English Housing Survey, 2019 to 2020: feeling safe from fire
Published 8 July 2021
Applies to England
© Crown copyright 2021
This publication is licensed under the terms of the Open Government Licence v3.0 except where otherwise stated. To view this licence, visit nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3 or write to the Information Policy Team, The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: psi@nationalarchives.gov.uk.
Where we have identified any third party copyright information you will need to obtain permission from the copyright holders concerned.
This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/english-housing-survey-2019-to-2020-feeling-safe-from-fire/english-housing-survey-2019-to-2020-feeling-safe-from-fire
In this release:
In 2019 to 2020, MHCLG’s English Housing Survey collected data on whether people felt safe from fire in their homes. The data show that:
- Most people feel safe in their home and do not fear that a fire will break out.
- A small proportion - 5% - felt unsafe and feared that a fire would break out.
- Renters were more likely to feel unsafe at home than owner occupiers.
- Those who live in low (11%) and high (21%) rise flats were more likely than those who live in other dwelling types (e.g. houses) (2-6%) to feel unsafe in their homes.
- Those aged 16-24 were more concerned than all other age groups.
- Those from an ethnic minority background were more concerned than those from a White background.
- It is likely that all these findings are related. For example, younger people and those from an ethnic minority background are more likely to be renters and renters are more likely to live in flats.
Release date: 8 July 2021
Date of next release: July 2022
Contact: ehs@communities.gov.uk
Media enquiries: 0303 444 1209 NewsDesk@communities.gov.uk
Introduction
This release provides information on whether people feel safe from fire in their homes, and whether this varies by tenure, dwelling type, age and ethnicity. Data was collected between April 2019 and March 2020 as part of the English Housing Survey (EHS).
The EHS is a national survey of people’s housing circumstances and the condition and energy efficiency of housing in England. It is one of the longest standing government surveys and was first run in 1967.
This release provides findings from the 2019 to 2020 survey, where respondents were asked whether they agreed or disagreed with the following statement: ‘I do not feel safe at home because I fear that a fire may break out’. Those who strongly agree or tend to agree with the statement are considered to feel unsafe in their home. This was the first time this question had been included in the EHS.
Feeling safe from fire
Most people feel safe in their home and do not fear that a fire will break out. In 2019 to 2020, 89% of households said they felt safe from fire in their home and 6% said that they neither agreed nor disagreed that they felt safe at home. One in 20 (5%) households said they felt unsafe in their home because they fear that a fire may break out. This varied by tenure, the type of dwelling the household lived in and the respondent’s age and ethnicity.
Tenure
Renters were more likely to (strongly or tend to) agree that they did not feel safe at home because they fear that a fire may break out. Social renters were more concerned, with 1 in 10 (10%) agreeing with the statement, compared to 7% of private renters. Owner occupiers were the least likely to agree that they did not feel safe at home due to the fear of a fire breaking out (3%).
Table 1: Agreement with statement ‘I do not feel safe at home because I fear that a fire may break out’, by tenure
| Strongly agree | Tend to agree | All who agree | Neither agree nor disagree | Tend to disagree | Strongly disagree | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Owner occupiers | 1.1% | 2.2% | 3.3% | 5.0% | 18.0% | 73.7% |
| Social renters | 2.6% | 7.2% | 9.8% | 9.3% | 20.7% | 60.3% |
| Private renters | 1.9% | 4.8% | 6.7% | 7.8% | 24.8% | 60.7% |
| Total | 1.5% | 3.5% | 5.0% | 6.2% | 19.7% | 69.2% |
Source: English Housing Survey, half household sample
Dwelling type
Respondents in purpose built flats (low rise and high rise) were more likely than respondents in almost all other dwelling types to feel unsafe in their homes. In 2019 to 2020, 21% of those in high rise flats and 11% of those in low rise flats felt unsafe in their home. Rates for those who live in other dwelling types were much lower. For example, 5% of those in small terraced houses and 4% of those in bungalows (strongly or tended to) agree that they did not feel safe at home because they feared a fire breaking out.
Table 2: Agreement with statement ‘I do not feel safe at home because I fear that a fire may break out’, by dwelling type
| Strongly agree | Tend to agree | All who agree | Neither agree nor disagree | Tend to disagree | Strongly disagree | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Small terraced house | 2.0% | 3.2% | 5.2% | 6.7% | 22.5% | 65.6% |
| Medium/large terraced house | 0.8% | 3.1% | 3.9% | 6.8% | 18.9% | 70.4% |
| Semi-detached house | 1.6% | 1.3% | 2.9% | 7.2% | 20.0% | 69.9% |
| Detached house | u | u | 2.3% | 1.7% | 17.3% | 78.7% |
| Bungalow | 1.6% | 2.1% | 3.6% | 1.4% | 21.0% | 73.9% |
| Converted flat | u | 4.2% | 5.6% | 7.5% | 43.5% | 43.4% |
| Purpose built flat, low rise | 2.1% | 8.9% | 11.1% | 11.6% | 22.4% | 54.9% |
| Purpose built flat, high rise | u | 19.0% | 21.1% | 10.8% | 14.4% | 53.8% |
Notes:
1) u indicates sample size too small for reliable estimate
Source: English Housing Survey, half household sample
Age
Younger people were more likely to feel unsafe in their home, with 15% of those with a household reference person (HRP[footnote 1]) aged 16-24 reporting they felt unsafe, higher than any other age group. The other age groups ranged from 4% to 6%. Those aged 35-44 were more likely to feel unsafe in their home (6%) than 45-54 year olds (4%) and those aged 65 and over (also 4%).
Table 3: Agreement with statement ‘I do not feel safe at home because I fear that a fire may break out’, by age
| Strongly agree | Tend to agree | All who agree | Neither agree nor disagree | Tend to disagree | Strongly disagree | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 16-24 | u | 11.8% | 14.8% | 7.5% | 20.9% | 56.8% |
| 25-34 | 1.9% | 3.9% | 5.9% | 8.9% | 20.9% | 64.3% |
| 35-44 | 1.9% | 4.6% | 6.5% | 5.9% | 20.4% | 67.2% |
| 45-54 | 1.2% | 2.7% | 3.9% | 6.1% | 19.2% | 70.8% |
| 55-64 | 1.3% | 3.1% | 4.4% | 6.2% | 17.4% | 72.1% |
| 65+ | 1.2% | 2.8% | 3.9% | 5.1% | 20.2% | 70.8% |
Notes:
1) u indicates sample size too small for reliable estimate
Source: English Housing Survey, half household sample
Ethnicity
Those from an ethnic minority background were more likely than those from a White background to report feeling unsafe at home due to fear that a fire might break out (5% of White HRPs compared to 8% of ethnic minority HRPs).
Table 4: Agreement with statement ‘I do not feel safe at home because I fear that a fire may break out’, by ethnicity
| Strongly agree | Tend to agree | All who agree | Neither agree nor disagree | Tend to disagree | Strongly disagree | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| White | 1.5% | 3.1% | 4.6% | 5.3% | 19.3% | 70.8% |
| Ethnic minority | 1.4% | 6.3% | 7.7% | 12.5% | 22.3% | 57.5% |
Source: English Housing Survey, half household sample
-
The HRP is the person in whose name the accommodation is owned or rented. ↩