Few pieces of fire safety paperwork have caused as much confusion as the EWS1 form. Leaseholders are told they need one to sell; managing agents are asked to "get the EWS1 done"; and somewhere in the process the form — a one-page declaration — gets mistaken for the assessment it is supposed to summarise. PAS 9980, published in 2022, is that assessment: the national methodology for appraising the fire risk of an external wall. Understanding how the two relate is the difference between commissioning the right work once and paying twice.
What an EWS1 actually is
The EWS1 (External Wall System) form was introduced in December 2019 by RICS and the lending industry as a valuation tool. It exists so that a lender valuing a flat in a multi-storey residential building can receive a simple, standardised signal about the external wall: an A rating (the wall materials are unlikely to support combustion, with subdivisions A1 to A3) or a B rating (combustible materials are present, subdivided by whether the risk is sufficiently low, B1, or requires remediation, B2).
Three things follow from that purpose. The form is for lenders — it is not a safety certificate, not a legal requirement, and not addressed to residents or the fire service. It covers the whole building, once — one form serves every flat in the block, and it is generally treated as valid for five years. And it is only as good as the appraisal behind it: the form itself records a conclusion, not the evidence or the reasoning.
What PAS 9980 actually is
PAS 9980:2022 is the BSI code of practice for fire risk appraisal of external walls — FRAEW. It is the methodology a competent professional follows to reach a defensible view about a wall: reviewing construction records, inspecting the building, establishing the wall build-up (with intrusive opening-up where records cannot), and assessing the wall as a system — materials, cavity barriers, fixings, extent of combustible attachments and their relationship to means of escape.
Its defining feature is proportionality. PAS 9980 replaced the blunt pass/fail thinking of the post-Grenfell interim guidance (the government withdrew its Consolidated Advice Note when PAS 9980 was published) with a risk-based judgement: some walls are fine as they are, some warrant targeted remediation, some need interim measures while a programme is developed. The appraisal produces a reasoned risk rating, not a binary verdict.
The FRAEW also has a life beyond lending. Since the Fire Safety Act 2021 put external walls squarely within the scope of the fire risk assessment, a FRAEW is how a doubt about a wall raised in an FRA gets resolved — and it is evidence a building safety case can rely on. An EWS1 does none of that.
How they fit together — and which you need
The relationship is simple: PAS 9980 is the appraisal, EWS1 is a summary of its conclusion in the format lenders ask for. A registered assessor who has completed a FRAEW can complete the form on the back of it. The form without the underlying appraisal is not credible — and commissioning "an EWS1" from anyone unwilling to show the appraisal behind it is buying a signature, not an assessment.
So the practical question is not "EWS1 or PAS 9980" but "what is driving the request". If lenders or buyers are asking, you need the FRAEW, and the EWS1 falls out of it at the end. If a fire risk assessment has flagged the wall, or a safety case needs external wall evidence, you need the FRAEW and may never need the form at all. And if the building has no combustible cladding or attachments and no lender is asking, you may need neither — a competent fire risk assessment can usually say so.
Common questions
Is an EWS1 form a legal requirement?
No. The EWS1 is a valuation tool created by RICS and the lending industry, not a statutory document. No regulation requires a building to have one. In practice, a lender may decline to lend on a flat without one where the building's external wall is a material concern — which is why the form matters commercially even though it has no legal force.
Can I get an EWS1 without a PAS 9980 appraisal?
The form is a declaration of a professional conclusion about the wall, and PAS 9980 is the recognised methodology for reaching that conclusion on a building where the wall is a material consideration. A form signed without a proper appraisal behind it is unlikely to satisfy a lender's scrutiny and exposes everyone relying on it. A defensible EWS1 is the output of a FRAEW, not a substitute for one.
Does every residential building need a FRAEW?
No. PAS 9980 applies where the external wall construction is a material consideration — typically buildings with cladding systems, combustible attachments such as balconies, or materials whose fire performance is uncertain. Buildings of conventional masonry construction with no combustible cladding or attachments are generally outside scope, and a fire risk assessment can usually confirm that without a full appraisal.