As CPD becomes central to competence under BS 5839-1:2025, Apollo Fire explores how new FRA rules and UKAS certification reshape professional responsibility
Competence in fire safety has always been central to protecting lives and ensuring compliance.
What is shifting now is the way competence is defined, assessed and legally recognised.
Recent updates to BS 5839-1:2025 and changes to Fire Risk Assessment (FRA) legislation from the Home Office and MHCLG are placing greater emphasis on demonstrable qualifications, continuous learning and independent certification.
The revised standard now acknowledges Continuing Professional Development (CPD) as part of what it means to remain competent, while new rules require FRAs to be delivered by UKAS-certified providers.
These developments set a new baseline for those designing, maintaining or assessing fire detection and alarm systems, with consequences for how businesses manage compliance.
As an accredited Apollo Partner and BAFE SP205-certified body, Veritas brings practical insight into what these changes mean in practice and how organisations can prepare to meet them.
Competence and CPD
BS 5839-1:2025 now links competence to ongoing learning.
The standard describes a competent person as: “a person, suitably trained and qualified by knowledge and practical experience, and provided with the necessary instructions, to enable the required task(s) to be carried out correctly.” It adds: “Maintenance of competence is likely to require continuing professional development.”
This shift moves CPD from desirable to expected.
It sits alongside the long-standing requirement that system design and related tasks must be undertaken by a competent person who accepts responsibility for the work.
Apollo’s pocket guide reinforces that designs should be signed off by a competent person and based on an FRA carried out by someone demonstrably qualified.
Why CPD matters
The reason is straightforward: fire safety evolves with new technology, standards and risks.
BS 5839-1:2025 makes clear that competence is not a one-off achievement but an ongoing obligation.
Apollo has called this a milestone because it embeds CPD into everyday practice rather than leaving it as an optional extra.
For practitioners, it means structured learning routes that keep pace with the standard and evidence that training has taken place.
From design to cause-and-effect programming, competence must be demonstrable and current.
The pocket guide’s emphasis on accurate documentation at handover underlines the case for refreshing knowledge through CPD across a system’s lifecycle.
New FRA rules
Under new Home Office and MHCLG rules, FRAs must now be carried out by a UKAS-certified body.
At present, this requires compliance with the BAFE SP205 scheme.
SP205 mandates that works are audited, and authors undergo peer review to confirm CPD, DBS checks and Professional Indemnity insurance.
These requirements build on the framework of the Regulatory Reform Fire Safety Order, in force since 2006.
The Order places duties on those in control of premises to assess and reduce risks, plan for containment and ensure safe escape.
Fire alarm designs must be risk-based, assessments kept under review, and findings properly recorded.
Risks of non-certification
FRAs carried out outside third-party certification lose statutory legal defence.
If a report is later judged inadequate by an enforcing authority, the responsible person cannot rely on the provider.
The rules also warn against credentials below UKAS level.
Non-UKAS trade body memberships may now be deemed insufficient to meet the threshold of competence, a position recognised by magistrates and coroners.
The clear message is that only UKAS-backed certification provides legal assurance.
BAFE SP205 explained
SP205 provides assurance at both company and individual level.
Organisations offering FRA services are independently audited, while assessors are peer-reviewed to prove CPD, probity and insurance cover.
This mirrors BS 5839-1:2025’s approach to competence: knowledge must be current and backed by governance.
Because SP205 is tied to UKAS certification, using a certified provider directly meets the Home Office and MHCLG requirement.
Dutyholders can therefore show their process is not just robust in practice but defensible in law.
CPD support
Apollo supports the sector’s learning needs through fortnightly CPD sessions and on-demand webinars covering technical subjects and practical application.
The updated BS 5839-1:2025 pocket guide also provides a concise reference for site-level decisions.
It addresses categories of protection, detector selection and spacing, call point placement, audibility, visual alarms, cabling and documentation.
For those with design or maintenance duties, it ensures alignment with the standard in day-to-day practice.
What businesses should do now
Organisations should first review how competence is evidenced.
Roles linked to system design should align with BS 5839-1:2025’s requirement that a competent person signs the design certificate.
Competence must be maintained through CPD, with records kept alongside drawings, certificates and log books.
Next, review your approach to Fire Risk Assessments.
Future FRAs must be commissioned from UKAS-certified providers, currently achieved through SP205.
Confirm that assessors are named, peer-reviewed and insured.
If you use providers with only non-UKAS memberships, change course quickly.
Finally, use Apollo’s CPD programme and pocket guide to brief teams on technical points of BS 5839-1:2025.
Whether dealing with audibility in sleeping accommodation, detector spacing in corridors, or fire-resistant cabling, these resources anchor compliance in practical detail.
The wider framework remains unchanged.
The Fire Safety Order has long required competent assessment, training and accurate records.
What has shifted is the clarity around how competence is proven.
With BS 5839-1:2025 tying it to CPD, and UKAS certification setting the benchmark for FRAs, the route to defensible compliance is now far clearer.
