Fire Risk Assessment for Care Homes in Leicester
A care home fire risk assessment has one question at its centre: can the staff on duty at 3am get every resident to safety? In Leicester and Leicestershire most care home assessments cost £400 to £600 or more, depending on beds, floors and layout. They should be reviewed at least once a year, and whenever residents’ needs or night staffing change.
Updated September 2026
Why care homes are assessed differently
In most buildings, people hear the alarm and walk out. In a care home, many residents cannot. Some need one or two staff to move them, some are asleep and confused, and some are in bed with equipment attached. The plan is usually progressive horizontal evacuation: moving residents away from the fire, through fire doors, into the next protected zone on the same floor, and only then further if needed.
That only works if three things line up, and the assessment tests each one:
- The building: fire-resisting compartments (government guidance says at least 30 minutes, ideally 60), doors that close and seal, and zones small enough to clear quickly.
- The people: enough staff on the night shift, trained and drilled, who know which residents need what. The guidance says staffing should be “sufficient and available at all material times”.
- The paperwork: a personal emergency evacuation plan (PEEP) for each resident who needs help, kept up to date as needs change.
A report that checks the fire doors but never asks how many staff are on at night has missed the point.
Types of care home in Leicestershire, and what comes up in each
| Type | Where you find it | What tends to come up |
|---|---|---|
| Converted Victorian or Edwardian house, often with later extensions | Stoneygate, Knighton, Clarendon Park, Oadby and the older parts of market towns | Several stairs and levels joined by extensions. Compartment lines broken where old and new parts meet. Small zones that are hard to evacuate into. Bedrooms up narrow original stairs. |
| Purpose-built care or nursing home | Outer Leicester and the county, many built from the 1980s onwards | Usually well designed, so findings are about management: door hold-open devices that no longer release, closers removed, corridors used for storage, alarm faults left open. |
| Nursing home with lifts and bed evacuation | Larger sites across the city and county | Whether bed-bound residents can be moved through the doors and zones. Evacuation aids. Night staff numbers against dependency. |
| Supported living and small homes | Converted houses in residential streets | Whether it is treated as a care setting or a shared house. Detection that suits the residents’ needs, and PEEPs that match reality. |
A typical 26-bed Leicester care home
Converted villa with a 1990s bedroom wing
The home: 26 residents, 9 living with dementia and 6 needing two staff to move. Original house on three floors plus a two-storey extension. Three staff on nights.
The test: the assessor walks the route from the furthest first-floor bedroom in the old house to the next protected zone, times it, and counts how many residents in that zone need two staff. With three on duty, clearing the old-house first floor takes too long.
Findings: the zone boundary between the house and the extension has a gap above the ceiling where cables pass; two bedroom doors have closers disconnected; four PEEPs are out of date; the last night-time drill was 14 months ago.
Action plan: fire-stop the ceiling void and create a new zone boundary on the old-house landing; repair the closers; update PEEPs; run a night-staffing drill and review whether a fourth waking member of staff is needed or whether higher-dependency residents should move to ground-floor rooms.
Why it matters: none of these problems would show up in a daytime walk-round that only checks doors and signs.
What happens when care home fire safety fails
St Martin’s care home
The owner was fined £120,000 and the director received a suspended prison sentence after Nottinghamshire Fire and Rescue Service prosecuted fire safety breaches. It is just up the M1 from Leicester, under the same law.
Record fine after a resident’s death
Bupa was ordered to pay £937,500 plus costs after a resident died in a fire at a care home. It remains the benchmark case for how seriously courts treat care home failures.
Care homes are also inspected by CQC, which can act on unsafe premises under Regulation 12 of the Health and Social Care Act regulations. A weak fire risk assessment tends to show up in both inspections.
Real questions from care managers and families
“Legally how many nightcare staff are required in a residential care building overnight?”A care provider on the Safelincs fire safety forum
There is no fixed number in fire law. The answer comes from the assessment: how many residents need assistance, how the building is zoned, and how long it takes to move people into the next protected area. That is why the night-staffing question has to be tested with a drill, not decided on paper.
“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”A care home on the Safelincs fire safety forum, December 2025 (quoted as written)
An alarm contractor’s letter is not a fire risk assessment, and the firm writing it may also be quoting for the upgrade. Ask your assessor to say what the alarm system needs to be for your building and residents, then get quotes for the work separately.
“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.”A family member on the Alzheimer’s Society forum
Closed bedroom doors protect residents at night but can feel isolating by day. Many homes use hold-open or free-swing door closers that release when the alarm sounds, which government guidance says should be considered. The assessment should say where these are suitable.
What applies to a Leicestershire care home
| Law or guidance | What it means for you | Who checks |
|---|---|---|
| Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 | A written, suitable and sufficient fire risk assessment, kept under review, with a competent person to carry it out | Leicestershire Fire and Rescue Service |
| HM Government, Fire safety risk assessment: residential care premises | The main guide: compartments, evacuation strategy, staffing, door closers, alarms | Used by assessors and the fire service |
| Health and Social Care Act regulations, Regulation 12 | Premises must be safe to use for their intended purpose | CQC |
| BS 5839-1 | The standard for fire alarm design and servicing. Care homes usually need a high level of automatic detection | Alarm engineer, assessor |
Sources: GOV.UK residential care guide; CQC Regulation 12.
Questions to ask any care home assessor
- Will you test evacuation against our night staffing? If the answer is no, the assessment is incomplete.
- Will you check our PEEPs against the residents we have now?
- Will you look above ceilings and in roof voids at compartment lines? Especially where extensions join older buildings.
- Have you assessed care homes before? Residential care has its own guidance and its own risks.
- Do you sell alarms, doors or fire-stopping? Independent advice matters. No remedial works are sold with the assessment.
Care home fire safety questions
How often should a care home fire risk assessment be reviewed?
At least once a year, and whenever something significant changes: new residents with higher needs, a change in night staffing, building work, or an incident.
How much does a care home fire risk assessment cost in Leicester?
Usually £400 to £600 or more, depending on the number of beds, floors, extensions and how complex the evacuation strategy is. See our cost guide.
Do residents need to be moved during the assessment?
No. The assessor works around the home’s routine and needs access to all areas, including a sample of bedrooms and roof spaces.
What is a PEEP?
A personal emergency evacuation plan sets out how a specific resident will be evacuated, including how many staff and what equipment. Residents who need help should each have one.
Does CQC look at fire safety?
Yes. CQC checks that premises are safe for their purpose, and works with fire and rescue services when it finds concerns.
Get a fixed quote for your care home
Tell us the address or postcode, number of beds and floors, and whether there are extensions. A local assessor gets back to you with a fixed quote.
See the Leicester cost guide, or call 0116 497 6683.