BS 8674:2025 is the British Standard, published by BSI on 15 August 2025 and effective from 31 August 2025, that defines what competence means for an individual fire risk assessor in the UK. It introduces three competence levels — Foundation, Intermediate, and Advanced — matched to building risk profiles. It does not change the methodology for fire risk assessment. It changes who is allowed to perform one on which building. For Responsible Persons under the Fire Safety Order, the practical consequence is direct: appoint an assessor whose competence level does not match your building's risk profile and the legal exposure sits with you, not the assessor.
Before BS 8674, there was no nationally recognised benchmark for who could carry out a fire risk assessment. The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 required the Responsible Person to appoint a "competent person", but the meaning of competent was left to the appointer to determine. The result was wide variation: some assessments were carried out by chartered fire engineers with decades of experience; others by individuals with a weekend qualification and an insurance certificate. Both could legally describe themselves as competent.
The Grenfell Tower Inquiry exposed the consequences. Phase 2 of the Inquiry, which reported in September 2024, found that many fire risk assessments had been inadequate, often because the assessors lacked the training, experience, or understanding to deal with the buildings they were assessing. The Inquiry recommended a formal competence framework.
BSI's response was BS 8674:2025, developed by technical committee CPB/1 in alignment with BS 8670-1:2024, the overarching competence standard for the built environment. It was issued on 15 August 2025 and came into effect on 31 August 2025. From that date, the UK has had a published benchmark against which fire risk assessor competence can be measured.
BS 8674 is a code of practice, not law. But that distinction matters less than it sounds. The legal duty to appoint a competent person was already in force. What BS 8674 provides is the definition of competence that enforcement authorities, insurers, and courts will now reference when an assessment is challenged.
BS 8674 defines three levels of competence, each matched to a building risk profile. The principle underpinning the framework is straightforward: the complexity of the building should match the competence of the person assessing it.
Foundation level covers low-risk buildings. The standard's examples include small offices, small warehouses, and local shops — buildings of conventional construction, simple layout, no sleeping accommodation, and no specialist fire safety systems. A Foundation-level assessor is competent to identify common hazards in straightforward premises and apply standard fire safety measures. They are not expected to handle complex compartmentation analysis, evacuation strategies involving vulnerable occupants, or specialist active fire protection systems.
Intermediate level covers moderate-risk buildings. The standard's examples include hotels, boarding houses, apartment blocks (common areas), shops, offices of larger or more complex layout, small schools, and entertainment venues. The defining characteristic is the presence of one or more risk factors that exceed Foundation scope — typically sleeping risk, mixed occupancy, more complex compartmentation, or active fire safety systems that require interpretation. An Intermediate-level assessor must be able to evaluate evacuation strategies, interpret fire alarm and detection design intent, and apply the relevant methodology standard (PAS 79-1:2020 for non-residential, BS 9792:2025 for housing) competently.
Advanced level covers complex and high-risk buildings. Examples include hospitals, care homes, large multi-occupancy residential buildings, high-rise residential, buildings with complex active fire safety systems, and premises where evacuation strategy depends on phased or progressive horizontal evacuation. An Advanced-level assessor is expected to demonstrate the depth of expertise needed to evaluate non-standard scenarios, integrate the work of fire engineers and other specialists, and exercise professional judgment in circumstances where standard guidance does not directly apply.
One important boundary: BS 8674 Advanced level does not extend to full fire safety engineering, fire risk appraisal of external walls (FRAEW under PAS 9980:2022), or invasive inspections. These remain separate specialist disciplines.
The standard provides risk profile criteria, but for most Responsible Persons the practical test is simpler. Three questions resolve the level in most cases.
Does your building have sleeping accommodation, or shared escape routes with sleeping accommodation above? If yes, Intermediate is the minimum. This captures hotels, B&Bs, HMOs, apartment blocks where the common areas are within scope, and commercial premises with residential above.
Does your building house vulnerable occupants who cannot self-evacuate, or operate a phased or progressive evacuation strategy? If yes, Advanced is required. This captures care homes, hospitals, hospices, specialist residential settings, and any premises where evacuation depends on staff intervention or progressive horizontal evacuation.
Does your building include complex active fire protection systems — sprinklers integrated with smoke control, voice alarms with phased evacuation logic, smoke ventilation systems, or pressure-differential evacuation routes? If yes, Advanced is required regardless of building use, because evaluating whether those systems are correctly configured for the building's risk profile is beyond Intermediate scope.
If the answer to all three is no — single-occupancy commercial premises of conventional construction with simple evacuation by means of normal exits — Foundation level is likely sufficient. The standard recognises that the majority of UK commercial buildings fall into this category.
When in doubt, appoint at the higher level. There is no regulatory penalty for engaging more competence than the building strictly requires; there is significant exposure if you engage less.
The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 places the duty to ensure a suitable and sufficient fire risk assessment on the Responsible Person. The Fire Safety Act 2021 extended the scope of the Order in multi-occupied residential buildings, and section 156 of the Building Safety Act 2022 amended the Order again to introduce explicit competence requirements, including a duty for the Responsible Person to take "all reasonable steps" to determine the competence of any appointed assessor.
Before BS 8674, "all reasonable steps" was undefined. Now it is not. After 31 August 2025, the recognised steps include verifying the assessor's competence level on a third-party register, ensuring that level matches the building's risk profile, and documenting the appointment decision. A Responsible Person who fails to do these things, and whose building subsequently has a serious incident, will struggle to demonstrate compliance with section 156.
The practical implication is that the liability previously thought to sit primarily with the assessor — who, after all, wrote the report — now sits more clearly with the Responsible Person who appointed them. Enforcement authorities and insurers are already adjusting their assessment of competence in post-incident reviews. Insurers in particular are starting to ask, at renewal, whether the most recent FRA was carried out by an assessor at the appropriate BS 8674 level.
Three independent registers currently align their assessment of individual assessors with the BS 8674 competence levels.
BAFE SP205 is the third-party certification scheme operated by the British Approvals for Fire Equipment for organisations and individuals providing life safety fire risk assessment. SP205 registrants have undergone independent audit, and from 2025 the scheme has been updated to incorporate BS 8674 competence tiering.
Institution of Fire Engineers (IFE) maintains a register of engineers and assessors at graded levels (Affiliate, Technician, Graduate, Member, Fellow). The IFE has confirmed that its grading system maps to BS 8674 levels; in practice, IFE Member and above will typically map to Intermediate or Advanced.
Institute of Fire Safety Managers (IFSM) National Fire Risk Assessor Register (NFRAR) is a dedicated register for fire risk assessors that has been updated post-August 2025 to display tiered competence aligned with BS 8674.
The practical verification steps are: ask the prospective assessor which register they appear on, at what level; check the public register directly (do not rely on a screenshot or letter); confirm the level matches your building's risk profile; and retain the verification record in your fire safety documentation.
Self-declared competence — an assessor stating they are competent without third-party verification — is no longer a defensible appointment basis. The point of BS 8674 is precisely to move competence assessment out of the hands of the individual and onto independent registers. A Responsible Person appointing on the basis of self-declaration alone is not taking "all reasonable steps" within the meaning of section 156.
BS 8674 is deliberately scoped. Understanding its boundaries matters because misapplying it — assuming it covers more than it does — creates its own exposure.
It does not cover methodology. How a fire risk assessment is conducted is addressed by PAS 79-1:2020 for non-residential premises and BS 9792:2025 for housing. BS 8674 defines who is competent to apply those methodologies; the methodologies themselves remain the procedural standards.
It does not cover fire risk appraisal of external walls. FRAEWs are a separate specialist exercise governed by PAS 9980:2022. An Advanced-level BS 8674 assessor is not automatically qualified to carry out a FRAEW.
It does not cover invasive or destructive inspections. BS 8674 explicitly addresses non-invasive assessment of existing fire safety measures. Where invasive inspection is needed — typically for compartmentation verification in high-risk residential — additional specialist competence is required.
It does not cover fire safety engineering. Full fire engineering — performance-based design, computational fluid dynamics modelling, smoke control system design — sits beyond the Advanced level. Where engineering is needed, a chartered fire engineer is the appropriate appointment.
It does not cover the competence of organisations. BS 8674 addresses individual assessor competence. Organisational competence, including supervision, quality assurance, and project management of multi-assessor work, is outside scope.
For Responsible Persons, the practical consequence is that complex buildings frequently require multiple specialists working in coordination. BS 8674 provides the framework for the individual fire risk assessor; it does not exempt the Responsible Person from procuring the other specialists when the building demands them.
BS 8674:2025 is the British Standard published by BSI on 15 August 2025 that sets out a framework for assessing the competence of individual fire risk assessors. It came into effect on 31 August 2025. It defines three competence levels — Foundation, Intermediate, and Advanced — each matched to a building risk profile.
BS 8674 is a code of practice, not legislation. The legal duty to appoint a competent assessor sits in the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, the Fire Safety Act 2021, and section 156 of the Building Safety Act 2022. BS 8674 now defines what "competent" means in practice, which is the basis on which enforcement authorities and courts will now interpret the legal duty.
Foundation for small single-occupancy commercial premises with simple evacuation. Intermediate for buildings with sleeping accommodation, mixed occupancy, or non-trivial active fire safety systems. Advanced for buildings with vulnerable occupants, phased evacuation strategies, or complex integrated fire safety systems.
Check independent registers: BAFE SP205, the Institution of Fire Engineers register, or the IFSM National Fire Risk Assessor Register. Do not accept self-declared competence.
No. BS 8674 does not invalidate existing assessments that were suitable and sufficient at the time. At next review or renewal, however, the appointed assessor should be at the appropriate level for the building's risk profile.
Skills, Knowledge, Experience, and Behaviours — the four dimensions BS 8674 uses to define competence at each level. All four must be evidenced. Qualifications alone do not satisfy SKEB.
Under section 156 of the Building Safety Act 2022, the Responsible Person has the duty to take all reasonable steps to determine the competence of any appointed assessor. Appointing an assessor below the building's risk profile is an appointment failure on the Responsible Person, not solely on the assessor.
No. FRAEWs are covered by PAS 9980:2022. BS 8674 explicitly excludes external wall appraisal, invasive inspection, product testing, and fire safety engineering beyond Advanced level.
BS 8674 defines who is competent. PAS 79-1:2020 and BS 9792:2025 define how the assessment is conducted. The standards work together: BS 8674 says who can do the work; the methodology standards say how the work is done.
This page is published by RiskSorted as a duty-holder explainer of BS 8674:2025. It is not legal advice. The regulatory framework around fire safety is complex and evolving; where competence decisions carry significant exposure, Responsible Persons should take their own professional advice. Current at 12 May 2026; we update this page when the underlying standards change.