The Almshouse Association regularly posts a news summary of the latest Policy and Governance legislation that could impact/requires action from member charities, with links to further information where applicable.

Our latest update can be found below and previous updates are listed at the bottom of the page.

GOVERNMENT

  • Home Office opens consultation on Emergency Evacuation Information Sharing – The Home Office has opened a consultation regarding emergency information sharing within multi-occupancy housing, particularly for those with limited mobility.

    This follows an earlier consultation on Personal Emergency Evacuation Plans (PEEPs), which the Government responded to here. 

    Members may wish to view the consultation and respond if they feel necessary. The Almshouse Association is happy to help members by responding on their behalf. Please contact Jack Baldan via jackbaldan@almshouses.org with any evidence you would like to submit.
  • Fire Safety Act 2021 comes into force – On May 16th the Fire Safety Act 2021 was implemented. Implementation leads to the Fire Safety (England) regulations 2022 which have been laid before Parliament and will take effect from 23rd January 2023. Most of the new regulations only apply to high-rise residential buildings, however, regulations on fire doors and fire safety instructions will apply to all residential buildings with two or more domestic dwellings, regardless of the height of the building.

    The Government has published a number of resources to help implement the new regulations, which can be found here:

For most almshouses the most important points to note are that the responsible persons will be required to:

  • provide Fire Safety Instructions: relevant fire safety instructions should be made available to residents, which will include instructions on how to report a fire and any other instruction which sets out what a resident must do once a fire has occurred, based on the evacuation strategy for the building
  • provide Fire Door Information: residents should be given information relating to the importance of fire doors in fire safety.

    The regulations apply to England only. Information does not need to be shared until 23rd January 2023, in the meantime, members should look to work towards compliance.

RECORD OF PREVIOUS 2021/22 Policy and Governance updates:

posted 23 May 22