The most common answer given to this question is annually, and it is not what the law says. The fire safety order requires the responsible person to keep the assessment under review and to revise it if it is no longer valid or if there has been a significant change. That is an event driven duty rather than a calendar one, and a yearly interval is a sensible management practice layered on top of it.
What the order actually requires
Review when the assessment is no longer valid, or when there has been a significant change in the matters to which it relates. Both tests are about the building and its use rather than about elapsed time. An assessment that was right in January and describes a building that has since been reconfigured is invalid in March, whatever the date on its cover.
The triggers that force a review
A change to the building fabric or layout. A change of use or occupancy, including more people or different people. New processes, new equipment or new substances. A fire or a near miss. A change to the fire safety systems. A significant change in the mobility profile of the occupants. Enforcement action or new guidance that bears on the premises. Any one of these is a reason to look again regardless of when the last review was.
Why annual review is still good practice
Because buildings change without anybody recording that they have, and a yearly scheduled read catches the accumulated small changes that nobody treated as significant on their own. It also produces a dated record of active management, which is what an enforcing officer is looking for when they ask how the duty holder knows the assessment is current.
Review is not the same as a new assessment
A review can conclude that the assessment remains valid and record that conclusion with a date. That is a legitimate and cheap outcome and it is better evidence than an unchanged document with no review record. A significant change, by contrast, usually means the assessment has to be redone rather than annotated.
Questions people ask about how often should fire risk assessments be reviewed uk
Is there a legal annual requirement?
No. The requirement is to keep it under review and revise it when it is no longer valid or when there has been a significant change. Annual review is practice, not statute.
Does a new tenant trigger a review?
A change of occupancy that changes the risk does. A like for like tenant in the same use may not, and the judgement should be recorded either way.
Who decides whether a change is significant?
The responsible person, on advice if necessary. The safe course is to record the reasoning, because the decision not to review is the one that has to be defended later.