Care homes

Fire Risk Assessments for Care Homes

Updated September 2026 · Uses Home Office fire safety audit data for April 2025 to March 2026

Short answer: every care home and nursing home in England and Wales must have a suitable and sufficient fire risk assessment, recorded in full and carried out or supported by a competent person. It has to prove that your staff, including the night team, can actually move residents to safety. For most homes it costs £250 to £900 depending on size. Fire services audit care homes more than almost any other type of premises, and around two in five audits last year were not satisfactory.

A care home is one of the hardest buildings to get right for fire safety. Most residents can’t escape on their own, some are asleep behind closed doors, many are on medication, and at 3am there may be only a handful of staff on duty. The fire risk assessment is where all of that has to add up.

This guide covers what fire services are finding, what the law and CQC expect, where care home prosecutions keep coming from, and what managers and families are actually asking. Sources are linked throughout.

What fire services found

Care homes are among the most audited buildings in England

6,004
Fire safety audits of care homes, April 2025 to March 2026
2nd
Most audited type of premises, after shops
61%
Rated satisfactory, so roughly 2,300 were not
3 of 5
Recent care home prosecutions we found involved a resident who smoked

Audit figures: Home Office, Fire prevention and protection statistics, England, April 2025 to March 2026. Prosecution pattern: our review of five care home fire safety prosecutions from 2022 to 2026, listed below.

Care homes actually had the best satisfactory rate of the three most-audited premises types, ahead of shops (58%) and licensed premises (52%). But when the people inside can’t evacuate themselves, “better than a pub” is not the standard anyone wants to be judged by. And fire services share what they find with the CQC under a formal agreement, so a poor fire audit rarely stays a fire service matter.

The rules

What the law and the regulators expect

  • Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005. Care homes are fully covered. The responsible person is usually the registered provider. Since October 2023, the whole assessment must be recorded in writing, and anyone helping with it must be competent.
  • The government’s care home guide. Fire safety risk assessment: residential care premises dates from 2006 but is still the official guidance for residential and nursing homes. Fire services and CQC inspectors still judge homes against it.
  • CQC Regulation 12. Premises must be “safe to use for their intended purpose”, and providers must be able to respond to emergencies such as fires. CQC can prosecute under Regulation 12 without serving a warning notice first. It also works with fire services under a memorandum of understanding to share information about fires and incidents.
  • Wales. The Fire Safety Order applies in the same way, and Care Inspectorate Wales expects providers to identify and reduce health and safety risks as far as reasonably practicable.
  • Change is coming. A government-commissioned review published in December 2025 noted that care home building guidance was last updated in 1992 for escape and 2006 for sprinklers, and questioned the current 10-bedroom limit per protected area. New care homes in England are now expected to have sprinklers under changes to Approved Document B.
Evacuation

The question every care home assessment must answer

In most buildings, people hear the alarm and walk out. In a care home, most residents depend on staff. So the government guide expects a strategy of progressive horizontal evacuation: moving residents away from the fire, through a fire-resisting barrier, into a protected area on the same floor, and only then further if needed.

That only works if three things are true at the same time:

The compartments holdWalls, ceilings and doors between protected areas must resist fire for at least 30 minutes, ideally 60. Cabling, pipework and refurbishments quietly breach them over the years.
The doors closeBedroom and corridor doors must shut when the alarm sounds. Hold-open devices that release on the alarm are the usual answer where residents want their doors open.
There are enough staffThe guide says staffing must be “sufficient and available at all material times” to move residents to safety. That means at night, not on the day shift.
Every resident has a planIndividual evacuation plans must match each resident’s mobility, cognition and medication, and be updated when they change. Out-of-date plans are a common CQC finding.
“Legally how many nightcare staff are required in a residential care building overnight?”

Care home staff member, Safelincs Fire Safety Forum, 2015

It’s still the most common question in this sector, and the answer hasn’t changed: there is no fixed legal number. Your fire risk assessment has to show that the staff you actually have on duty at night can carry out your evacuation strategy. London Fire Brigade lists staffing that “don’t always support evacuation strategy, especially at night” among the problems it finds. The practical test is a timed drill with your real night team, not the day shift.

The pattern

Where care home prosecutions keep coming from

We looked at five care home fire safety prosecutions from 2022 to 2026, plus one CQC enforcement case. Three of the prosecutions involved a resident who smoked, and each of those residents died. The other two came down to fire risk assessments that were out of date or whose actions were ignored.

Nursing home, Lewisham, London (sentenced 2022)£937,500 fine + £104,425 costs
A resident who used a wheelchair died after his clothes caught fire in the garden smoking shelter. His smoking risk assessment ignored the emollient creams he used, which soak into fabric and help it burn. Earlier burn marks on his clothing were missed. London Fire Brigade
Care home, Bournemouth (2026)£70,000 fine + £22,000 costs
A resident suffered serious burns while smoking in the home’s designated smoking area and died 11 days later. The provider pleaded guilty to failing to have suitable fire safety arrangements. Dorset & Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service
Care home, Warrington (sentenced 2022)£62,000 fine + £17,500 costs
A 90-year-old resident caught fire while smoking unsupervised and died on the way to hospital. There was no individual smoking risk assessment, and the call button in the smoking shelter took almost four minutes to answer. Fire Industry Association
21-bed care home, Nottingham (2025)£120,000 fine + suspended sentence
The fire risk assessment’s recommendations were not acted on, the fire alarm was inadequate and escape routes were insufficient. The former director received a suspended prison sentence. The judge called it “a tragedy waiting to happen”. Nottinghamshire Fire and Rescue Service
Four care homes, Bexhill-on-Sea (2024)£110,000 in fines
The directors pleaded guilty to 12 offences across four homes: faulty or missing alarms, damaged fire doors without closers and outdated fire risk assessments. Fire Industry Association
22-bed care home, Buckinghamshire (2022)Rated Inadequate by CQC
Not a prosecution, but a warning. Inspectors found a blocked fire escape and a bedroom door propped open with a portable heater, and said staff “were not alert to fire safety risks”. The home went into special measures. CQC

What that means for your assessment

  • Every resident who smokes needs their own risk assessment, covering supervision, where they smoke, how quickly staff can reach them, and fire-retardant aprons or blankets where needed.
  • Emollients are a fire risk, not just a skincare issue. The medicines regulator warns that build-up of any emollient, paraffin-based or not, on clothing and bedding makes them burn more easily. Your assessment should connect care plans with fire safety.
  • An action plan you don’t complete is evidence against you. In the Nottingham and Bexhill cases, the problems had already been identified or should have been.
What people actually ask

What families and managers keep asking

“Dad has just moved into a nursing home. I should have noticed, but didn’t, when we were shown round, that all the room doors were shut.”

Family member of a new resident, Alzheimer’s Society Dementia Support Forum, November 2019

Her father used a wheelchair and couldn’t open his own door, so “fire rules” left him shut in. Replies pointed to the answer the government guide itself suggests: hold-open or free-swing door devices that keep doors open until the alarm sounds, then close them automatically. A good assessment balances fire safety with dignity rather than using “fire regulations” as a blanket reason.

“We have just had a fire alarm service with a letter a large sized fire related contractor stating that we don’t fully comply with BS5839”

Care home manager, Safelincs Fire Safety Forum, December 2025

The issue was zone plans that didn’t mark doors and toilets. The expert reply: British Standards aren’t automatically retrospective, and it’s the fire risk assessment that decides whether existing arrangements are acceptable. Contractor letters are worth taking seriously, but they are not the same as a finding in your assessment.

What comes up

What care home fire risk assessments usually find

  • Door hold-open devices that don’t release, or bedroom doors wedged open with furniture, heaters or door stops.
  • Compartment walls breached by new cabling, nurse call systems, TV aerials or refurbishment work.
  • Evacuation plans that no longer match the residents, especially after new admissions or a change in someone’s mobility.
  • No night-time drill, so nobody knows whether the night team can move a compartment’s residents in time.
  • Smoking areas without supervision or quick staff access, and residents’ smoking not linked to their care plans.
  • Oxygen cylinders and concentrators without signage or storage controls.
  • Dementia security that fights the fire strategy. Keypads and maglocks on exits must release when the alarm sounds, and staff need a plan for residents who may walk out when they do.
  • Laundry and kitchen risks: dryer lint, and emollient-soaked bedding going through the dryer.
What it costs

How much a care home fire risk assessment costs

Care homes take longer to assess than most premises, because the assessor has to test the evacuation strategy, not just walk the building. One firm in our survey of 20 published price lists priced care homes by bed numbers, and its price doubled between 5 and 15 beds. Typical prices including VAT:

Care homeTypical time on siteTypical price
Small home, up to 15 beds2–4 hours£250–£550
Medium home, 16–40 beds4–6 hours£550–£900
Large or multi-storey nursing homeA day or moreQuoted individually

See the full breakdown in our fire risk assessment cost guide.

Choosing an assessor

Five questions to ask a care home fire risk assessor

  • How many care homes have you assessed, and what types: residential, nursing, dementia?
  • How will you test our evacuation strategy? Look for someone who will ask for your night staffing, compartment sizes and drill times, not just your floor plans.
  • Will you review our individual evacuation plans and smoking risk assessments?
  • Are you on a third-party certification scheme or professional register? Check it yourself.
  • Will the action plan be prioritised and dated, so we can show CQC and the fire service what we’ve done and when?
Typical job

What a typical care home assessment looks like

Example

The property: a 24-bed residential home in an extended Victorian house on two floors, with a lift and around four staff on duty at night.

The visit: four to six hours, including a walk round with the manager and a conversation with the night team about how they would move residents.

What usually comes up: a corridor fire door wedged open, a compartment wall breached by new cabling above the ceiling, two residents’ evacuation plans out of date after their mobility changed, and no timed drill with the night staff in the past year.

Cost: in the £550 to £900 band for a home with 16 to 40 beds.

An illustrative example based on the guidance and prices on this page. Not a real customer or property.

FAQ

Care home fire risk assessments: quick answers

Does a care home need a fire risk assessment?

Yes. Every residential and nursing care home in England and Wales is covered by the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 and must have a suitable and sufficient fire risk assessment, recorded in full.

How often should a care home fire risk assessment be reviewed?

There is no fixed legal interval, but because of the sleeping risk and changing residents, most care homes review at least annually, and always after building work, a change in layout, or a significant change in residents’ needs or staffing.

How many staff does a care home need at night for fire safety?

There is no fixed legal number. The fire risk assessment must show that the staff on duty at night can carry out the home’s evacuation strategy, usually progressive horizontal evacuation, and timed night drills are the best evidence.

What is progressive horizontal evacuation?

Moving residents away from a fire, through a fire-resisting barrier, into a protected area on the same floor, rather than taking everyone outside at once. It is the standard strategy in care homes where residents depend on staff to escape.

Can care home bedroom doors be kept open?

Yes, if they are fitted with hold-open or free-swing devices that close the door automatically when the fire alarm sounds. Wedging doors open with furniture or door stops is not acceptable.

Does CQC check fire safety?

Yes. Under Regulation 12, premises must be safe to use, and CQC looks at fire safety during inspections. Fire services and CQC also share information about fires and incidents.

How much does a care home fire risk assessment cost?

Typically £250 to £550 for a home of up to 15 beds and £550 to £900 for 16 to 40 beds. Large or multi-storey nursing homes are quoted individually.

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