Fire safety for residential
care homes.Properly assessed, from £295.
A residential care home carries some of the highest fire safety obligations of any premises. Residents are elderly, often with mobility and cognitive decline, sleeping in a building they did not choose and may not fully understand, with a staffing level that drops significantly overnight. Every element of the assessment has to be built around the residents you actually have, not a generic older-adult population. We carry out fire risk assessments for residential care homes across the North West and North Wales.
Who is the Responsible Person?
In a residential care home the duty sits clearly with the care provider, and CQC oversight runs alongside it.
The registered provider is the Responsible Person under fire safety law and the employer accountable for fire safety across the premises. Where the provider is a group or company, the board holds ultimate accountability and the registered manager carries it day to day.
The registered manager is responsible for the day-to-day management of fire safety, including ensuring a current fire risk assessment is in place, that PEEPs are maintained for every resident who needs one, and that staff training is kept current.
Where the care home occupies a building owned by a third party, works to the fabric may involve the landlord. The responsible person for fire safety in the premises is still the provider as employer and the person with control of the non-domestic premises.
The provider is registered with the CQC for residential care. Fire safety is assessed under Regulation 15 at every CQC inspection, and inadequate fire safety documentation can result in enforcement action, conditions on registration, or cancellation.
The problems we
hear most often
Fire safety in a residential care home is managed by the registered manager alongside a full operational workload. These are the gaps we find most regularly.
"Our CQC inspection flagged fire safety concerns, and we need to respond with a credible action plan and documented evidence of what has been done."
A CQC action plan and a fire risk assessment are not the same document, but they must align. We can carry out a full assessment quickly, identify precisely what the inspection flagged, and produce documented evidence of action taken, in the form that satisfies both the CQC inspector and the fire authority simultaneously. We understand what both regulators are looking for and produce documentation that addresses both.
"We have residents with complex mobility and cognitive needs, and I am not confident our evacuation plan would actually work at 3am with the night staff we have on duty."
An evacuation plan that works on paper for daytime staffing may be completely unworkable at night. We assess the practicality of your evacuation strategy for the specific residents you have, under realistic overnight staffing levels, including PEEP adequacy for every resident who cannot self-evacuate. We will tell you honestly if the plan does not work, and advise on what needs to change.
"We occupy an older converted building, and I am not confident the fire doors and compartmentation are adequate for a care home."
Compartmentation is the most critical building-level factor in a care home fire risk assessment, because it determines how long residents have to be moved to safety. Fire doors that do not close and seal properly, service penetrations through fire walls, and missing intumescent protection are the most common and most serious findings in care home assessments. We identify every failure and prioritise remediation by risk.
What makes residential care homes
different to assess
A residential care home combines a vulnerable sleeping population with a building that was often never designed for its current use, under staffing levels that change significantly between day and night.
Mobility and cognitive decline
Residential care residents are typically elderly, with varying degrees of mobility limitation and cognitive impairment. Many cannot evacuate unaided, many would not recognise a fire alarm as a signal to leave, and some would actively resist being moved. The assessment has to be built around the specific residents present, not a generic older-adult profile.
An individual plan for every resident who needs one
Every resident who cannot self-evacuate must have a personal emergency evacuation plan that sets out how they will be moved, by whom, and with what equipment. PEEPs must be kept current as residents' conditions and mobility change, and the assessment identifies where they are missing or inadequate.
Evacuation with a skeleton crew
A care home evacuation that is achievable with a full daytime team may be completely unworkable at 3am with two or three staff on duty. The assessment has to test evacuation against the minimum realistic overnight staffing, not the daytime norm, and identify whether the plan is genuinely feasible.
Fire doors and fire walls in older buildings
Many residential care homes occupy converted Victorian or Edwardian properties where compartmentation was never designed for a care setting. Fire doors that do not close and seal properly, service penetrations through fire walls, and inadequate intumescent protection are the most common serious findings. Every failure extends the time residents are exposed to fire and smoke.
Cylinders and concentrators
Residential care homes increasingly use oxygen, whether portable cylinders or concentrators for residents with respiratory conditions. Oxygen dramatically accelerates fire spread and intensity, and storage location, quantities, and proximity to ignition sources must be specifically assessed.
A property never designed for care
A Victorian house converted to a care home carries the fire characteristics of its age, timber floors, limited compartmentation, and escape routes that were designed for a family, not for moving elderly residents in wheelchairs. The building as it is now, not as it was designed, is what the assessment addresses.
PEEPs in a residential care home — what the assessment identifies and what the home produces
Our fire risk assessment identifies which residents need a personal emergency evacuation plan and what each plan should address, covering how the resident is moved, by whom, and with what equipment, including whether the current staffing and equipment is adequate to deliver it. The assessment advises on the PEEP framework; the registered manager and care team, who know the residents, produce the individual plans. We do not write PEEPs for individual residents, but we make sure the assessment gives the home everything it needs to build them properly.
Three services.
One point of contact.
Fire risk assessments, fire door inspections, and fire safety training, delivered by one company that understands residential care homes and the dual regulatory framework they operate within.
Fire risk assessments
From £295 per assessmentA thorough, care-home-specific assessment covering the resident profile, PEEP framework, night staffing, compartmentation, and any oxygen or clinical hazards. Clear written report suitable for the CQC and the fire authority, with a prioritised action log.
- Resident evacuation needs assessed and PEEP framework advised
- Night staffing tested against realistic evacuation
- Compartmentation and fire door condition assessed
- Medical oxygen and clinical hazard assessment
- Written report suitable for CQC and fire authority
- Prioritised action log for the registered manager
Fire door inspections
From £14 per doorFire door integrity is critical in a care home. A door that fails to close and seal on a bedroom corridor directly threatens sleeping residents. We inspect every component and give you a clear, photographed condition record.
- Frame, leaf, intumescent seals, hinges & hardware
- Self-closing devices and smoke seals
- Bedroom, corridor, and compartmentation doors
- Photographic evidence per door
- Prioritised remedial recommendations
Fire safety training
From £395 per sessionPractical fire safety training for care staff and managers, focused on the realities of a residential care home including assisted evacuation, managing residents with cognitive impairment, and night-shift procedures.
- Fire marshal training for care staff and managers
- Assisted evacuation techniques and equipment
- Managing residents with cognitive impairment in an emergency
- Night-shift and skeleton-crew scenarios
- Certificates issued to all attendees
The framework
residential care homes work within
A residential care home answers simultaneously to the fire authority and the CQC, with fire safety embedded in both regulatory frameworks.
The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 applies to all residential care homes as non-domestic premises with sleeping accommodation. The responsible person must carry out a suitable and sufficient fire risk assessment, implement the measures it identifies, and keep a written record. For a care home, suitable and sufficient means addressing the specific vulnerability of the residents, not a generic sleeping accommodation assessment.
CQC Regulation 15 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014 requires premises used for regulated activities to be safe, properly maintained, and suitable for the people using them. Fire safety is assessed at every CQC inspection, and inadequate documentation can result in enforcement action, conditions on registration, or cancellation. The CQC inspects fire safety under its safe and well-led domains.
Care homes operate under two independent enforcement regimes simultaneously. A fire authority improvement notice and a CQC enforcement action can run in parallel, each with its own timescales and requirements. A well-documented fire risk assessment, aligned with both frameworks, is the most important piece of evidence a registered manager can produce to both regulators.
Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005
Always appliesRequires a suitable and sufficient assessment for all non-domestic premises including care homes. Failure can result in unlimited fines, prohibition notices, or imprisonment.
CQC Regulation 15
Always appliesRequires premises used for regulated activities to be safe and suitable. Fire safety is assessed at every CQC inspection. Serious failures can result in conditions on registration or cancellation.
BS 9792:2025
Current standardThe current British Standard for fire risk assessment, which specifically addresses person-centred approaches in care and supported housing settings. Alignment carries credibility with both the CQC and the fire authority.
Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022
From January 2023Requires responsible persons to record fire safety measures, provide information to relevant persons, and maintain records of all checks and actions. Applies to care homes in England.
Experience you can
put in a report.
Tim founded Fletcher Risk Management to bring genuine expertise and personal accountability to fire safety consultancy in the North West. With more than 30 years in the fire industry, he has assessed residential care homes across the region and understands what it takes to assess a care home properly, from the resident profile and PEEP framework to compartmentation in converted buildings and realistic overnight staffing. When you book with Fletcher Risk, Tim carries out the work.
- ABBE Level 4 Diploma in Fire Risk Assessment
- NEBOSH National General Certificate
- FPA Fire Safety Management Certificate
- Member — Fire Protection Association
Sam oversees operations and brings both fire safety qualifications and a legal background to the practice. For care providers navigating CQC action plans alongside fire authority requirements, Sam's LLB gives him a thorough understanding of where those frameworks interact, and how to produce documentation that satisfies both.
- ABBE Level 4 Certificate in Fire Risk Assessment
- Bachelor of Laws (LLB)
- Master of Business Administration (MBA)
- 10+ years fire safety experience
"We have engaged Fletcher Risk Management to carry out surveys on a number of our sites for a very important client. The work produced exceeded our expectations by far. I would definitely recommend using this company." — Marie Morgan · EIS Ltd ★★★★★
"Without doubt one of the best and most professional businesses I have used for our Fire Risk Assessment. Tim Fletcher is a highly regarded professional in his field. Don't take a chance — protect your staff, protect your building."
"We have engaged Fletcher Risk Management to carry out surveys on a number of our sites. I would never hesitate to send Tim — always professional, friendly and accommodating. The work exceeded our expectations."
"Thorough, professional, and excellent value. The report was clear and the action points prioritised in a way that made it easy to know exactly what to tackle first. Would recommend without hesitation."
Book an assessment
built for your care home.
Whether you are responding to a CQC inspection, reviewing existing documentation, or setting up a new home, we can help. Call us for an honest conversation with no obligation.