The Government has announced that it will not be implementing ‘personal emergency evacuation plans’ (PEEPs) to ensure disabled residents can evacuate residential buildings in the event of a fire.
Instead, it is consulting on ‘emergency evacuation information sharing’ (EEIS), which would see building owners – in the highest-risk buildings only – supply the fire service with the details of disabled residents and create an expectation that the fire service will rescue these residents.
The LGA supports EEIS as a fall-back option, but says it is both morally unacceptable and unsafe to say that disabled residents of high-risk buildings should wait to be rescued by the fire service.
PEEPs is a challenging concept to put into action and the Government has accepted the LGA’s proposal that a group be set up to bring landlords and disabled residents together to discuss the practicalities and find a solution.
The LGA recently shared legal advice on the impact of the Equalities Act 2010 on this issue and suggested its members take their own advice.
The advice the LGA received would render the approach the Home Office proposes unlawful in social housing blocks, and we will continue to press the Home Office to meet its obligation to provide appropriate guidance to landlords – advice that takes account of the Equalities Act as well as the Fire Safety Act 2021.
In the meantime, we advise LGA members to seek their own legal advice on PEEPs.