Official Statistics

Fire prevention and protection statistics, England, April 2024 to March 2025

Published 28 August 2025

Applies to England

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This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/fire-prevention-and-protection-england-year-ending-march-2025/fire-prevention-and-protection-statistics-england-april-2024-to-march-2025

Frequency of release: Annual

Forthcoming releases: Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government statistics release calendar

MHCLG responsible statistician: Daniel Farrugia

Press enquiries: newsdesk@communities.gov.uk

Public enquiries: firestatistics@communities.gov.uk

All fire-related Ministerial responsibilities moved from the Home Office to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) on 1 April 2025. This change followed a recommendation from the Phase 2 report of the Grenfell Tower Inquiry, to bring all fire safety functions under one department. Therefore, as part of this move, all statistical publications and analysis on fire functions were also subject to the Machinery of Government (MoG) change.

This release presents statistics from administrative sources on the prevention and protection activities undertaken by Fire and Rescue Services (FRSs), and their partners, in England for the year ending March 2025. It also includes analysis of smoke alarm ownership data from the English Housing Survey (EHS) for the year ending March 2024. This release compares the year ending March 2025 with the years ending March 2024 and 2020.

The statistics in this release inform the government, fire and rescue services, and local authorities to plan and prioritise fire prevention and protection activity. The data are used to inform national fire safety policy, allocate resources effectively, and support decisions on funding. They also help services target prevention work at the most vulnerable households, monitor compliance with fire safety legislation, and evaluate the effectiveness of regulatory interventions.

Fire prevention refers to the statutory duty of FRSs under section 6 of the Fire and Rescue Services Act 2004. Typical prevention activities include providing fire safety advice to households through Home Fire Safety Visits (HFSVs; previously called Home Fire Safety Checks), arson prevention, and educational work with vulnerable groups.

The fire statistics team stopped collecting data on campaigns and initiatives in 2018, to reduce the burden on FRSs. Historical data are available in FIRE1204.

Fire protection relates to FRSs’ statutory duty to promote and enforce fire safety in the built environment, primarily under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 (FSO, also referred to as the RRO). This legislation applies to all non-domestic premises and common parts of multi-occupied residential buildings. It requires responsible persons to:

  • carry out fire risk assessments to identify any general fire safety precautions
  • implement and maintain fire safety precautions to protect the safety of people in or within the vicinity of the premises

MHCLG also collects information on enforcement activity related to petroleum, explosives and dangerous substances (see FIRE1205) under other legislation listed in the further information section.

This release does not include statistics related to the new fire safety requirements, which came into effect on 1 October 2023: section 156 of the Building Safety Act 2022.

Key results

In the year ending March 2025, FRSs and their partners completed 588,855 HFSVs. This was an increase of 2.9% compared with the previous year (571,994), and virtually unchanged compared with 5 years ago (588,666).

Of these, 85% (501,123) were targeted at vulnerable households, the highest proportion recorded since targeting data began in year ending March 2021.

Figure KR.1: HFSVs completed by FRSs and their partners, England; year ending March 2011 to year ending March 2025

FRSs completed 51,020 fire safety audits in the year ending March 2025, of which 29,714 (58%) had a satisfactory outcome recorded, similar to the previous year which was the lowest proportion of satisfactory audits since the year ending March 2011.

Breaches of Article 14 (Emergency exits) were the most frequently cited reason for non-compliance, but down 12% on the previous year.

Formal notifications (2,972) increased slightly from the previous year (2,823) but remained 29% higher than 5 years ago.

Figure KR.2: Number of fire safety audits conducted by FRSs in England, year ending March 2017 to year ending March 2025

1. Fire prevention

This section focuses on Home Fire Safety Visits (HFSVs) and smoke alarm ownership. HFSVs are known by a variety of names, including Home Fire Safety Checks, Home Fire Risk Checks and Safe and Well Visits; however, in this release they are referred to as HFSVs.

HFSVs provide tailored domestic fire safety advice based on household characteristics, vulnerabilities, and lifestyle. These visits are often prioritised for more vulnerable members of the community, including older and disabled individuals. Interventions may include installing smoke alarms and recommending changes to reduce fire risk, such as repositioning furniture.

FRS partners include organisations and sectors such as:

  • Home Improvement Services
  • Education
  • Social services
  • Voluntary sector
  • Housing
  • Primary care trusts

1.1 Key results

In the year ending March 2025:

  • FRSs and their partners completed 588,855 HFSVs, which was an increase of 2.9% on year ending March 2024 (571,994), and virtually unchanged compared with the year ending March 2020 (588); Source: FIRE1201
  • FRSs and their partners completed 501,123 of HFSVs targeted at people with at least 1 vulnerability, which accounted for 85% of HFSVs, the highest proportion since the data collection was introduced Source: FIRE1201

1.2 Home fire safety visits (HFSVs)

Data is collected on both the total number of HFSVs, and the number targeted at households with at least one person with a vulnerability or risk factor. Targeting data are collected in the following sub-categories:

  • at least 1 person aged 65 years and over, but no-one disabled
  • at least 1 person aged 65 years and over and 1 person disabled (can be same person)
  • all aged under 65 but at least 1 person disabled

The number of HFSVs completed in England by FRSs and partners was until year ending March 2020 on a general downward trend, since the data were first collected in the year ending March 2011. There was a large reduction in the year ending March 2021, due to lockdowns and social restrictions in response to COVID-19. Subsequently, numbers increased, with HFSV numbers in the year ending March 2025 rising to 588,855 (see Figure KR.1). See Further information for more details on the impact of COVID-19.

Since the pandemic, the proportion of HFSVs completed face-to-face has increased. In the year ending March 2025, 98% of all HFSVs were carried out face-to-face.

1.3 Targeting of HFSVs

A total of 501,123 HFSVs (85%), were targeted at households that had at least 1 person with at least 1 vulnerability or risk factor in the year ending March 2025, compared to 481,739 HFSVs (84%) in the previous year. This metric for HFSV targeting was only included in the data collection since the year ending March 2021.

For the targeting of HFSVs in the year ending March 2025 (see Figure 1.1):

  • 166,344 were targeted at households with at least 1 person aged 65 years and over but no one in household disabled, accounting for 28% of total HFSVs
  • 168,261 were targeted at households with at least 1 person aged 65 years and over, and 1 disabled person, accounting for 29% of total HFSVs
  • 54,212 were targeted at households with at least 1 disabled person, with all residents aged 64 years and under, accounting for 9.2% of total HFSVs
  • 112,306 were targeted at other vulnerabilities for which the detail on the categorisation was not collected, accounting for 19% of total HFSVs

In the year ending March 2025, the proportion of HFSVs targeted at people aged 65 years and over and/or disabled was 66% (388,817 HFSVs) compared to 64% 5 years ago (334,011).

The number and proportion of HFSVs not targeted at a person with at least 1 vulnerability or risk factor has decreased. In the latest year, 87,732 were not targeted at people deemed ‘vulnerable’ or ‘at risk’, accounting for 15% of total HFSVs. This compares to 90,255 (16%) not targeted at those with at least 1 vulnerability in the previous year.

Figure 1.1: Total numbers of HFSVs and targeted HFSVs completed by FRSs in England, year ending March 2011 to March 2025

Notes:

  1. The person aged 65 years and over and disabled person categories in the chart above are not mutually exclusive. This means that a person aged 65 years and over and a disabled person would be counted in both targeting categories in this chart.

1.4 Staff carrying out HFSVs

In the year ending March 2025:

  • there was an average of 1.8 staff members carrying out each HFSV, compared to 1.8 in the previous year and 2.5 in the year ending March 2020
  • 82% of staff conducting HFSVs were firefighters, compared to 80% in the previous year and 86% in the year ending March 2020

Detailed breakdowns by staff role are available in table FIRE1201 in sheet FIRE1201c.

1.5 Smoke alarm ownership

Figure 1.2 shows that 92% of households reported owning a working smoke alarm in the year ending March 2024 (this is the latest available data). This proportion has steadily increased from 87% in the year ending March 2012. More information on the EHS, and the change in method during COVID-19, is available in the further information section.

Figure 1.2: Percentage of households owning a smoke alarm or working smoke alarm, England & Wales, 1988 to year ending March 2024

Source: EHS

Notes:

The imputed values in the chart above have been estimated by the Home Office, as figures were not available, as the exact questions on the EHS change each year.

2. Fire protection - fire safety audits

This section of the release specifically focuses on fire safety audits under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 (FSO) and the specific non-compliance articles of the FSO cited in enforcement activity following unsatisfactory audits. Definitions for the main fire protection activities are provided below, with more information provided in the further information section.

Fire safety audit is a planned visit by an FRS to carry out a comprehensive assessment of the level of compliance with the requirements of the FSO in a particular premises. There is a requirement for fire risk assessments to be regularly conducted and reviewed.

Short audits are an initial evaluation of the fire safety of a building. It was designed by the sector to support better regulation, by enabling FRSs to focus enforcement resources more effectively on higher risk premises.

Satisfactory audits: the result of an audit is recorded as satisfactory, if the premises broadly complies with the FSO and no further action is necessary.

Unsatisfactory audits: the result of an audit is recorded as unsatisfactory, if further action is necessary to bring the premises up to compliance.

2.1 Key results

In the year ending March 2025:

  • FRSs carried out 51,020 fire safety audits, an increase of 2.4% compared to the year ending March 2024 (49,835); Source: FIRE1202
  • 58% of audits had a satisfactory outcome, similar to the previous year; Source: FIRE1202
  • the most common type of premises to be audited was shops with 10,106 audits (20% of all fire safety audits); Source: FIRE1202
  • the average time spent on audits was 5.2 hours, which is the longest in the timeseries; Source: FIRE1202

2.2 Number of fire safety audits

Since the year ending March 2018, the number of fire safety audits completed has remained stable, apart from the year ending March 2021 when there was a large decline likely due to the restrictions in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The number of audits in the year ending March 2025 (51,020) was an increase of 2.4% compared to the year ending March 2024 (49,835), and an increase of 5.4% on the year ending March 2020 (48,414).

In the year ending March 2025:

  • shops were the premises type with the highest number of fire safety audits, with 10,106 audits conducted, accounting for 20% of all types of audits and an increase of 5.9% from the previous year and 28% compared to the year ending March 2020
  • care homes had the second highest number of audits at 6,461, a 14% increase from the previous year, but similar compared to 5 years ago
  • other sleeping accommodation ranked third with 5,091 audits, which was a 5.6% increase from the previous year and a 13% increase compared to the year ending March 2020.

These 3 premises types together accounted for over 43% of all fire safety audits in year ending March 2025, reflecting a continued emphasis on locations with high public access or vulnerable populations.

The largest proportional increases in audits carried out was seen at flats, when compared to year ending March 2024:

  • purpose-built flats 1 to 3 storeys increased by 60%, from 1,215 to 1,944
  • purpose-built flats 4 to 5 storeys increased by 61% from 1,009 to 1,625
  • purpose-built flats 6 to 9 storeys increased by 45% from 910 to 1,322
  • purpose-built flats 10 storeys or more increased by 16% from 653 to 783

In terms of outcomes, the satisfactory rates:

  • increased by 3.3 percentage points in purpose-built flats 1 to 3 storeys from 55% to 59%
  • increased by 5.3 percentage points in purpose-built flats 4 to 5 storeys from 49% to 54%
  • increased by 11 percentage points in purpose-built flats 10 storeys or more from 54% to 66%
  • decreased by 0.4 percentage points in purpose-built flats 6 to 9 storeys.

For purpose-built flats with over 4 storeys, the number of audits increased by 17%, to 4,256 compared to the previous year (3,653), and increased by 23% compared to 5 years ago (3,473). The average time spent on audits was highest at this group of premise type (6.9 hours) in the latest year.

Figure 2.1: Total number of fire safety audits by FRSs, grouped by building types in England, for years ending March 2020, 2024, and 2025 (ordered by year ending March 2025 figures)

Notes:

Premises types in the chart above are categorised as follows:

  1. Flats and Houses in Multiple Occupation (HMOs): purpose-built flats (all height categories), houses converted to flats and HMOs.
  2. Other accommodation: hotels, hostels and other sleeping accommodation.
  3. Factories, warehouses and offices: factories, warehouses and offices.
  4. Public building & other: public buildings, hospitals, schools, further education, other premises open to the public and other unspecified premises.

2.3 Time spent on audits

Table 5.2 in the Summary of changes over time section provides the number of audits, hours spent and average hours for all audits and by outcome (satisfactory or unsatisfactory).

For the year ending March 2025, the average time spent on all audits increased to 5.2 hours, compared to years ending March 2024 (5.1 hours) and 2020 (4.4 hours). The increase in average time spent on audits likely reflects the increase in the number and time spent on unsatisfactory audits (see 2.4 Outcome of fire safety audits). The average time spent on unsatisfactory audits was greater than satisfactory audits by 1.6 hours in the year ending March 2025.

In the year ending March 2025:

  • purpose-built flats 10 storeys and over had the longest average time spent on audits, comprising an average of 8.8 hours, 3.6 hours above the overall average
  • offices had the shortest average time spent on audits, comprising an average of 3.9 hours, 1.3 hours below the overall average

2.4 Outcome of fire safety audits

FRSs carried out 51,020 fire safety audits in the year ending March 2025, of which 29,714 (58%) had a satisfactory outcome recorded, similar to previous year which was the lowest proportion of satisfactory audits since the year ending March 2011. However, this does not necessarily reflect a decline in building safety standards. The fall may instead indicate more effective targeting by FRSs towards higher-risk premises, particularly amid a growing national focus on building safety.

Figure 2.2: Proportion of fire safety audits deemed satisfactory or unsatisfactory conducted by FRSs in England, year ending March 2017 to year ending March 2025

The premise type with the greatest proportion of satisfactory audits was “Further education”, at 74% of the 441 total audits in this premise type. Meanwhile, the premise types with the greatest proportion of unsatisfactory audits were “Houses converted to flats” at 59% of the 790 total audits in this premise.

Of the 3 premise types with the highest number of audits Shops (10,106) had the highest satisfactory rate at 61%, followed by Other sleeping accommodation (5,091) with a 58% satisfactory rate and Care homes (6,461) with a 57% satisfactory rate.

Figure 2.3: Proportion of fire safety audits deemed satisfactory or unsatisfactory, by grouped building types, England, year ending March 2025 (ordered by percentage satisfactory)

Notes:

Aggregated premises types in the chart above are categorised as follows:

  1. Flats and HMOs: purpose-built flats (all height categories), houses converted to flats and HMOs.
  2. Other accommodation: hotels, hostels and other sleeping accommodation.
  3. Factories, warehouses and offices: factories, warehouses and offices.
  4. Public building & other: public buildings, hospitals, schools, further education, other premises open to the public and other unspecified premises.

2.5 Article-level non-compliance

Where premises do not meet the requirements, FRSs identify one or more specific articles of the FSO with which the premises is non-compliant.

In the year ending March 2025, 10,323 breaches of Article 14 (Emergency routes and exits) were recorded during fire safety audits. While this represents a 12% decrease compared with the previous year (11,685), Article 14 remained the most frequently breached provision under the FSO, 14% of all breaches.

Other commonly breached provisions included:

  • Article 17 (Maintenance): 8,666 breaches (down 12% from 9,880 in the previous year)

  • Article 9 (Risk assessment): 8,471 breaches (down 8% from 9,205 in the previous year)

  • Article 15 (Procedures for serious and imminent danger): 8,013 breaches (similar to 7,999 the previous year)

  • Article 8 (Duty to take general fire precautions): 7,615 breaches (down 17% from 9,120 in the previous year)

While the overall number of breaches recorded for the most frequently cited articles has fallen compared with the previous year, levels remain above those recorded five years ago in many cases.

Table 2.1: Top 10 most frequently breached articles comparing the year ending March 2025 with 1 and 5 years previously

Article Year ending March 2025 Year ending March 2024 1-year change Year ending March 2020 5-year change
Article 14: Emergency routes and exits 10,323 11,685 -12% 8,111 27%
Article 17: Maintenance 8,666 9,880 -12% 6,398 35%
Article 9: Risk Assessment 8,471 9,205 -8.0% 6,723 26%
Article 15: Procedures for serious and imminent danger and for danger areas 8,013 7,999 0.2% 5,003 60%
Article 8: Duty to take general fire precautions 7,615 9,120 -17% 6,149 24%
Article 13: Fire fighting and fire detection 6,511 7,505 -13% 5,595 16%
Article 21: Training 4,275 5,028 -15% 3,287 30%
Article 11: Fire safety arrangements 4,195 4,969 -16% 3,134 34%
Article 19: Provision of information to employees 3,513 3,662 -4.1% 2,095 68%
Article 18: Safety assistance 2,734 2,642 3.5% 1,399 95%

3. Fire protection - formal and informal notifications

When an audit outcome is unsatisfactory, agreed action plans known as informal notifications or formal notification may be issued. Formal notifications are issued in the most serious of cases where less formal action has failed to resolve issues of non-compliance. Definitions of the different formal and informal notification categories within the FSO are provided below. The data on notifications and non-compliance are published in FIRE1202 and FIRE1204.

Informal notification - these can be issued instead of a formal notice when an outcome is unsatisfactory and the risk to relevant persons is not significant, and the responsible person is willing to comply.

Enforcement notices (Article 30) - these are served if the enforcing authority is of the opinion that the responsible person has failed to comply with any provision of the FSO or of any regulations made under it.

Prohibition notices (Article 31) - these are served if the enforcing authority is of the opinion that use of premises involves or will involve a risk to relevant persons so serious that use of the premises ought to be prohibited or restricted.

Alteration notices (Article 29) - these are served if the enforcing authority is of the opinion that the premises constitutes a serious risk to relevant persons (whether due to the features of the premises, their use, any hazard present, or any other circumstances); or may constitute such a risk if a change is made to them or the use to which they are put.

Prosecutions (Article 32) - these are convictions for failure to comply with an alteration, enforcement or prohibition notice, or any other matter for which it is an offence under Article 32.

3.1 Key results

In the year ending March 2025:

  • 2,972 formal notices were issued, an increase of 5.3% from the previous year (2,823), and an increase of 29% compared with 5 years ago (2,295); Source: FIRE1202
  • 18,351 informal notices were issued, a decrease of 2.8% from the previous year (18,885), but an increase of 20% compared with 5 years ago (13,727); Source: FIRE1202

Table 5.3, in the summary of changes over time section, displays the number and change in the number of informal and formal notifications across the latest year, the previous year and 5 years ago.

3.2 Informal notifications

There were 18,351 informal notices issued in the year ending March 2025, a decrease of 2.8% on the previous year and an increase of 34% on the year ending March 2020. The most informal notices were issued to shops (3,337), accounting for 18% of total informal notices.

Figure 3.1: Fire safety notices (informal and formal) resulting from unsatisfactory fire safety audits issued in England, year ending March 2017 to year ending March 2025

3.3 Formal notifications

In the year ending March 2025, 2,972 of audits resulted in formal notifications (equivalent to 5.8%), an increase of 5.3% on year ending March 2024 and an increase of 29% on year ending March 2020. These can be broken down further into formal notification categories within the FSO as shown in Figure 3.2.

Figure 3.2 Formal notifications, by type, issued in England, year ending March 2017 to year ending March 2025

The most common type of formal notice was enforcement notice under Article 30, with 1,728 issued, accounting for 58% of all formal notifications. Enforcement notices were issued most commonly to Shops (211), accounting for (12%) of all enforcement notices issued, followed by Care homes (192, accounting for 11%) and Other sleeping accommodation (163, accounting for 9.4%).

4. Fire protection - other fire safety activity

In addition to fire safety audits, FRSs complete other activities to promote fire safety such as responding to building regulation consultations on new builds and changes to existing building stock. This section summarises this activity with the supporting data available in FIRE1202, in particular FIRE1202c.

Non-statutory fire safety activity - all fire safety activity generated by requests from others, i.e. approaches from other agencies or bodies (such as Ofsted), the public, and business representatives, as well as any FSO related promotional or awareness raising activities generated within the FRA.

Building regulation consultations - consultations completed or supported under Building Regulations to support understanding, awareness and compliance with FSO. The local building control authorities, approved inspectors and the Building Safety Regulator (BSR) are required to consult with the relevant FSO authority under the Building Regulations.

Other consultations - statutory consultations with FRAs in accordance with the requirements of article 46 of the FSO.

4.1 Key results

In the year ending March 2025, FRSs carried out:

  • 47,665 building regulation consultations, an increase of 4.8% on the previous year (45,465), but lower than the number 5 years ago (50,812, a decrease of 6.2%)
  • 26,614 other consultations, an increase of 1.4% on the previous year (26,236), and an increase of 23% on the year ending March 2020 (21,554)
  • 119,610 non-statutory fire safety activities, which was an increase of 13% on the previous year (105,564) and an increase of 44% on the year ending March 2020 (83,348).

4.2 Consultations

A total of 47,665 building regulation consultations were completed in the year ending March 2025, an increase of 4.8% on the previous year, and a decrease of 6.2% on the year ending March 2020. In the latest year, the average time spent on each building regulation consultation was 1.8 hours. The most building regulation consultations were completed for Shops (8,432, accounting for 18%) in the latest year.

There were 26,614 other consultations, an increase of 1.4% on the previous year and 23% higher than year ending March 2020. The average time spent on these consultations was 1.2 hours, the same as the previous year. Shops were the location for 23% of these consultations (6,120).

4.3 Non-statutory fire safety activities

There were 119,610 non-statutory fire safety activities in the year ending March 2025, an increase of 13% on the previous year and an increase of 44% on the year ending March 2020. The average time spent on these activities has decreased over time, with an average time spent of 1.2 hours in the year ending March 2025, compared to 1.3 hours in the year ending March 2024, and 1.5 hours in the year ending March 2020. The premise type with the largest proportion of non-statutory fire safety activities was shops (27%), with 32,583.

5. Summary of changes over time

Table 5.1: Total number of HFSVs, by targeting of HFSV, England, comparing the year ending March 2025 with 1 and 5 years previously

Visit Type Year ending March 25 Year ending March 24 1-year change Year ending March 20 5-year change
Home Fire Safety Visits 588,855 571,994 +2.9% 588,666 -0.0%
at least 1 person with at least 1 vulnerability or risk factor 501,123 481,739 +4.0% .. ..
all aged under 65 but at least 1 person disabled 54,212 47,728 +14% 36,486 +49%
at least 1 person aged 65+ and one person disabled (can be same person) 168,261 155,514 +8.2% 112,207 +50%
at least 1 person aged 65+, but no one in household disabled 166,344 169,254 -1.7% 185,318 -10%

Table 5.2: Total number of audits and average time taken by audit outcome, England, comparing the year ending March 2025, with 1 and 5 years previously

Audit Type Year ending March 25 Year ending March 24 1-year change Year ending March 20 5-year change
Total Audit (Number) 51,020 49,835 +2.4% 48,414 +5.4%
Total Audits (Hours) 263,204 253,016 +4.0% 212,031 +24%
Satisfactory Audit (Number) 29,714 29,018 +2.4% 31,978 -7.1%
Satisfactory Audit (Hours) 133,565 131,588 +1.5% 114,043 +17%
Unsatisfactory Audit (Number) 21,306 20,817 +2.3% 16,436 +30%
Unsatisfactory Audit (Hours) 129,639 121,427 +6.8% 97,988 +32%

Table 5.3: Number of informal and formal notifications, comparing the year ending March 2025 with 1 and 5 years previously

Notification Type Year ending March 25 Year ending March 24 1-year change Year ending March 20 5-year change
Informal Notifications 18,351 18,885 -2.8% 13,727 34%
Formal notifications 2,972 2,823 5.3% 2,295 29%
Of which enforcement notices 1,728 1,671 3.4% 1,347 28%
Of which prohibition Notices 959 970 -1.1% 788 22%
Of which alteration Notices 251 139 81% 108 132%
Prosecutions 34 43 -21% 52 -35%

Notes

  1. Enforcement notices, prohibition notices, alteration notices and prosecutions are all sub-types of formal notifications.

Table 5.4: Total number of consultations and non-statutory fire safety activities, by fire safety activity, England, comparing the year ending March 2025 with 1 and 5 years previously

Activity Type Year ending March 25 Year ending March 24 1-year change Year ending March 20 5-year change
Building regulations consultations 47,665 45,465 4.8% 50,812 -6.2%
Other consultations 26,614 26,236 1.4% 21,554 23%
Non-statutory fire safety activities 119,610 105,564 13% 83,348 44%

6. Further information

Fire and Rescue Incident Statistics and other MHCLG statistical releases are available via the Statistics at MHCLG pages on the GOV.UK website.

Data tables linked to this release and all other fire statistics releases can be found on MHCLG’s Fire statistics data tables page. The sections above state the most relevant tables for each section.

Guidance for using these statistics and other fire statistics outputs is available on the Fire statistics collection page.

The information published in this release is kept under review, taking into account the needs of users and burdens on suppliers and producers, in line with the Code of Practice for Statistics. If you have any comments, suggestions or enquiries, please contact the team via email using firestatistics@communities.gov.uk or via the user feedback form on the fire statistics collection page.

6.1 Fire prevention additional information

Smoke alarm ownership

Data on the proportion of households with a smoke alarm have been collected since the 1980s from a variety of sources, and data on ownership of a working smoke alarm have been collected from 2001. Since financial year 2008 to 2009 the English Housing Survey (EHS) has been the primary source of information on smoke alarm ownership. The exact questions asked change each year but have previously included ownership of a smoke alarm, ownership of a working smoke alarm, smoke alarm testing habits and carbon monoxide alarm ownership.

The EHS continued to be conducted through the COVID-19 pandemic, though necessitated a change in the survey method during the years ending March 2021 and March 2022. The face-to-face interviews were replaced by telephone interviews, with internal inspections replaced by external ones and analysis of administrative data. Testing of the changes to the survey were not possible, so it is not clear in the EHS whether changes observed in year ending March 2021 were ‘real’ changes or a reflection of the change in method. Further, the composition of the EHS sample significantly altered in year ending March 2021 compared with year ending March 2020, for example more outright owners and fewer renters, more households with older people and fewer households with children.

6.2 Fire protection additional information

Fire protection legislation

MHCLG collect information on fire safety enforcement activity under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 and under other legislation, specifically:

Fire safety audits

A fire safety audit is a planned visit by an FRS to carry out a comprehensive assessment of the level of compliance with the requirements of the FSO in a particular premises. The FSO requires a ‘responsible person’ for a workplace or premises, to which the public have access to:

  • to carry out and regularly review a fire risk assessment
  • to ensure that the general fire precautions are adequate and appropriate
  • to reduce the risk from fire to employees and other relevant persons to as low as reasonably practicable.

The FSO applies to most non-domestic premises and to the communal areas in residential buildings.

It is a matter for FRSs to determine how many audits they carry out per year, but they must have a locally determined risk-based inspection programme and management strategy in place for enforcing the FSO.

Short audits

Since 2016, FRSs have had the option of using the short audit form, designed by the sector to support the principles of better regulation, and allow FRSs to focus their enforcement resources more effectively on higher risk premises.

A short audit may record an ‘unsatisfactory’ outcome, where non-compliances are found that require attention but are not judged to reach the formal enforcement threshold. These may be dealt with by means of an informal Fire Safety Matters letter, which may or may not require a follow-up inspection. Failure to comply with a Fire Safety Matters letter may be escalated to formal enforcement.

It is expected that the number of audits on different premises types in individual FRSs will vary from year to year depending on the local need, targeting strategies and the complexity of the specific buildings being audited.

COVID-19

In the latest year of data (year ending March 2025), there were no restrictions in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. This release provides comparisons to year ending March 2024 (the previous year) and to year ending March 2020 (5 years ago), neither of which were affected by COVID-19 restrictions.

Patterns of prevention and protection activity in the year ending March 2021 were substantially affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and government guidance to limit social contact. In the year ending March 2022, prevention and protection activity started to recover from levels seen in the year ending March 2021. However, remained below pre-pandemic levels, given that many restrictions remained in place until July 2021.

During the COVID-19 pandemic throughout the year ending March 2021, the National Fire Chiefs Council (NFCC) published a series of position statements on Prevention strategic intentions, which took into account the COVID-19 management measures in place. These statements resulted in a halt to face-to-face (or over the threshold) HFSVs in the first lockdown and a transition to virtual HFSVs and limited face-to-face visits throughout the remainder of the year. The Home Office collected the number of virtual (online or telephone) HFSVs.

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions in the year ending March 2021, the NFCC published guidance on carrying out desktop appraisals. Where a remote desktop appraisal of fire safety measures was carried out and recorded in accordance with Chief Fire Officers Association (CFOA) Short Audit guidance, and there were no outstanding fire safety issues, this activity was recorded in FRS returns. In the year ending March 2021, as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, desktop appraisals were included in the total number of short audits in the release and accompanying tables.

The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) publish 4 other statistical releases covering FRSs.

  • the English Housing Survey: fire and fire safety report focuses on the extent to which the existence of fire and fire safety features vary by household and dwelling type and this report focuses on whether people felt safe from fire in their homes by household and dwelling type

These include:

MHCLG also publish a statistical release related to fire:

Fire statistics are published by the other UK nations:

Scottish fire statistics and Welsh fire statistics are published based on the IRS. Fire statistics for Northern Ireland are published by the Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service using data from a system similar to the IRS, which means that it is not directly comparable to English, Welsh and Scottish data.

Accredited official statistics status

Following the National Statistics designation review by the Office for Statistics Regulation the term ‘Accredited Official Statistics’ was introduced to describe National Statistics in September 2023. This release was, formerly badged as ‘National Statistics’ and should now be considered “Accredited Official Statistics”.

National Statistics is the legal term set out in the Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007 for ‘Accredited Official Statistics’ that have been judged by the Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR)[footnote 1], to comply with the Code of Practice for Statistics (“the Code”). This means these statistics meet the standards of trustworthiness, quality and value as set out in “the Code”. Further information about accredited official statistics can be found on the OSR’s website.

We’re always looking to improve the accessibility of our documents. If you find any problems, or have any feedback, relating to accessibility please email us at firestatistics@communities.gov.uk

  1. OSR are the regulatory arm of the UK Statistics Authority. ↩

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