“More than 300 unsuccessful fire safety applications in a single funding round should raise questions about how schools are expected to manage known risks while they wait for major works to be funded,” says Luke Cheetham, Founder and CEO of fire safety and compliance provider uRisk Safety Services.
“With pupils and staff now back in school buildings for the new academic year, these are not simply issues that can sit on a future works programme. Where a genuine fire-safety deficiency has been identified, schools need to be clear about how that risk is being managed today.”
“Fire safety is not something that simply pauses because a capital funding bid has been unsuccessful. If an assessment has identified an issue, schools still need to understand the risk, decide what can reasonably be done in the meantime and make sure it is being actively managed until a permanent solution is possible.”
“That could mean reviewing the fire risk assessment, making sure existing fire safety measures are being properly maintained, introducing appropriate interim controls and keeping a clear record of remedial work that is still outstanding. What those measures look like will depend on the building and the nature of the risk, but an unsuccessful funding application cannot simply become the end of the process.
“The wider problem is that schools are rarely dealing with the one building issue in isolation. Fire safety work can be competing for attention and funding alongside ageing heating systems, roofs, structural deterioration and other maintenance needs. That makes good estate management even more important because schools need to understand not just which individual problems exist, but what they mean collectively for the safe operation of the building.”
“There are also significant regional differences in how successful schools have been in securing CIF funding. In the latest 2026-27 round, just 25% of applications in the North East were successful, compared with 46.45% in London. That means schools in some parts of the country are facing an even tougher route to securing support for essential estate work.”
“The fact that almost seven in 10 applications in the latest 2026-27 CIF round were unsuccessful overall shows just how much pressure there is across the school estate. Funding decisions may determine when major works can happen, but they do not remove the need to manage risks that have already been identified.”
– Luke Cheetham, Founder and CEO of fire safety and compliance provider uRisk Safety Services – for more see here: https://www.urisk.co.uk/fire-safety-services/
