The Fire Safety (Residential Evacuation Plans) (England) Regulations 2025 came into force on 6 April 2026. SI 2025/797 gives the responsible person for a specified residential building three connected duties: identify residents who would struggle to evacuate unaided, offer each of them a person-centred fire risk assessment, and prepare a building-wide evacuation plan that goes to the local fire and rescue authority.
None of this sits in future tense. The Regulations are operative now, and the twelve-month review clock for any plan or statement first recorded on day one is already running.
Which buildings the Regulations cover
Regulation 3 sets a two-part test. A building qualifies as a "specified residential building" if it contains two or more sets of domestic premises, and it is either at least 18 metres in height above ground level or has at least seven storeys — or, short of that threshold, is more than 11 metres in height and operates a simultaneous evacuation strategy rather than stay-put. Height is measured on the Approved Document B convention; storeys are counted excluding basements, with mezzanines counted only where they cover at least half the area of the largest non-basement storey.
The simultaneous-evacuation limb pulls buildings under 18 metres into scope on the basis of their evacuation strategy alone, not their height. A block that has moved from stay-put to simultaneous evacuation — following a fire risk assessment finding, or while remedial works are outstanding — can become a specified residential building at 12 or 14 metres, where an identical stay-put block next door is not.
Identifying relevant residents and the person-centred assessment
Regulation 4 defines a "relevant resident" as someone for whom the flat is their only or principal residence, and whose ability to evacuate the building without assistance is compromised by a cognitive or physical impairment or condition. Regulation 5 requires the responsible person to use reasonable endeavours to identify that resident — there is no duty to diagnose, or to go beyond what a resident chooses to disclose.
Once a relevant resident is identified, Regulation 6 requires the responsible person to offer a person-centred fire risk assessment, and to carry one out where the resident requests it. This assesses the individual's evacuation risk — how their impairment interacts with the building's escape routes, alarm system and management arrangements — separately from the building's own fire risk assessment.
Mitigation and the emergency evacuation statement
Regulation 7 requires the responsible person to discuss the assessment's findings with the resident and put in place measures that are reasonable and proportionate: where the cost falls on the responsible person or on residents collectively, only where the wider group benefits; where a measure benefits one resident alone, it proceeds only if that resident funds it. The outcome is recorded in an emergency evacuation statement under Regulation 8 — what has been agreed, in writing, with a copy given to the resident.
Regulation 9 fixes the review point: no later than twelve months after the statement is first recorded, and before the end of every twelve-month period after that. This is a cycle the responsible person now holds for as long as the resident stays in the building, not a document produced once and filed.
The building emergency evacuation plan and the fire and rescue service
Separately from any individual RPEEP, Regulation 13 requires the responsible person to prepare a building emergency evacuation plan (BEEP) for every specified residential building — covering the evacuation strategy, confirmation of which relevant residents are present, and the building's other evacuation arrangements. A copy goes to the local fire and rescue authority, and into the building's secure information box where one is fitted. The same twelve-month review cycle applies as for the RPEEP.
Regulation 10 governs what resident-level information reaches the fire and rescue authority: flat number, floor number, the degree of assistance the resident may need, and whether an evacuation statement exists for them. None of it is shared without the resident's explicit consent — the Regulations are built around consent at each stage, not a register compiled without residents' knowledge.
What this means for responsible persons now
For a building already meeting the Regulation 3 test, the identification duty, the offer of assessment, and the BEEP should already be under way: the Regulations commenced on 6 April 2026, and the first twelve-month review point for anything prepared on day one falls in April 2027.
A fire risk assessment carried out now for a specified residential building should record whether these duties are being met alongside the assessment's usual findings — the RPEEP and BEEP obligations sit next to, not instead of, the building's assessment under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005. Apex's fire risk assessment work for residential buildings can identify whether a building meets the Regulation 3 test and flag where RPEEP or BEEP evidence is missing, as part of a standard assessment.
Common questions
Does a building move in and out of scope if its evacuation strategy changes?
Yes. The band between 11 and 18 metres is defined by evacuation strategy rather than height alone — Regulation 3 brings in any building above 11 metres running simultaneous evacuation. A building that changes from stay-put to simultaneous evacuation, whether after a fire risk assessment finding or while remedial works are agreed, can become a specified residential building without any physical change to the building itself.
Can a resident refuse a person-centred fire risk assessment, or refuse to have their information shared with the fire and rescue service?
Yes, on both counts. Regulation 6 only requires the responsible person to offer the assessment and to carry one out where the resident requests it — it cannot be imposed. Regulation 10 requires the resident's explicit consent before their flat number, floor or support needs are passed to the fire and rescue authority; without that consent, the information is not shared.