Fire Risk Assessments for Schools and Academies
Updated October 2026 · England and Wales · Uses DfE estate guidance updated July 2026 and Home Office audit data for April 2025 to March 2026
Short answer: every school, academy and nursery needs a written fire risk assessment covering all of its buildings. Who is legally responsible depends on the type of school: the local authority, the governing body or the academy trust. The Department for Education says schools should consider reviewing the assessment every year, and at least every three years. Expect around £400 to £650 for a primary school or nursery and £700 to £1,200 or more for a secondary school, depending on the number of buildings.
Schools actually do better than any other type of premises when fire services audit them. The problem isn’t usually the paperwork. It’s the coats on the corridor hooks, the fire door wedged open for ventilation, the bins pushed up against the building, and the assessment that was copied forward for years without anyone walking the site.
This guide covers who is responsible, what the DfE expects and how often, the case where a school and its own assessor were both prosecuted, and what assessors keep finding. Sources are linked throughout.
Schools pass fire audits more often than anywhere else, but they still burn
Audits: Home Office, Fire prevention and protection statistics, England, April 2025 to March 2026. The 28% and 625 are our calculation from those figures. Fires and cost: Zurich, June 2024, based on freedom of information requests and its own claims data.
The audit figures and the fire figures tell different stories. Audits check that the arrangements are in place. Fires show what happens out of hours, when the building is empty and the arsonist, the faulty kiln or the overloaded extension lead has the place to itself.
Who has to make sure the assessment is done
The duty sits with whoever controls the premises. For schools, that is normally the employer, and the DfE spells out who that is for each type of school:
| Type of school | Employer | What that means in practice |
|---|---|---|
| Community and community special schools | Local authority | The council usually arranges or sets the standard for assessments. The head and governors still run the day-to-day fire safety. |
| Voluntary-controlled schools | Local authority | As above. Check who owns the buildings: it may be a diocese or trust. |
| Maintained nursery schools and pupil referral units | Local authority | As above. |
| Foundation and voluntary-aided schools | Governing body | The governors commission the assessment and must make sure its actions are done. |
| Academies and free schools | Academy trust | The trust is responsible across all its schools. Many trusts buy one contract for every site. |
| Independent schools | Proprietor | The proprietor or governing body of the school. |
Source: DfE, Good estate management for schools: health and safety, updated July 2026. Linking the employer to the Fire Safety Order’s “responsible person” is our reading, and the usual one. Where buildings are shared, leased or let out, more than one person can have duties, and they must cooperate.
Lettings are a common blind spot. If you hire out the sports hall in the evening, the official guidance is clear that you keep overall responsibility. The hirer needs to know the escape routes, the assembly point and who calls the fire service.
What the DfE expects, and how often
The DfE’s estate guidance turns the fire safety duty into a routine. This is the calendar a fire officer or trust auditor will expect you to be able to evidence:
| Check | How often | Who |
|---|---|---|
| Fire alarm test | Weekly | Site staff, recorded in the log book |
| Emergency lighting flash test | Monthly | Site staff, recorded |
| Emergency lighting condition test, including a 3-hour battery test | Every 6 months | Competent person |
| Fire alarm inspection and service | Quarterly and annually | Competent person |
| Fire extinguishers | At least yearly | Competent person |
| Fire doors | Regularly | Competent person, with daily eyes from staff |
| Fire risk assessment review | Consider yearly, at least every 3 years | Competent assessor |
Source: DfE, Good estate management for schools. The guide sets no fixed number of fire drills. The DfE has said all schools must have regular fire drills, and many run one a term.
Always review straight away after building work, a new modular classroom, a change in how rooms are used, or a fire or near miss. “At least every three years” is a backstop, not a target.
When the school and the assessor were both prosecuted
Two things make this case worth knowing. First, none of the problems were exotic. Coats, bags and a door taken off its hinges are exactly what builds up in a busy school when nobody is looking with fresh eyes. Second, an assessment existed. It just wasn’t good enough, and the person who wrote it paid for that too.
That’s why the competence of your assessor matters. Since October 2023, the assessment must record who carried it out, so a weak assessment now has a name attached. An in-house assessor can be fine, but they need training in fire risk assessment, not just general health and safety, and the time to walk every building.
Enforcement does happen in London too: London Fire Brigade’s public register lists an enforcement notice served on the London Nautical School in 2020, citing escape routes, fire separation and training (LFB public notice).
What assessors keep finding in schools
Source: Fire safety risk assessment: educational premises (the official guide for schools, academies, colleges and crèches), and DfE good estate management guidance.
Lockdown alarms and fire alarms: don’t mix them up
Most schools now have a lockdown procedure as well as a fire evacuation procedure, and they ask people to do opposite things: stay in and hide, or get out fast. The Fire Industry Association’s guidance (version 2, May 2025) says the fire evacuation tones should not be used for lockdown. BS 5839-1:2025 does allow the fire alarm sounders to be used for lockdown, but only with a different tone.
The FIA also says your plan should cover what happens if the fire alarm goes off during a lockdown. That’s a decision for your fire risk assessment and your lockdown plan together, not something to work out on the day (FIA guidance note).
Real questions from parents
“sent her down the stairs with every one else”
Parent of a wheelchair user, describing a school fire drill, Scope online community, May 2021
The same parent later described the school taking her daughter down and back up the stairs because the lifts weren’t working, with no backup plan. That’s exactly what a personal evacuation plan is for. A pupil who can’t use stairs needs a written plan for each floor they use: a refuge point, trained staff, and the equipment to get them out if needed. The fire risk assessment should check those plans exist and have been practised, because a plan that relies on a lift during a fire isn’t a plan.
A parent of an autistic Year 10 pupil, distressed by an unannounced fire drill, asked whether there was any rule stopping the school from warning her daughter in advance.
Paraphrased from Mumsnet Special Needs, March 2017
There’s no law that says drills must be unannounced, and the replies in that thread were split. Schools can and do make reasonable adjustments: a quiet early exit with a member of staff, ear defenders, or a practice walk-through. The aim of a drill is to prove everyone can get out safely, and that includes the pupils for whom a sudden alarm is hardest. Write the adjustment into the pupil’s evacuation plan so it doesn’t depend on who’s on duty.
“Our headteacher has stated that my name should be detailed at the responsible person.”
School business manager, Safelincs Fire Safety Forum, October 2018
The answer in the thread was that the employer stays the responsible person: the local authority, governing body or academy trust, depending on the type of school. A business manager who runs fire safety day to day is acting for them, often as the competent person, rather than taking on the legal duty themselves. That doesn’t remove all personal risk, because individuals can still be liable for failings in areas they control. Write each person’s role into the school’s fire safety policy so everyone knows who does what.
Sprinklers and BB 100: where things stand
BB 100, the government’s design guide for fire safety in schools, is still published on GOV.UK. For new school buildings funded by the DfE, the department’s own technical requirements now set when sprinklers are needed: trade press reports from 2026 say they are required in buildings over 11 metres or four storeys, in special schools and in buildings with residential accommodation. If you’re planning a new block, ask your architect which standard applies to your project. For existing schools, the fire risk assessment is what tells you whether your current building is safe enough. Sprinklers are rarely required by law in an existing school, but your insurer may have a view.
Nurseries and early years settings
The early years framework for group and school-based providers (in force from September 2026) requires providers to comply with fire safety law, have an emergency evacuation procedure, keep fire detection and control equipment in working order, and keep fire exits identifiable and fire doors easy to open from the inside. The written fire risk assessment itself comes from the Fire Safety Order, which applies to every nursery, however small (EYFS statutory framework, paragraphs 3.80 and 3.81).
Nurseries in converted houses or above shops have the same problems as any mixed-use building. Our guide for offices and shared commercial buildings covers shared buildings and who is responsible for the common parts.
What a school fire risk assessment costs
Most assessors don’t publish school prices. Of the firms we checked, many said only “price on request”. The figures we could find:
| Premises | Typical time on site | Typical price |
|---|---|---|
| Nursery or one-building primary | 2–3 hours | £400–£650 |
| Larger primary or several buildings | 3–5 hours | £550–£800 |
| Secondary school or academy | Half a day to a full day | £700–£1,200+ |
Our bands, checked October 2026, from published prices by UK Fire Risk Assessments (from £225), Firerisk.io (from £495, with 10 to 15% off for multi-academy trusts), Assured Fire Safety (about £1 per pupil and member of staff, so around £425 ex VAT for 350 pupils and 75 staff), North West Fire Solutions (from £350 to £400) and Fire Risk Assessment Network (£500 to £1,000), plus one public contract: Lion Academy Trust awarded annual assessments for 11 primary schools on 13 sites for £7,950 ex VAT in March 2025, about £610 a site. Our full survey is in the fire risk assessment cost guide.
Multi-academy trusts usually get a better rate by contracting every site at once, as Lion Academy Trust did. Make sure a lower price still means someone walks every building, every year.
What happens during the assessment
Many assessors prefer to visit in term time with pupils in, so the assessor sees how corridors, cloakrooms and exits are really used. They’ll walk every building including plant rooms, kitchens, labs, the hall, modular classrooms and the outside of the site, then look at your records.
Have ready: the previous assessment and its action plan, the fire log book, alarm and emergency lighting service certificates, drill records, evacuation plans for pupils and staff who need help, site plans, and details of any lettings. Our booking page has the general checklist. If you need it done before a deadline, see urgent assessments.
What a typical school assessment looks like
Example
The property: a two-form-entry primary academy with a 1960s main building, a newer hall block and two modular classrooms, part of a trust that contracts all its schools together.
The visit: three to four hours in term time, so the assessor sees how corridors and cloakrooms are really used.
What usually comes up: artwork covering most of the corridor walls, a classroom fire door propped open for air, wheelie bins against the hall wall, rubbish under one of the modular classrooms, and a lockdown alarm that uses the same tone as the fire alarm.
Cost: in the £550 to £800 band for a larger primary or several buildings, and often less per site through a trust-wide contract.
An illustrative example based on the guidance and prices on this page. Not a real customer or property.
School fire safety questions
Who is responsible for fire safety in an academy?
The academy trust, as the employer and the body in control of the premises. In a multi-academy trust, that means the trust is responsible for every school in it, although the head and site team run the day-to-day checks.
How often should a school fire risk assessment be reviewed?
DfE guidance says schools should consider reviewing it annually, or at least every three years, and straight away after building work or a significant change in how the buildings are used.
How often should schools have fire drills?
The official guidance doesn’t set a fixed number, but drills must be regular. Many schools run one a term, and more where pupils or staff change often.
Can a teacher or site manager do the school’s fire risk assessment?
Yes, if they are competent to do it, which means proper training in fire risk assessment and enough time to walk every building. In the Wakefield case, the foundation’s own assessor was prosecuted personally for assessments that weren’t suitable and sufficient.
Does a nursery need a written fire risk assessment?
Yes. The Fire Safety Order applies to every nursery and childcare setting, and the assessment must be recorded in full. The early years framework also requires an emergency evacuation procedure.
Can the fire alarm be used for lockdown?
Fire evacuation tones should not be used for lockdown. BS 5839-1:2025 allows the sounders to be used with a different, clearly distinct tone, and your plan should say what happens if the fire alarm sounds during a lockdown.
How much does a school fire risk assessment cost?
Typically £400 to £650 for a nursery or one-building primary, and £700 to £1,200 or more for a secondary school or academy. Multi-academy trusts often pay less per site by contracting every school together.
Get a Price for Your School
Tell us the type of school, the number of buildings and pupils, and when your review is due. Trusts with several schools can send the list. We’ll come back with a price from a qualified assessor with schools experience, VAT shown.
Get Your Free Quote →