The Fire Safety (Residential Evacuation Plans) (England) Regulations 2025 — residential PEEPs and building evacuation plans

What they require

These Regulations introduce two related things for taller residential buildings in England: residential personal emergency evacuation plans for individual residents who could not evacuate unaided, and a building emergency evacuation plan for the building as a whole. They also extend the secure information box duty in the 2022 Regulations so that the box holds the documents these Regulations require.

The buildings reached are residential buildings of at least 18 metres or at least seven storeys, and buildings above 11 metres where a simultaneous evacuation strategy is in place.

What this means in practice

This is the most consequential change to residential fire safety duty in England since the 2022 Regulations, and it closes a gap that had been open for a long time.

The practical shift is from a building-level strategy to a person-level one. A stay-put strategy has always depended on the compartmentation holding; what it did not do was answer what happens to a specific resident who cannot use the stairs when the strategy fails. These Regulations require that question to be answered in advance, resident by resident, and recorded.

For anyone managing residential stock in England, the work is identification, engagement with residents, and record-keeping — and the identification part is the one most often underestimated, because it depends on residents disclosing needs they may not have disclosed before.

Relationship to the 2022 Regulations

These Regulations do not replace the Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022; they sit alongside them and amend regulation 4(2)(b) of them. Both are made under article 24 of the Fire Safety Order, and both extend to England and Wales while applying only in England.

Where they stand

Made on 3 July 2025, laid before Parliament on 4 July 2025, and in force since 6 April 2026 — fully commenced, with no outstanding effects recorded at the date checked.

One caveat on currency: legislation.gov.uk did not display an "up to date with all changes known to be in force on or before" line for this instrument when checked, so the date on this page is the date we verified it rather than a currency the source itself vouched for.