Following approval in Parliament of the Fire Safety Act 2021, details of when
the regulations under the Act will be laid out remain unclear. The
Act:
- Amends the Fire Safety Order 2005 to require all responsible
persons to assess, manage and reduce the fire risks posed by the
structure, external walls (including cladding, balconies and
windows), and any common parts of buildings including fire
doors.
- Allows the Fire Service to take enforcement action against
responsible persons who fail to comply with the requirements of
this Act
- Enables the government to issue risk-based guidance which can
be referred to as proof that a responsible person has either
complied or failed to comply with the requirements of the Act
Although the Fire Safety Bill received Royal Assent on 29 April
2021, it has yet to come into force and have legal
effect. The Government are unlikely to identify a date when the Act
will come into force until the risk-based guidance proposed under
the Act has been finalised.
ARCH has been working together with the Local Government
Association and other sector representative bodies and has been in
contact with officials at the Home Office Fire directorate but we
understand that officials are not yet in a position to give a date
for laying out the necessary regulations and are therefore unable
to provide any detail on commencement timing as this is not yet
known.
However, ARCH Chief Executive, John Bibby, has been informed
that once the Home Office have this information, they will be
looking to engage stakeholders to discuss the regulations.