specify)

Please state tier if you have selected Tiered Fire Risk Assessor Register (TFRAR) - Institute of Fire Safety Managers (IFSM) and you can provide an answer.

[New page]

Q35. Please rank/order the following criteria in order of importance for you or your organisation when selecting/hiring a fire risk assessor

(Click and drag each statement into place OR click on the dropdown menu against each statement to a number from 1 to 4 where 1 = the most important and 4 = the least important)
(Click ‘Next Page’ button when the criteria are showing in your importance order)

Statement (randomized for each respondent)	Dropdown (1 to 4) menu
Speed in conducting the fire risk assessment(s)
Cost
Location/proximity to the building(s) to be assessed
Availability/lead-in times

[New page]

Q36. (ALL) How confident, if at all, do you feel about selecting a competent fire risk assessor?

(Please select one option)

Not at all confident

Not very confident

Fairly Confident

Very confident

Do not know

[New page]

Q37. Which, if any, of the following difficulties have you (or your organisation) experienced in organising the fire risk assessments of the buildings for which you are a Responsible Person?

(Please select all that apply)

Finding / selecting a fire risk assessor

Certification of the company and/or individual fire risk assessor(s)

Ascertaining fire risk assessor(s) are competent

Hiring a fire risk assessor

Waiting times for the fire risk assessment to be completed

Standard of the fire risk assessment (such as unsatisfactory quality)

None

Do not know

Other issues (please specify)

[New page]

Q38. Overall, how satisfied or dissatisfied are you with the quality of the service provided by your fire risk assessor(s)?

(Please select one option)

Very dissatisfied

Fairly dissatisfied

Neither satisfied nor dissatisfied

Fairly satisfied

Very satisfied

Do not know

Q39. Please use the space below to provide more information about the quality of the service provided by your fire risk assessor(s):

(Please describe as fully as possible)

[New page]

The next few questions are about the interaction you or your organisation have with fire risk assessors and about your understanding as a Responsible Person, of fire risk assessments.

Please provide information, wherever possible.

Q40. How often, if at all, do you (or another representative of your organisation) accompany fire risk assessor(s) while they conduct fire risk assessment(s), for the buildings you are responsible for?

(Please select one option)

Never

Rarely

Sometimes

Often

Always

Do not know

[New page]

Q41. To what extent do you agree or disagree with each of the following statements?

(Please select one option for each row)

	Strongly agree	Tend to agree	Neither agree nor disagree	Tend to disagree	Strongly disagree	Do not know
I feel that I (or my organisation) have completed fire risk assessments work on all buildings for which I am a Responsible Person
I feel that I (or my organisation) have access to relevant building information that can be shared with fire risk assessors
I understand the information given in the fire risk assessment by the fire risk assessor(s)
I understand the technical details in the fire risk assessment report(s) provided by the fire risk assessor(s)
Fire risk assessments are conducted when there is a significant change to the premises for which I (or my organisation) are a Responsible Person.

[New page]

Q42. What do you think are the most challenging aspects for you in conducting fire risk assessments?

(Please describe as fully as possible)

[New page]

Section 5 (ASK ALL)

Awareness of upcoming fire safety legislation changes

This section asks about your awareness of future changes in the fire safety legislation. Please provide information wherever possible

Q43. How aware do you feel of the new or amended duties in the Fire Safety Order coming into force on 1st October 2023 which have been introduced through Section 156 of the Building Safety Act?

(Please select one)

Not at all aware – GO TO SECTION 6

Slightly aware – GO TO Q44

Moderately aware – GO TO Q44

Very aware – GO TO Q44

Extremely aware – GO TO Q44

Do not know – GO TO Q44

[New page]

Q44. For each of the statements below, please indicate how likely or unlikely, if at all, you are to take the following actions regarding buildings for which you are a Responsible Person in the next six months?

(Please select one per row)

	Very likely	Fairly likely	Not very likely	Not at all likely	Not applicable	Do not know
I (or my organisation) will record completed fire risk assessments in full (includes fire safety arrangements, contact details and the name of the individual conducting the fire risk assessment)
I (or my organisation) will identify other Responsible Persons, Accountable Persons and Principle Accountable Persons in the premises
I (or my organisation) will share fire safety information with other Responsible Persons, Accountable Persons and Principle Accountable Persons and Residents.
I understand the technical details in the fire risk assessment report(s) provided by the fire risk assessor(s)
Fire risk assessments are conducted when there is a significant change to the premises for which I (or my organisation) are a Responsible Person.

[New page]

Q45. What do you think are the most challenging aspects for you in implementing the new fire safety requirements under Section 156?

(Please describe what you think as fully as possible)

[New page]

Section 6 (ASK ALL)

Final questions

Thank you for answering these questions.

Q46. If you have any questions or remarks, you can outline these below

In a small number of cases, we may wish to re-contact respondents to this survey to clarify our understanding of answers given in this survey.

We may also wish to contact respondents to this survey in the next 12 months to further understand recent legislative changes to fire safety.

Q47. Would you be happy to be re-contacted by the Home Office fire research and policy teams?

[IF NO ANSWER – GO TO END OF SURVEY]

Yes, I’m happy to be contacted, including for any follow-up research within the next 12 months – GO TO Q48

Yes, I’m happy to be contacted but only to clarify any answers given in this survey – GO TO Q48

No further contact – GO TO END OF SURVEY

[New page]

Q48. Could you provide your work email address?

(We will only use it for purposes you have given us permission for)

Q49. Would you be happy to be contacted by the devolved administration? Devolved administrations are Scottish government, Welsh government and/or Northern Ireland Executive

[IF NO ANSWER – GO TO END OF SURVEY]

Yes, I’m happy to be contacted within the next 12 months – GO TO Q50.

No further contact – GO TO END OF SURVEY

[New page]

Q50. Could you provide your work email address?

(We will only share it with the organisation(s) you give us permission for within the devolved administration areas which you have stated you are a Responsible Person)

End of Survey (general) – Thank you and close the survey

Appendix B: Privacy notice and consent form

Consent form

Recent fire safety legislation implementation survey

Introduction to Survey (Screen)

This survey is designed to understand how Responsible Persons (RPs) in England have responded to recent changes in fire safety legislation. This includes the Fire Safety Act (FSA) 2021, the Fire Safety (England) Regulations (the Regs) 2022 and the planned amendments to the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order (FSO) 2005 through the Building Safety Act (BSA) 2022. A Responsible Person is someone who has control over all of a premise or of certain areas within a premise. This could be the owner, employer or occupier. You can find further information on whether this applies to you here.

This survey is conducted in accordance with the Data Protection Act 2018 and the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR). Your participation is voluntary, you have the right to withdraw at any time, and there will be no costs incurred by participating.

Neither you nor your organisation will be identified in any reporting. We may share anonymised aggregated results with devolved administrations and professional bodies who are supporting us in conducting this survey.

Your individual answers to the survey will be held securely in a confidential format within the Home Office for a period of 18 months from their last use, and if no longer necessary, they will be securely destroyed. However, it should be noted that since July 2015, the Home Office has temporarily stopped the destruction of data during an Independent Inquiry, to ensure the preservation of potentially relevant information.

The lawful basis for processing responses to this survey is performance of a public task.

Individuals participating in the survey have the rights to:

• choose not to answer the survey
• choose not to answer any specific question in the survey
• change your mind after completing the survey and ask for a response to be changed or removed (however, we will only be able to identify your response if you have voluntarily included your email address or other text that allows your response to be uniquely identified).

The survey will take about 15 minutes to complete but may take longer if you wish to provide detailed open-text information. Most questions provide ‘clickable’ answer options, but you may also write in your own text.

The survey will remain open until midnight on Monday 31 July 2023.

If you need to exit the survey and return at a later date, please select the ‘save and continue later’ button at the bottom of any page. You will then receive an email with a personalised secure link that will enable you to return to complete the rest of the survey later.

If you have any questions about the survey or the Privacy Information Notice (PIN), or if you decide after completing the survey that you would like to withdraw your survey response, you can do so by contacting fireresearch@homeoffice.gov.uk.

Thank you for taking the time to complete the survey.

If you are ready to complete the survey, please click ‘Yes, start the survey’ (then ‘‘Next Page’ button), otherwise just close this screen (you can open it again later).

Appendix C: Research question 1

Figures by order of appearance

Figure C1: Percentages of RPs by type of sector within which RPs work

Source: Responsible persons survey

Notes:

1. Base: All RPs = 362.
2. Q3. Are you, or do you represent a…?

Figure C2: Percentages of RPs by type of sector within which RPs work (an in-depth view)

Source: Responsible persons survey

Notes:

1. Base: All RPs = 362.
2. Q3. Are you, or do you represent a…?

Figure C3: Percentages of RPs by number of buildings for which RPs are responsible

Source: Responsible persons survey

Notes:

1. Base: All RPs = 362.
2. Q5. Overall, how many buildings are you a responsible person for?

Figure C4: Percentages of RPs with buildings where FSER apply or do not apply

Source: Responsible persons survey

Notes:

1. Base: All RPs = 362.
2. Q8. Thinking about the building(s) for which you are a responsible person, which of the following types of buildings are they? (Participants can choose more than one answer option).

Figure C5: Percentages of RPs by building type

Source: Responsible persons survey

Notes:

1. Base: All RPs = 362.
2. Q8. Thinking about the building(s) for which you are a responsible person, which of the following types of buildings are they? (Participants can choose more than one answer option).

Figure C6: Percentage of RPs by services they or their organisation provides

Source: Responsible persons survey

Notes:

1. Base: All RPs = 362.
2. Q4. Which of the following best describes the services you or your organisation provide? Participants can choose more than one answer option).

Figure C7: Proportion of RPs responsible for at least one building where FSER apply over 11 metres

Source: Responsible persons survey

Notes:

1. Base: RPs responsible for at least one building where FSER 2022 apply=221.
2. Q11. Thinking about the buildings for which you are a responsible person, how many have a height which is greater than or equal to 11 metres?

Figure C8: Proportion of RPs responsible for at least one building where FSER apply between 11 metres and 18 metres

Source: Responsible persons survey

Notes:

1. Base: RPs responsible for at least one building where FSER 2022 apply and with at least one building over 11 metres = 141.
2. Q18. Thinking about the buildings for which you are a responsible person, how many have a height which is greater than or equal to 11 metres but less than 18 metres?

Figure C9: Proportion of RPs responsible for at least one building where FSER 2022 apply over 18 metres

Source: Responsible persons survey

Notes:

1. Base: RPs responsible for at least one building where FSER 2022 and with at least one building over 11 metres apply = 141.
2. Q20. Thinking about the buildings for which you are a responsible person for, how many are 18 metres of more in height?

Figure C10: Proportion of RPs who use external FRAs and RPs who use in-house FRA by the type of sector within which they work.

Source: Responsible persons survey

Notes:

1. Base: All RPs =362.
2. Q29. Who is carrying out fire risk assessments of the buildings for which you are a responsible person?
3. Q3. Are you, or do you represent a…?

Figure C11: Proportion of RPs who use external FRAs and RPs who use in-house FRA by the service they provide

Source: Responsible persons survey

Notes:

1. Base: All RPs =362.
2. Q29. Who is carrying out fire risk assessments of the buildings for which you are a responsible person?
3. Q4. Which of the following best describes the services you or your organisation provide?

Figure C12: Proportion of RPs who use external FRAs and RPs who use in-house FRA by the number of buildings for which they are responsible

Source: Responsible persons survey

Notes:

1. Base: All RPs =362.
2. Q29. Who is carrying out fire risk assessments of the buildings for which you are a responsible person?
3. Q5. Overall, how many buildings are you a responsible person for?

Figure C13: Proportion of RPs who use external FRAs and RPs who use in-house FRA by whether they have at least one building over 11 metres

Source: Responsible persons survey

Notes:

1. Base: All RPs =362.
2. Q29. Who is carrying out fire risk assessments of the buildings for which you are a responsible person?
3. Q11. Thinking about the buildings for which you are a responsible person, how many have a height which is greater than or equal to 11 metres?

Table 1: Breakdown of RPs who responded to the survey

	Total n = 362	n	% of RPs
Sector	Private sector	220	61%
	Other type of private company (limited company / public limited company)	106	29%
	Private sector landlord	70	19%
	Property management agent or company	39	11%
	Private letting agency	5	1%
	Public or third sector	87	24%
	Housing association or other not-for-profit housing provider	49	14%
	Other public sector organisation	22	6%
	Local authority (borough, district and city council)	16	4%
	Residential management	49	14%
	Residents’ Management Company [RMC] or Right to Manage Company [RTM]	49	14%
	Other	6	2%
	Commonhold Association	0	0%
Number of buildings	Single building	110	30%
	2 to 10 buildings	94	26%
	11 to 50 buildings	53	15%
	51 to 200 buildings	54	15%
	Over 200 buildings	51	14%
Services provided by RP or their organisation (more than one answer possible)	Facilities manager	90	25%
	Residential care	65	18%
	Social housing	64	18%
	Holiday/short term	64	18%
	Real estate	57	16%
	Private provider of housing	41	11%
	Higher education	19	5%
	Food and beverage services	6	2%
	Real estate on a fee/contract	5	1%
	Education activities	5	1%
	Hotels	3	1%
	Other	2	1%
RP responsible for at least one building where FSER 2022 apply	FSER do not apply	141	39%
	FSER apply	134	37%
	Mix of buildings	87	24%
RP responsible for a building over 11 metres		141	39%
RP responsible for a building over 18 metres		88	24%
Who carries out fire risk assessments?	External/out-of-house FRAs	178	49%
	In-house FRAs	116	32%
	Both external and in-house FRAs	63	17%

Source: Responsible persons survey

Appendix D: Research question 2

Figures by order of appearance

Table 2: Breakdown of surveyed RPs responsible for a building where FSER apply

		n	% of RPs with a building where FSER 2022 apply
RPs responsible for at least one building where FSER 2022 apply		221	-
RPs with:	Additional specific regulations related to fire doors of RPs with buildings over 11 metres	141	64%
RPs with:	Additional specific regulations related to RPs with buildings over 18 metres	88	40%

Table 3: RPs’ level of agreement with statements that describe activities taken since January 2023

Statement	Strongly agree	Tend to agree	Neither agree nor disagree	Tend to disagree	Strongly disagree	Do not know	Not applicable
RPs with at least one building where FSER apply (n=221)
I (or my organisation) shared fire safety instructions with residents, including evacuation strategies for the buildings for which I am a responsible person	75%	15%	3%	4%	2%	-	-
I (or my organisation) provided residents with information about the importance of fire doors (the need to keep shut, not tamper with and report faults relating to fire doors) for the buildings for which I am a responsible person	66%	17%	7%	5%	3%	-	-
Responsibilities for RPs with at least one building above 11 metres (n=141)
Started undertaking quarterly checks of all fire doors in the common parts of the building	71%	11%	4%	7%	6%	0%	-
Started undertaking annual checks of all flat entrance fire doors of the buildings	70%	16%	4%	4%	6%	0%	-
Responsibilities for RPs (buildings above 18 metres) (n=88)							-
I (or my organisation) installed a secure information box which has hard copies of the building floorplans and floorplans footprint	69%	16%	6%	2%	3%	1%	1%
I (or my organisation) installed wayfinding signage which identifies floor and flat numbers in the building’s stairways and lobbies	60%	16%	11%	7%	1%	1%	0%
I (or my organisation) shared information on the design and materials of the external wall with my local fire and rescue service	60%	12%	11%	5%	6%	2%	1%
I (or my organisation) shared building and floor plans with the local fire and rescue service	59%	15%	14%	2%	7%	1%	1%
I (or my organisation) have started undertaking monthly checks of lifts used by firefighters within the buildings	57%	10%	3%	1%	5%	1%	20%

Source: Responsible persons survey

Notes:

1. Bases: RPs responsible for at least one building where FSER 2022 apply = 221.
2. Bases: RPs responsible for a building over 11 metres = 141.
3. Bases: RPs responsible for a building over 18 metres = 88.
4. Q9. For each of the statements below, please indicate the extent to which you agree or disagree they describe activities taken by you since January 2023.
5. Q13. Thinking about these building(s) with a height greater than or equal to 11 metres, for each of the statements below, please indicate the extent to which you agree or disagree they describe activities you have taken since January 2023.
6. Q21. Thinking about the buildings with a height of 18 metres or more for which you are a responsible person, for each of the statements below, please indicate the extent to which you agree or disagree they describe activities taken since January 2023.

Figure D2: RP level of agreement about sharing fire safety information with residents by type of sector within which RP work

Source: Responsible persons survey

Notes:

1. Base: RPs responsible for at least one building where FSER 2022 apply = 221.
2. Q9. For each of the statements below, please indicate the extent to which you agree or disagree they describe activities taken by you since January 2023. (I (or my organisation) shared fire safety instructions with residents, including evacuation strategies for the buildings for which I am a responsible person).
3. Q3. Are you, or do you represent a…?

Figure D3: RP level of agreement about providing residents with information about the importance of fire doors by type of sector within which RP work

Source: Responsible persons survey

Notes:

1. Base: RPs responsible for at least one building where FSER 2022 apply = 221.
2. Q9. For each of the statements below, please indicate the extent to which you agree or disagree they describe activities taken by you since January 2023. (I (or my organisation) provided residents with information about the importance of fire doors (the need to keep shut, not tamper with and report faults relating to fire doors) for the buildings for which I am a responsible person).
3. Q3. Are you, or do you represent a…?

Figure D4: RP level of agreement about sharing fire safety information with residents by the RP service they provide

Source: Responsible persons survey

Notes:

1. Base: RPs responsible for at least one building where FSER 2022 apply = 221.
2. Q9. For each of the statements below, please indicate the extent to which you agree or disagree they describe activities taken by you since January 2023. (I (or my organisation) shared fire safety instructions with residents, including evacuation strategies for the buildings for which I am a responsible person).
3. Q4. Which of the following best describes the services you or your organisation provide? (Participants can choose more than one answer option).

Figure D5: RP level of agreement about providing residents with information about the importance of fire doors by RP service they provide

Source: Responsible persons survey

Notes:

1. Base: RPs responsible for at least one building where FSER 2022 apply = 221.
2. Q9. For each of the statements below, please indicate the extent to which you agree or disagree they describe activities taken by you since January 2023 (I (or my organisation) provided residents with information about the importance of fire doors (the need to keep shut, not tamper with and report faults relating to fire doors) for the buildings for which I am a responsible person).
3. Q4. Which of the following best describes the services you or your organisation provide? (Participants can choose more than one answer option).

Figure D6: Level of agreement sharing fire safety information with residents by RP number of buildings

Source: Responsible persons survey

Notes:

1. Base: RPs responsible for at least one building where FSER 2022 apply = 221.
2. Q9. For each of the statements below, please indicate the extent to which you agree or disagree they describe activities taken by you since January 2023. (I (or my organisation) shared fire safety instructions with residents, including evacuation strategies for the buildings for which I am a responsible person).
3. Q5. Overall, how many buildings are you a responsible person for?

Figure D7: Level of agreement sharing information about the importance of fire doors with residents by RP number of buildings

Source: Responsible persons survey

Notes:

1. Base: RPs responsible for at least one building where FSER 2022 apply = 221.
2. Q9. For each of the statements below, please indicate the extent to which you agree or disagree they describe activities taken by you since January 2023. (I (or my organisation) provided residents with information about the importance of fire doors (the need to keep shut, not tamper with and report faults relating to fire doors) for the buildings for which I am a responsible person).
3. Q5. Overall, how many buildings are you a responsible person for?

Figure D8: Level of agreement sharing information about sharing fire safety information with their residents by RP having a building over 11 metres

Source: Responsible persons survey

Notes:

1. Base: RPs responsible for at least one building where FSER 2022 apply = 221.
2. Q9. For each of the statements below, please indicate the extent to which you agree or disagree they describe activities taken by you since January 2023 (I (or my organisation) shared fire safety instructions with residents, including evacuation strategies for the buildings for which I am a responsible person).
3. Q11. Thinking about the buildings for which you are a responsible person, how many have a height which is greater than or equal to 11 metres?

Figure D9: Level of agreement sharing information about the importance of fire doors with their residents by RP responsible for a building over 11 metres

Source: Responsible persons survey

Notes:

1. Base: RPs responsible for at least one building where FSER 2022 apply = 221.
2. Q9. For each of the statements below, please indicate the extent to which you agree or disagree they describe activities taken by you since January 2023 (I (or my organisation) provided residents with information about the importance of fire doors (the need to keep shut, not tamper with and report faults relating to fire doors) for the buildings for which I am a responsible person).
3. Q11. Thinking about the buildings for which you are a responsible person, how many have a height which is greater than or equal to 11 metres?

Fire door checks

Figure D10: Proportion of RPs responsible for at least one building over 11 metres by who is carrying the checks on fire doors in the buildings for which they are responsible

Source: Responsible persons survey

Notes:

1. Base: RPs with additional specific regulations related to fire doors of RPs with buildings over 11 metres = 141.
2. Q12. To the best of your knowledge, who, if anyone, is carrying out the checks on fire doors in the buildings for which you are a responsible person?

Figure D11: Proportion of RPs by who carries the checks on fire doors for buildings for which they are responsible (RP or their organisation, someone else or a mixture of both)

Source: Responsible persons survey

Notes:

1. Base: RPs with additional specific regulations related to fire doors of RPs with buildings over 11 metres = 141.
2. Q12. To the best of your knowledge, who, if anyone, is carrying out the checks on fire doors in the buildings for which you are a responsible person?

Figure D12: Proportion RPs with at least one building over 11 metres based on sector within which RP work and who is conducting fire door checks

Source: Responsible persons survey

Notes:

1. Base: RPs responsible for a building over 11 metres = 141.
2. Q12. To the best of your knowledge, who, if anyone, is carrying out the checks on fire doors in the buildings for which you are a responsible person.
3. Q3. Are you, or do you represent a…?

Figure D13: Proportion of RPs with at least one building over 11 metres based on RP service and who is conducting fire door checks

Source: Responsible persons survey

Notes:

1. Base: RPs responsible for a building over 11 metres = 141.
2. Q12. To the best of your knowledge, who, if anyone, is carrying out the checks on fire doors in the buildings for which you are a responsible person?
3. Q4. Which of the following best describes the services you or your organisation provide? (Participants can choose more than one answer option)

Figure D14: Proportion RPs with at least one building over 11 metres based on RP number of buildings and who is conducting fire door checks

Source: Responsible persons survey

Notes:

1. Base: RPs responsible for a building over 11 metres = 141.
2. Q12. To the best of your knowledge, who, if anyone, is carrying out the checks on fire doors in the buildings for which you are a responsible person?
3. Q5. Overall, how many buildings are you a responsible person for?

Figure D15: Proportion of RPs who use external FRAs and RPs who use in-house FRA by who conducts the fire door checks of the buildings for which they are responsible

Source: Responsible persons survey

Notes:

1. Base: RPs responsible for a building over 11 metres = 141.
2. Q12. To the best of your knowledge, who, if anyone, is carrying out the checks on fire doors in the buildings for which you are a responsible person?
3. Q29. Who is carrying out fire risk assessments of the buildings for which you are a responsible person?

Figure D16: Proportion of RPs with at least one building over 11 metres who have heard of fire door guidance

Source: Responsible persons survey

Notes:

1. Base: RPs responsible for a building over 11 metres = 141.
2. Q14. Have you heard of the Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022: fire door guidance?

Figure D17: Confidence levels in following fire door guidance of RPs with at least one building over 11 metres who have heard of fire door guidance

Source: Responsible persons survey

Notes:

1. Base: RPs responsible for a building over 11 metres who have heard of fire door guidance = 130.
2. Q15. How confident do you feel about following ‘Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022: fire door’ guidance to the common areas and flat fire doors in the buildings you are a responsible person for?

Figure D18: Confidence levels in following fire door guidance of RPs with at least one building over 11 metres who have heard of fire door guidance by who carries fire door checks

Source: Responsible persons survey

Notes:

1. Base: RPs responsible for a building over 11 metres who have heard about the fire door guidance = 130.
2. Q15. How confident do you feel about following “Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022: fire door” guidance to the common areas and flat fire doors in the buildings you are a responsible person for?
3. Q12. To the best of your knowledge, who, if anyone, is carrying out the checks on fire doors in the buildings for which you are a responsible person?

Figure D19: RP strategies to determine if a fire door needs to be checked

Source: Responsible persons survey

Notes:

1. Base: RPs with additional specific regulations related to fire doors of RPs with buildings over 11 metres who responded to Q17 = 132.
2. Q17. To the best of your knowledge, how do you determine if a fire door needs to be replaced or repaired?

Figure D20: What RPs think could be improved with the Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022

Source: Responsible persons survey

Notes:

1. Base: RPs responsible for at least one building where FSER 2022 apply and who responded to Q23 = 133.
2. Q23. Please use this space to describe anything you think could be improved with the Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022.

Appendix E: Research question 3

Figures by order of appearance

Figure E1: Proportion of RPs by who conducts the fire risk assessments of the buildings for which they are responsible

Source: Responsible persons survey

Notes:

1. Base: All RPs = 362.
2. Q29. Who is carrying out fire risk assessments of the buildings for which you are a responsible person?

Figure E2: Proportion of RPs by the services their FRAs provide

Source: Responsible persons survey

Notes:

1. Base: All RPs = 362.
2. Q30. Which of the following does your fire risk assessor provide?

Figure E3: Proportion of RPs who use external and in-house FRAs to conduct their fire risk assessments (collapsed Q29)

Source: Responsible persons survey

Notes:

1. Base: All RPs = 362.
2. Q29. Who is carrying out fire risk assessments of the buildings for which you are a Responsible person?

Figure E4: Proportion of RPs by whether they know about their FRAs belonging to a professional registration scheme

Source: Responsible persons survey

Notes:

1. Base: All RPs = 362.
2. Q33. To the best of your knowledge, do you or your organisation ensure that the fire risk assessors who carry out the fire risk assessments of the buildings you are a responsible person for belong to any relevant professional registration schemes?

Figure E5: RPs levels of confidence in selecting a competent fire risk assessor

Source: Responsible persons survey

Notes:

1. Base: All RPs = 362.
2. Q36. How confident, if at all, do you feel about selecting a competent fire risk assessor?

Figure E6: Proportion of RPs who use external FRAs and RPs who use in-house FRA by whether type of service their FRAs provide

Source: Responsible persons survey

Notes:

1. Base: All RPs = 362.
2. Q29. Who is carrying out fire risk assessments of the buildings for which you are a responsible person?
3. Q30. Which of the following does your fire risk assessor provide?

Figure E7: Proportion of RPs who use external FRAs and RPs who use in-house FRA by whether they or their organisation ensure that those FRAs belong to any relevant professional registration schemes

Source: Responsible persons survey

Notes:

1. Base: All RPs = 362.
2. Q33. To the best of your knowledge, do you or your organisation ensure that the fire risk assessors who carry out the fire risk assessments of the buildings you are a responsible person for belong to any relevant professional registration schemes?
3. Q29. Who is carrying out fire risk assessments of the buildings for which you are a responsible person?

Figure E8: Proportion of RPs who use external FRAs and RPs who use in-house FRA by their level of confidence in selecting a competent fire risk assessor

Source: Responsible persons survey

Notes:

1. Base: All RPs = 362.
2. Q36. How confident, if at all, do you feel about selecting a competent fire risk assessor?
3. Q29. Who is carrying out fire risk assessments of the buildings for which you are a responsible person?

Table 5: Proportion of RPs by whether they agree or disagree undertaking specific actions related to the fire risk assessments of the buildings for which they are responsible

Statement	Strongly agree	Tend to agree	Neither agree nor disagree	Tend to disagree	Strongly disagree	Do not know
I understand the information given in the fire risk assessment by the fire risk assessor(s)	63%	22%	4%	1%	2%	4%
I feel that I (or my organisation) have completed fire risk assessments work on all buildings for which I am a responsible person	62%	22%	4%	4%	4%	1%
Fire risk assessments are conducted when there is a significant change to the premises for which I (or my organisation) am a responsible person	63%	17%	7%	4%	4%	2%
I understand the technical details in the fire risk assessment report(s) provided by the fire risk assessor(s)	51%	27%	9%	2%	3%	4%
I feel that I (or my organisation) have access to relevant building information that can be shared with fire risk assessors	50%	28%	7%	8%	4%	1%

Source: Responsible persons survey

Notes:

1. Base: All RPs = 362.
2. Q41. To what extent do you agree or disagree with each of the following statements?

Figure E9: Proportion of RPs by channel they or their organisation use in the process of selecting/hiring FRAs

Source: Responsible persons survey

Notes:

1. Base: All RPs = 362.
2. Q31. What are the channels that you or your organisation use in the process of selecting/hiring a fire risk assessor?

Figure E10: Proportion of RPs by channel they or their organisation use to select/hire FRAs (split into formal and informal channel)

Source: Responsible persons survey

Notes:

1. Base: All RPs = 362.
2. Q31. What are the channels that you or your organisation use in the process of selecting/hiring a fire risk assessor?

Figure E11: Proportion of RPs by channel they or their organisation use to select/hire FRAs (split into formal, informal channel, combination of formal and informal channels, and none)

Source: Responsible persons survey

Notes:

1. Base: All RPs = 362.
2. Q31. What are the channels that you or your organisation use in the process of selecting/hiring a fire risk assessor?

Figure E12: Proportion of RPs by type of FRAs they use and the channels they use to select/hire FRAs

Source: Responsible persons survey

Notes:

1. Base: All RPs = 362.
2. Q31. What are the channels that you or your organisation use in the process of selecting/hiring a fire risk assessor?
3. Q29. Who is carrying out fire risk assessments of the buildings for which you are a responsible person?

Table 6: Proportion of RPs by level of criteria importance when selecting/hiring a fire risk assessor

Statement	Very important	Fairly important	Not very important	Not at all important	Not applicable
Qualifications and training of fire risk assessors	81%	7%	1%	1%	7%
Certification of the company and/or individual fire risk assessors	75%	9%	3%	2%	9%
Experience in the types of building you or your organisation is the responsible person for	75%	14%	2%	1%	7%
Fire Risk Assessor has Professional Indemnity Insurance (PII)	67%	9%	6%	2%	13%
Recommendations from other responsible persons (or organisations)	32%	35%	15%	4%	11%

Source: Responsible persons survey

Notes:

1. Base: All RPs = 362.
2. Q32. Using the scale below, when selecting/hiring a fire risk assessor, how important are each of the following criteria for you or your organisation?

Table 7: Proportion of RPs by level of importance on different criteria when selecting/hiring a fire risk assessor by whether the RP has external FRAs, in-house FRAs or a combination of both external and in-house FRAs

Statement	Very important	Fairly important	Not very important	Not at all important
Qualifications and training of fire risk assessors
External FRAs	94%	5%	1%	1%
In-house FRAs	80%	17%	1%	1%
Both	90%	5%	2%	3%
Certification of the company and/or individual fire risk assessors
External FRA	90%	8%	2%	1%
Internal FRA	74%	16%	7%	2%
Both	86%	10%	0%	5%
Experience in the types of building you or your organisation is the responsible person for
External FRA	86%	11%	3%	1%
Internal FRA	76%	22%	1%	1%
Both	81%	16%	2%	2%
Fire Risk Assessor has Professional Indemnity Insurance (PII)
External FRA	89%	8%	3%	1%
Internal FRA	57%	19%	13%	10%
Both	82%	10%	7%	2%
Recommendations from other responsible persons (or organisations)
External FRA	42%	39%	17%	2%
Internal FRA	31%	43%	19%	7%
Both	33%	45%	15%	7%

Source:Responsible persons survey

Notes:

1. Base: All RPs = 362 (answers that are ‘Not applicable’ are excluded from this table).
2. Q32. Using the scale below, when selecting/hiring a fire risk assessor, how important are each of the following criteria for you or your organisation?
3. Q29. Who is carrying out fire risk assessments of the buildings for which you are a responsible person?

Figure E13: Proportion of RPs who have experienced any difficulty in organising a fire risk assessment

Source: Responsible persons survey

Notes:

1. Base: All RPs = 362.
2. Q37. Which, if any, of the following difficulties have you (or your organisation) experienced in organising the fire risk assessments of the buildings for which you are a responsible person?

Figure E14: Proportion of RPs by how often they or a representative of their organisation accompany their FRA while they conduct fire risk assessments

Source: Responsible persons survey

Notes:

1. Base: All RPs who responded to Q40 = 267.
2. Q40. How often, if at all, do you (or another representative of your organisation) accompany fire risk assessor(s) while they conduct fire risk assessment(s), for the buildings you are responsible for?

Figure E15: Proportion of RPs by how often they or a representative of their organisation accompany their FRA while they conduct fire risk assessments by FRAs type

Source: Responsible persons survey

Notes:

1. Base: All RPs who responded to Q40 = 267.
2. Q40. How often, if at all, do you (or another representative of your organisation) accompany fire risk assessor(s) while they conduct fire risk assessment(s), for the buildings you are responsible for?
3. Q29. Who is carrying out fire risk assessments of the buildings for which you are a responsible person?

Figure E16: The most challenging aspects for RPs in conducting fire risk assessments

Source: Responsible persons survey

Notes:

1. Base: All RPs who responded to this question = 267.
2. Q42. What do you think are the most challenging aspects for you in conducting fire risk assessments?

Figure E17: RP level of satisfaction with the quality of the service provided by their FRAs

Source: Responsible persons survey

Notes:

1. Base: All RPs = 362.
2. Q38. Overall, how satisfied or dissatisfied are you with the quality of the service provided by your fire risk assessor(s)?

Figure E18: RPs’ levels of satisfaction with service provision by FRAs type

Source: Responsible persons survey

Notes:

1. Base: All RPs = 362.
2. Q38. Overall, how satisfied or dissatisfied are you with the quality of the service provided by your fire risk assessor(s)?
3. Q29. Who is carrying out fire risk assessments of the buildings for which you are a responsible person?

Table 8: Accredited and non-accredited schemes in which FRAs can be

	UKAS-accredited body	Non-UKAS accredited body
BAFE SP205 (via the Security Systems and Alarms Inspection Board (SSAIB) or National Security Inspectorate (NSI))	Yes
Fire Risk Assessors Certification Scheme (FRACS) – Warrington Fire Testing and Certification	Yes
The Fire Risk Assessor Register (FRAR) – Institute of Fire Prevention Officers (IFPO)		Yes
Fire Risk Register of Assessors (FRRA) – Institution of Fire Engineers (IFE)		Yes
Tiered Fire Risk Assessor Register (TFRAR) – Institute of Fire Safety Managers (IFSM) (Please state tier below)		Yes
None of the above schemes (which are validated by UKAS or the UK Engineering Council)
Do not know

Source: Responsible persons survey

Notes:

1. Information relevant to Q34. Which professional registration scheme do fire risk assessors who carry out your building(s)’ fire risk assessment(s) belong to?
2. UKAS is the Accreditation Service for the United Kingdom and has a Memorandum of Understanding with the government. In the UK the Conformity Assessment Model of third-party certification, developed by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), involves UKAS accrediting certification bodies against agreed ISO standards. The Home Office therefore considers an ‘accredited certification scheme’ to be one accredited by UKAS, not by any other third party.

Figure E19: Proportion of RPs indicating the professional registration scheme under which their FRAs are certificated

Source: Responsible persons survey

Notes:

1. Base: RPs who ensure their FRA is certificated by a professional registration scheme or they are not sure = 279.
2. Q34. Which professional registration scheme do fire risk assessors who carry out your building(s)’ fire risk assessment(s) belong to?

Figure E20: Proportion of RPs indicating the professional registration scheme under which their FRAs are certificated (grouped)

Source: Responsible persons survey

Notes:

1. Base: RPs who ensure their FRA is certificated by a professional registration scheme or they are not sure = 279.
2. Q34. Which professional registration scheme do fire risk assessors who carry out your building(s)’ fire risk assessment(s) belong to?

Figure E21: Proportion of RPs indicating their FRAs are certificated by UKAS-accredited, non-UKAS accredited body or both by type of FRA (grouped)

Source: Responsible persons survey

Notes:

1. Base: RPs who ensure their FRA is certificated by a professional registration scheme or they are not sure = 279.
2. Q34. Which professional registration scheme do fire risk assessors who carry out your building(s)’ fire risk assessment(s) belong to?
3. Q29. Who is carrying out fire risk assessments of the buildings for which you are a responsible person?

Figure E22: Proportion of RPs indicating their FRAs are certificated by a professional registration scheme by the number of buildings for which RP is responsible

Source: Responsible persons survey

Notes:

1. Base: RPs who ensure their FRA is certificated by a professional registration scheme or they are not sure = 279.
2. Q5. Overall, how many buildings are you a responsible person for?
3. Q34. Which professional registration scheme do fire risk assessors who carry out your building(s)’ fire risk assessment(s) belong to?

Figure E23: Proportion of RPs indicating their FRAs are certificated by a professional registration scheme by the sector within which RPs work

Source: Responsible persons survey

Notes:

1. Base: RPs who ensure their FRA is certificated by a professional registration scheme or they are not sure = 279.
2. Q3. Are you, or do you represent a…?
3. Q34. Which professional registration scheme do fire risk assessors who carry out your building(s)’ fire risk assessment(s) belong to?

Figure E24: Proportion of RPs indicating their FRAs are certificated by a professional registration scheme by the type of service RPs or their organisation provide

Source: Responsible persons survey

Notes:

1. Base: RPs who ensure their FRA is certificated by a professional registration scheme or they are not sure = 279.
2. Q4. Which of the following best describes the services you or your organisation provide?
3. Q34. Which professional registration scheme do fire risk assessors who carry out your building(s)’ fire risk assessment(s) belong to?

Figure E25: Proportion of RPs indicating their FRAs are certificated by a professional registration scheme by whether RP is responsible for at least one building over 11 metres

Source: Responsible persons survey

Notes:

1. Base: RPs who ensure their FRA is certificated by a professional registration scheme or they are not sure = 279.
2. Q11. Thinking about the buildings for which you are a responsible person, how many have a height which is greater than or equal to 11 metres?
3. Q34. Which professional registration scheme do fire risk assessors who carry out your building(s)’ fire risk assessment(s) belong to?

Research question 3 - Section FRAPT - What are RPs’ experiences with the Fire Risk Assessment Prioritisation Tool (FRAPT)?

Figures by order of appearance

Figure E26: Percentages of RPs who have heard about FRAPT

Source: Responsible persons survey

Notes:

1. Base: RPs responsible for at least one building where FSER 2022 apply = 221.
2. Q24. Have you heard of the Home Office’s Fire Risk Assessment Prioritisation Tool (FRAPT)?

Figure E27: Percentages of RPs who have used FRAPT out of the RPs who report they have heard about FRAPT

Source: Responsible persons survey

Notes:

1. Base: RPs with FRAPT knowledge = 167.
2. Q25. Have you used the FRAPT to assist you to determine the priority for updating the fire risk assessments to include external walls of the buildings for which you are a responsible person.

Figure E28: Current users of the FRAPT and likelihood to use FRAPT in the future

Source: Responsible persons survey

Notes:

1. Base: RPs who have used FRAPT in the past = 133.
2. Q25. Have you used the FRAPT to assist you to determine the priority for updating the fire risk assessments to include external walls of the buildings for which you are a responsible person.
3. Q28. How likely or unlikely is it that you or your organisation will be using the FRAPT to assist you to determine the priority of the buildings you or your organisation are a responsible person for in the next 6 months?

Additional figures

Figure E29: RPs likely to use FRAPT in the future

Source: Responsible persons survey

Notes:

1. Base:RPs with FRAPT knowledge = 167.
2. Q28. How likely or unlikely is it that you or your organisation will be using the FRAPT to assist you to determine the priority of the buildings you or your organisation are a responsible person for in the next 6 months?

Figure E30: Proportion of RPs likely to use FRAPT in the future by the sector within which RPs work

Source: Responsible persons survey

Notes:

1. Base: RPs with FRAPT knowledge = 167.
2. Q28. How likely or unlikely is it that you or your organisation will be using the FRAPT to assist you to determine the priority of the buildings you or your organisation are a responsible person for in the next 6 months?
3. Q3. Are you, or do you represent a…?

Figure E31: Proportion of RPs likely to use FRAPT in the future by the service they or their organisation provide

Source: Responsible persons survey

Notes:

1. Base: RPs with FRAPT knowledge = 167.
2. Q28. How likely or unlikely is it that you or your organisation will be using the FRAPT to assist you to determine the priority of the buildings you or your organisation are a responsible person for in the next 6 months?
3. Q4. Which of the following best describes the services you or your organisation provide? (Participants can choose more than one answer option).

Figure E32: Proportion of RPs likely to use FRAPT in the future by the number of buildings for which they are responsible

Source: Responsible persons survey

Notes:

1. Base: RPs with FRAPT knowledge = 167.
2. Q28. How likely or unlikely is it that you or your organisation will be using the FRAPT to assist you to determine the priority of the buildings you or your organisation are a responsible person for in the next 6 months?
3. Q5. Overall, how many buildings are you a responsible person for?

Figure E33: Proportion of RPs likely to use FRAPT in the future by whether RPs are responsible for a building over 11 metres

Source: Responsible persons survey

Notes:

1. Base: RPs with FRAPT knowledge = 167.
2. Q28. How likely or unlikely is it that you or your organisation will be using the FRAPT to assist you to determine the priority of the buildings you or your organisation are a responsible person for in the next 6 months?
3. Q11. Thinking about the buildings for which you are a responsible person, how many have a height which is greater than or equal to 11 metres?

Figure E34: Proportion of RPs likely to use FRAPT in the future by whether RPs are responsible for a building between 11 and 18 metres

Source: Responsible persons survey

Notes:

1. Base: RPs with FRAPT knowledge = 167.
2. Q28. How likely or unlikely is it that you or your organisation will be using the FRAPT to assist you to determine the priority of the buildings you or your organisation are a responsible person for in the next 6 months?
3. Q18. Thinking about the buildings for which you are a responsible person, how many have a height which is greater than or equal to 11 metres but less than 18 metres?

Figure E35: Proportion of RPs likely to use FRAPT in the future by whether RPs are responsible for a building over 18 metres

Source: Responsible persons survey

Notes:

1. Base: RPs with FRAPT knowledge = 167.
2. Q28. How likely or unlikely is it that you or your organisation will be using the FRAPT to assist you to determine the priority of the buildings you or your organisation are a responsible person for in the next 6 months?
3. Q20. Thinking about the buildings for which you are a responsible person for, how many are 18 metres of more in height?

Appendix F: Research question 5

Figures and tables by order of appearance

Figure F1: RPs’ levels of awareness of Section 156 of BSA

Source: Responsible persons survey

Notes:

1. Base: All RPs = 362.
2. Q43. How aware do you feel of the new or amended duties in the Fire Safety Order coming into force on 1 October 2023 which have been introduced through Section 156 of the Building Safety Act?

Figure F2: RPs’ awareness levels of Section 156 by the type of sector within which RPs’ work

Source: Responsible persons survey

Notes:

1. Base: All RPs = 362.
2. Q43. How aware do you feel of the new or amended duties in the Fire Safety Order coming into force on 1 October 2023 which have been introduced through Section 156 of the Building Safety Act?
3. Q3. Are you, or do you represent a…?

Figure F3: RPs’ awareness levels of Section 156 by the type of service provided RPs or their organisation provide

Source: Responsible persons survey

Notes:

1. Base: All RPs = 362.
2. Q43. How aware do you feel of the new or amended duties in the Fire Safety Order coming into force on 1 October 2023 which have been introduced through Section 156 of the Building Safety Act?
3. Q4. Which of the following best describes the services you or your organisation provide? (Participants can choose more than one answer option)

Figure F4: RPs’ level of awareness of Section 156 by the number of buildings for which they are responsible

Source: Responsible persons survey

Notes:

1. Base: All RPs = 362.
2. Q43. How aware do you feel of the new or amended duties in the Fire Safety Order coming into force on 1 October 2023 which have been introduced through Section 156 of the Building Safety Act?
3. Q5. Overall, how many buildings are you a responsible person for?

Figure F5: RPs’ levels of awareness of Section 156 by whether RP is responsible for at least one building where FSER apply

Source: Responsible persons survey

Notes:

1. Base: All RPs = 362.
2. Q43. How aware do you feel of the new or amended duties in the Fire Safety Order coming into force on 1 October 2023 which have been introduced through Section 156 of the Building Safety Act.
3. Q8. Thinking about the building(s) for which you are a responsible person, which of the following types of buildings are they? (Participants can choose more than one answer option).

Table 9: Likelihood of RPs to take the followings regarding buildings for which they are a responsible person in the next 6 months

Statement	Very likely	Fairly likely	Not very likely	Not at all likely	Not applicable	Do not know
I (or my organisation) will record completed fire risk assessments in full (includes fire safety arrangements, contact details and the name of the individual conducting the fire risk assessment	84%	12%	1%	1%	1%	0%
I (or my organisation) will share fire safety information with other responsible persons, accountable persons and principle accountable persons and residents	74%	16%	2%	1%	5%	1%
I (or my organisation) will identify other responsible persons, accountable persons and principle accountable persons in the premises	65%	16%	3%	3%	10%	2%

Source: Responsible persons survey

Notes:

1. Base: RPs with some awareness of Section 156 = 312.
2. Q44. For each of the statements below, please indicate how likely or unlikely, if at all, you are to take the following actions regarding buildings for which you are a responsible person in the next 6 months?

Figure F6: RPs’ most challenging aspects in implementing Section 156 of BSA

Source: Responsible persons survey

Notes:

1. Base: RPs with RPs with some awareness of Section 156 and who answered Q45 = 216.
2. Q45. What do you think are the most challenging aspects for you in implementing the new fire safety requirements under Section 156 of BSA? (Multiple answer options).

Appendix G: Additional survey questions

Table 10: RPs’ geographical distribution

Country	Number of RPs
England	362
Scotland	12
Wales	19
Northern Ireland	6

Source: Responsible persons survey

Notes:

1. Base: All RPs = 362.
2. Q6. Thinking about the building(s) for which you are a responsible person, in which of the following geographical areas are they located? (Multiple answer options).

Table 11: RPs’ awareness of differences between fire safety legislation in England and the other devolved administration(s)?

Levels of awareness	Number of RPs
Extremely aware	7
Very aware	8
Moderately aware	5
Slightly aware	2
Total	22

Source: Responsible persons survey

Notes:

1. Base: RPs with building in England and any other nation = 22.
2. Q7. Using the scale below, how aware are you of the differences between fire safety legislation in England and the other devolved administration(s)? In the UK, devolved administrations are Scottish government, Welsh government, and/or Northern Ireland Executive.

Table 12: Number of buildings RPs have identified using the FRAPT

Statement	Number of buildings	Number of RPs responding
The number of full fire risk assessments you have completed	4,586	96
The number of buildings identified in Tier 1 or Tier 2 by the tool	119	97
The number of buildings identified in Tier 1 and Tier 2 for which you have requested a full fire risk assessment	158	92

Source: Responsible persons survey

Notes:

1. Base: RPs used FRAPT in the past = 133.
2. Q27. As a result of using the online FRAPT, please provide your best estimate about the following:

Tier 1 buildings - very high priority buildings. This is because the responses suggest that there is a significant number of risk factors of external fire spread in a high-rise building in addition to compartmentation likely to be breached. Therefore, the responsible person should treat these buildings with very high priority.

Tier 2 buildings – high priority buildings. This is because the responses suggest that there is a risk of external fire spread in a high-rise building, in addition to compartmentation likely to be breached. Therefore, the responsible person should treat these buildings with high priority.

Table 13: Number of dwellings and residents RPs have identified in the buildings for which they are responsible

Statement	Number of buildings	Number of RPs responding
Individual dwellings contained within the building(s)	377,502	173
Residents occupying the building(s)	628,965	161
Residents that may find it difficult or have difficulties evacuating unaided in event of fire	15,218	141

Source: Responsible persons survey

Notes:

1. Base: RPs responsible for at least one building where FSER 2022 apply = 221.
2. Q10. Thinking about the building(s) for which you are a responsible person please provide your best estimate for the total number of:

Table 14: Number of buildings RPs have identified

Statement	Number of buildings (greater than or equal to 11 metres but less than 18 metres)	Number of RPs responding
… completed fire risk assessments for	21,834	105
… not yet completed fire risk assessments for	2,540	75
… identified with potentially combustible materials on external walls	1,401	90

Source: Responsible persons survey

Notes:

1. Base: RPs responsible for at least one building greater than or equal to 11 metres but less than 18 metres = 116.
2. Q19. Since May 2022, please provide your best estimates for the number of buildings you or your organisation have…

Table 15: Number of buildings RPs have identified

Statement	Number of buildings (greater than 18 metres)	Number of RPs responding
… completed fire risk assessments for	2,650	79
… not yet completed fire risk assessments for	154	56
… identified with potentially combustible materials on external walls	264	63

Source: Responsible persons survey

Notes:

1. Base: RPs responsible for at least one building greater than or equal to 18 metres = 88.
2. Q22. Since May 2022, please provide your best estimates for the number of buildings you or your organisation have…

Table 16: Number and proportion of RPs who have ranked ‘Speed in conducting the fire risk assessment(s)’ in order of importance for them or their organisation when selecting/hiring a fire risk assessor

Speed in conducting the fire risk assessment(s)	Number of RPs who responded	Percentage of RPs
1 = the most important	56	17%
2	75	22%
3	106	31%
4 = the least important	100	30%

Source: Responsible persons survey

Notes:

1. Base: All RPs who responded to Q35 = 337.
2. Q35. Please rank/order the following criteria in order of importance for you or your organisation when selecting/hiring a fire risk assessor.

(Click and drag each statement into place OR click on the dropdown menu against each statement to a number from 1 to 4 where 1 = the most important and 4 = the least important)

Table 17: Number and proportion of RPs who have ranked ‘cost’ in order of importance for them or their organisation when selecting/hiring a fire risk assessor

Cost	Number of RPs who responded	Percentage of RPs
1 = the most important	102	30%
2	82	24%
3	76	23%
4 = the least important	77	23%

Source: Responsible persons survey

Notes:

1. Base: All RPs who responded to Q35 = 337.
2. Q35. Please rank/order the following criteria in order of importance for you or your organisation when selecting/hiring a fire risk assessor.

(Click and drag each statement into place OR click on the dropdown menu against each statement to a number from 1 to 4 where 1 = the most important and 4 = the least important)

Table 18: Number and proportion of RPs who have ranked ‘Location/proximity to the building(s) to be assessed’ in order of importance for them or their organisation when selecting/hiring a fire risk assessor

Location/proximity to the building(s) to be assessed	Number of RPs who responded	Percentage of RPs
1 = the most important	56	17%
2	66	20%
3	89	26%
4 = the least important	126	37%

Source: Responsible persons survey

Notes:

1. Base: All RPs who responded to Q35 = 337.
2. Q35. Please rank/order the following criteria in order of importance for you or your organisation when selecting/hiring a fire risk assessor.

(Click and drag each statement into place OR click on the dropdown menu against each statement to a number from 1 to 4 where 1 = the most important and 4 = the least important)

Table 19: Number and proportion of RPs who have ranked ‘Availability/lead-in times’ in order of importance for them or their organisation when selecting/hiring a fire risk assessor

Availability/lead-in times	Number of RPs who responded	Percentage of RPs
1 = the most important	123	36%
2	114	34%
3	66	20%
4 = the least important	34	10%

Source: Responsible persons survey

Notes:

1. Base: All RPs who responded to Q35 = 337.
2. Q35. Please rank/order the following criteria in order of importance for you or your organisation when selecting/hiring a fire risk assessor.

(Click and drag each statement into place OR click on the dropdown menu against each statement to a number from 1 to 4 where 1 = the most important and 4 = the least important)