PEEPs Explained: The New Residential Evacuation Duties (April 2026)

If you manage a building and someone in it cannot get out on their own in a fire, you need a plan for that person. That is what a Personal Emergency Evacuation Plan, or PEEP, is: a written record of how a named individual will be alerted, assisted and evacuated. The workplace duty has existed for years under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005. The residential position has been the harder question ever since Grenfell, and it has now changed. From 6 April 2026, the Fire Safety (Residential Evacuation Plans) (England) Regulations 2025 place real duties on those responsible for taller residential blocks. This guide explains who needs a PEEP, what the new residential rules require, and where the common confusion sits.

What a PEEP actually is

A PEEP is a bespoke plan for one person who cannot use the standard means of escape without help. It covers how they will know there is a fire, who will assist them, the route they will take, any equipment involved (such as an evacuation chair), and where they will wait if a refuge is used. It is written with the person, not imposed on them, because they know their own needs better than anyone.

A PEEP is different from a general emergency plan. The general plan covers everyone. A PEEP handles the individual cases the general plan cannot: a wheelchair user on the third floor, a colleague with a visual impairment, a resident with a heart condition who cannot manage stairs at speed. Where a workplace has visitors who may need help but are not known in advance, a Generic Emergency Evacuation Plan (GEEP) sets out the standby arrangements instead.

The workplace duty: this is not new

In any workplace, the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 makes the “responsible person” (usually the employer or whoever controls the premises) responsible for the safety of everyone who may be present. Article 15 requires procedures for serious and imminent danger, and the fire risk assessment must take account of the presence of anyone especially at risk. In practice that means if you employ or host someone who cannot self-evacuate, you must plan for them. You cannot lawfully leave a disabled employee to “wait for the fire brigade” as a strategy.

The Equality Act 2010 sits alongside this. Reasonable adjustments extend to escape arrangements, so a blanket policy that ignores individual needs is a problem on two fronts, fire safety and discrimination. None of this is optional, and none of it is new.

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The residential question and why it took so long

High-rise homes were the gap. For years, guidance discouraged landlords from producing residential PEEPs, and the “stay put” strategy in purpose-built blocks assumed compartmentation would hold. Grenfell exposed the flaw: when a building fails and evacuation becomes necessary, residents who cannot get themselves out have no plan at all.

The Grenfell Tower Inquiry Phase 1 report recommended that owners and managers of high-rise residential buildings be required to prepare PEEPs for residents whose ability to self-evacuate is compromised. The Government consulted twice. The first proposal for full residential PEEPs was set aside on cost and practicality grounds, replaced by an “Emergency Evacuation Information Sharing” idea, which was itself criticised. The eventual answer is the 2025 Regulations.

What changes from 6 April 2026

The Fire Safety (Residential Evacuation Plans) (England) Regulations 2025 come into force on 6 April 2026. They apply to residential buildings containing two or more dwellings that are either 18 metres or more in height, or seven or more storeys, and to buildings over 11 metres where a simultaneous evacuation strategy is in place. The responsible person under the Fire Safety Order (typically the building owner, landlord or managing agent) must:

• Use reasonable endeavours to identify residents whose ability to evacuate without assistance is affected.
• Offer each of those residents a person-centred fire risk assessment (PCFRA) — a conversation about their specific evacuation challenges and what could help.
• Agree a short written residential PEEP statement recording the arrangements.
• Feed those individual cases into a building emergency evacuation plan for the block as a whole.
• Share limited information (flat number, floor, nature of assistance needed) with the local Fire and Rescue Service — but only with the resident’s consent.
• Review the arrangements regularly and whenever circumstances change.

It is worth being clear about what the rules do not do. They do not force a resident to accept an assessment, and they do not oblige landlords to fund unlimited physical works. The measures must be reasonable and proportionate, and disputes over who pays for larger interventions are likely to be a live issue in the early years.

Costs vary widely with building size, complexity and location, so treat any headline figure with caution. For the wider building fire risk assessment that sits underneath all of this, see our fire risk assessment cost guide.

Getting the plan right

A PEEP is only as good as the people and equipment behind it. If your plan relies on two named colleagues carrying someone down four flights, ask what happens when both are on leave. If it relies on an evacuation chair, ask who is trained to use it and when they last practised. Refuge points need a working two-way communication system, not just a sign on the wall. The plan should be tested, not filed.

Whoever writes your fire risk assessment should be competent to advise on all of this. If you are appointing an assessor, our guide on how to choose a fire risk assessor sets out the checks worth making, and you can find accredited assessors through our fire safety listings.

Frequently asked questions

Are PEEPs a legal requirement?

In workplaces, yes, in effect. The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 requires you to plan for the safe evacuation of everyone who may be present, including those who cannot self-evacuate, so a PEEP is how that duty is met for named individuals. For residential high-rise buildings in scope, the Fire Safety (Residential Evacuation Plans) (England) Regulations 2025 create specific duties from 6 April 2026. For a fuller picture of the underlying fire risk assessment duty, see is a fire risk assessment a legal requirement.

Who is responsible for writing a PEEP?

In a workplace it is the responsible person under the Fire Safety Order, usually the employer or the person in control of the premises, working with the individual concerned. In a residential block in scope of the 2026 rules it is the responsible person for the building, typically the owner, landlord or managing agent.

Do the new residential rules apply to my building?

They apply in England to buildings with two or more dwellings that are 18 metres or more in height or have seven or more storeys, and to buildings over 11 metres where simultaneous evacuation is the strategy. Lower-rise blocks and single homes are outside the new duty, though the general fire safety duties still apply.

What is a person-centred fire risk assessment?

It is an assessment carried out with an individual resident to understand how a fire would affect their ability to leave and what support or equipment would help. The outcome is recorded in a short residential PEEP statement and fed into the building’s overall evacuation plan.

Can a resident refuse a PEEP?

Yes. The responsible person must make reasonable endeavours to identify and offer support, but a resident can decline an assessment or refuse to share information with the fire service. That refusal should be recorded so the position is clear.

Is “stay put” being scrapped?

No. Stay put remains the strategy in many purpose-built blocks where the design supports it. The point of residential PEEPs is to make sure that when evacuation is needed, the people who cannot manage it alone have already been identified and planned for, rather than being an afterthought during an emergency.

Getting help

Whether you run a workplace or manage residential blocks, the honest test is simple: if the alarm sounded now, is there a real, tested plan for every person who could not get out alone? If you are not sure, a competent fire risk assessor can review your arrangements and help you meet both the long-standing workplace duties and the new residential rules.

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