What the New Fire Risk Assessor Accreditation Rules Mean for Your Business (And Why It Matters Now)

In the UK, fire risk assessments have always been a legal responsibility for businesses, landlords and responsible persons. This is a key part of UK fire safety legislation, and one that all organisations must be familiar with. 

It’s also key that organisations stay fully up-to-date with this legislation and its changing requirements, as the government regularly updates fire risk legislation, in order to ensure best practices are maintained and that vital lessons learned are incorporated. 

Following the recommendations made after the Grenfell Tower Inquiry Phase 2 report, the UK government is introducing mandatory UKAS-accredited certification for fire risk assessors by June 2026.

In this article, Target Fire’s expert team have shared their guidance, to help you understand what these new competency requirements mean for businesses that currently use fire risk assessors.

Why are the regulations changing?

This new update is being introduced as a direct result of the findings from the Grenfell Tower Inquiry. 

One of the major points identified in this report was the inconsistency in competence levels across the fire risk assessment sector.

This is because, before this point, technically any individual could serve as a fire risk assessor. They weren’t required to hold either a formal mandatory qualification or an independent certification. 

So, even though many assessors work to extremely high professional standards and are suitably qualified and experienced, as this wasn’t established as a centralised requirement, there was a serious variation in quality across the industry. 

As a result, the UK government is now implementing mandatory accreditation standards for fire risk assessors. This will achieve a significant shift in the way that the competency of assessors is proven, verified and regulated.

What is BS 8674:2025?

These professional standards are cemented in the new BS 8674:2025 framework. 

This British Standard establishes the regulatory requirements for fire risk assessors going forward.

The framework specifies that assessors will need be classed under three different competency categories:

• Foundation
• Intermediate
• Advanced

Then, assessors under each category will be qualified to assess certain building types, with the assessments of more complex buildings being restricted to only the higher levels. So, this means that a ‘Foundation’ level assessor can only assess certain buildings, with a low level of complexity (e.g. a small, low-risk office). 

Whereas a large HMO or a high-rise residential building (for example) can now only be assessed by an Advanced-level assessor. 

What does this mean for businesses right now?

Higher risk properties will see the greatest changes, with the most scrutiny and new requirements being placed on these property types. 

However, all property types will be affected by the new legislation, and will need to ensure a suitably qualified assessor is conducting the fire risk assessments. 

Plus, with mandatory UKAS-accredited certification set to be implemented by June 2026, there’s no time to delay. Businesses need to urgently review who carries out their fire risk assessments, and confirm whether they will be able to continue to do so. 

This is critical to ensuring ongoing insurance compliance, and preventing the risk of major issues like potential liability disputes.

So, we recommend that you verify your assessor’s qualifications without delay 

You can do so by asking your assessor the following key questions: 

• Do you have membership to recognised professional bodies?
• Are you part of third-party certification schemes?
• Do you have evidence of continuing professional development?
• Do you have experience with assessing this specific building type?
• Can you demonstrate compliance with BS 8674-aligned competency standards?

Any professional assessor should be able to demonstrate their qualifications and building specialisms. 

If you’re looking for a new assessor that is accredited, reputable and fully compliant with all of the latest UK regulations, Target Fire’s trusted team are on hand to help.