The number of fire safety warnings issued in Nottinghamshire has risen by almost half in the past five years, according to new figures.

The Fire Brigades Union (FBU) has warned that the UK faces “a widespread building safety crisis” and has called for “strict enforcement” against companies putting lives at risk.

Rise in audits and warnings

Fire services carry out routine fire safety audits in public buildings and private businesses to ensure compliance with regulations.
Figures from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) show Nottinghamshire Fire and Rescue Service conducted 2,305 audits in the year to March. Of these, 383 were found unsatisfactory and resulted in safety warnings.

This marks a 14 per cent increase on the 337 issued the year before, and a 51 per cent rise compared with the 254 recorded five years ago.

Nationally, 51,020 audits were carried out in the same period, leading to 21,323 warnings. While slightly down on 21,708 the year before, this represents a 33 per cent increase compared with five years ago.

Notifications and enforcement

Where an audit outcome is unsatisfactory, either informal or formal notifications may be issued. Formal notices are used in more serious cases where other actions have failed to resolve non-compliance.

In Nottinghamshire, formal notifications rose from 43 to 63 in the last five years, while informal ones increased by 52 per cent, from 211 to 320. Across England, formal notices were up 29 per cent and informal notices up 34 per cent over the same period.

Steve Wright, FBU general secretary, said:

"For years, companies and building owners have been allowed to line their pockets by cutting corners and putting people’s lives at risk.
As the Grenfell Tower fire so tragically exposed, the regulatory system has been gutted by successive governments.
An increase in fire safety notices is a positive sign, but these amount to a mere slap on the wrist if not accompanied by strict enforcement.
We need continued investment in fire safety inspectors, and for the Government to commit to rebuilding the regulatory system, to tackle a crisis on this scale."

Prosecutions and government funding

Failure to comply with alteration, enforcement or prohibition notices can result in prosecution. The figures show one audit in Nottinghamshire led to prosecution in the year to March – the highest since records began in 2016-17. To date, there have been three prosecutions in the county. Nationally, 35 prosecutions were recorded in the year to March.

An MHCLG spokesperson said fire and rescue services are responsible for their own enforcement decisions under fire safety legislation. They added that the Government supports services through the Protection Uplift Grant (PUG).

They continued:

"The protection uplift grant (PUG) has contributed to increases in overall capacity of fire protection departments to undertake fire safety audits and other fire safety activity.
In the financial year 2024-25, £10m additional funding was provided to bolster their fire protection capacity and capability to deliver local risk-based inspection programmes.
A further £10m PUG funding is made available this year."

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