Person-Centred Fire Risk Assessments: what property managers need to know (and how they connect to Residential PEEPs)

What is a PCFRA?

A PCFRA is an assessment focused on the person, not the building. It captures the factors that might prevent a resident from evacuating safely using the building’s normal evacuation arrangements—for example mobility, sensory impairment, cognition, medication effects, fatigue, anxiety, or the practicalities of opening doors, using stairs, hearing alarms, or understanding instructions.

Government guidance describes it as the mechanism that lets the resident explain what they can and cannot do in relation to the building’s usual evacuation measures (including the building’s “instructions to residents”).

It’s important to keep the boundary clear, the building’s Fire Risk Assessment (FRA) evaluates the premises, fire precautions, and management controls under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005. The PCFRA evaluates the resident’s circumstances and how those circumstances interact with the premises and its evacuation strategy.

Why PCFRAs are needed

The Grenfell tragedy showed us that a “One-size-fits-all” evacuation instruction doesn’t work for residents who can’t self-evacuate quickly or unaided. PCFRA’s address this well known life-safety gap. The new Residential PEEPs framework is explicitly intended to improve the safety and evacuation of residents who would struggle to evacuate independently.

They create an auditable rationale for “reasonable and proportionate” measures. The Regulations and accompanying guidance are designed around proportionate controls, anchored in a documented understanding of the individual risk.

They help demonstrate fairness and inclusion in fire safety management. While the Residential PEEPs regime is fire-safety legislation (not equality legislation), a person-centred approach supports consistent, defensible decision-making where residents have impairments or conditions that affect evacuation.

They align with modern residential FRA practice. BS 9792 is the British Standard that provides recommendations for fire risk assessments in housing, replacing PAS 79-2, and it explicitly reflects a more structured, resident-aware approach to risk in housing settings.  The standard  also sets out the basic requirements for a PCFRA.

How PCFRAs link to Residential PEEPs

Under the 2025 Regulations, the “Residential PEEP process” is not just a single document called a PEEP. It’s a sequence or process that starts with identifying relevant residents and culminates in a written output (the plan/statement) and information sharing (where consent is given).

The Government’s Responsible Person guidance and toolkit set this out in practical terms.

The Residential PEEP process in practice

1) Identify “relevant buildings” and “relevant residents”.

The Regulations apply to specified higher-risk residential buildings including those covered by the Building Safety Act as well as those residential blocks that are in excess of 11m but have a simultaneous evacuation strategy. Within scope buildings, you must identify relevant residents—those whose impairment or condition means they may struggle to evacuate unaided.

2) Offer a PCFRA (and obtain consent).

The duty is not to automatically assess every resident: it is to offer a PCFRA to each relevant resident and, where they request one, ensure it is carried out—with the resident’s consent and appropriate handling of information.

3) Conduct the PCFRA assessment.

This is typically a structured discussion (often one meeting and assessment within the tenant’s demised area) to understand:

• what the resident can do unaided;
• what delays or barriers exist (stairs, doors, alarm audibility/visibility, wayfinding, etc.);
• what support is realistic (equipment, temporary assistance, management measures); and
• what the resident is comfortable agreeing to (and what they decline).

Both within the tenants demised area and within the common areas of the building.

4) Agree what action or measures is to be taken and who is responsible for funding such changes

5) Convert PCFRA findings into a Personal Emergency Evacuation Statement (PEES).

The PCFRA is the assessment. The output that functions as the resident-specific “plan” in this regime is the Personal Emergency Evacuation Statement—a written statement of what the resident should do in a fire, based on the PCFRA and agreed measures.

6) Share information appropriately (where consent is given) and store it accessibly.

The framework is designed so that the fire and rescue service can have better situational awareness (again, subject to consent and information governance). Premises information arrangements are also referenced across related fire safety duties.

7) Review and keep records current.

Residents’ circumstances change, tenancies change, and building arrangements change. The legislation and guidance requires an annual review approach and record-keeping to demonstrate ongoing compliance.

Where BS 9792 fits for property managers

BS 9792 sits at the housing FRA level: it provides recommendations for undertaking and recording fire risk assessments in housing (blocks of flats, HMOs, and specialised housing).  It also sets out a proforma for undertaking and completing a PCFRA.

For property managers, the practical takeaway is:

Treat the building FRA (aligned to BS 9792 for housing) as the baseline for fire precautions and evacuation strategy; and

Use PCFRAs as a resident-specific overlay where a person’s impairment/condition changes how they can safely apply that baseline strategy—feeding into the Personal Emergency Evacuation Statement, which is a core deliverable of the Residential PEEP process.

A simple implementation checklist for managing agents

• Map your portfolio: which buildings fall into scope of the 2025 Regulations.
• Define your “relevant resident” identification method (sign-up, tenant engagement, concierge reports, managing agent process etc.).
• Create a PCFRA workflow: consent, meeting, recording, escalation route for complex cases/disagreements.
• Offer PCFRAs where applicable and keep records of the offers
• Ensure the PCFRA outputs provide a clear set of measures that can be discussed with the tenant.
• Agree in writing with the tenant about what action and what measures are to be taken and how these will be funded.
• Complete a Personal Emergency Evacuation Statement and ensure that it is stored, communicated, and reviewed.

Conclusion

Person-Centred Fire Risk Assessments are not an optional add-on or a paperwork exercise. They are the practical link between a building’s fire strategy, fire risk assessment and the real, lived needs of residents who may struggle to evacuate in an emergency. As the Residential PEEPs requirements come into force over the coming months, PCFRAs provide the evidence, structure, and assurance that evacuation arrangements are reasonable, proportionate, and genuinely workable for the people who rely on them

Now is the time to act. Property managers should be reviewing their portfolios, updating processes, and ensuring they have the competence, templates, and governance in place to offer and deliver PCFRAs in line with the legislation and BS 9792. Early preparation will reduce risk, avoid last-minute compliance pressures, and most importantly help ensure that every resident has a clear, agreed, and realistic plan for what to do if a fire occurs.

If you haven’t already started planning for PCFRAs and Residential PEEPs, start now; because effective evacuation planning begins with understanding the person, not just the building.