Waking Watch Replacement Fund WWRF

The Waking Watch Relief Fund (WWRF) was launched in January 2021 to cover the reasonable costs for the installation of a common alarm system upon receipt of a completed application with £30m of grant funding available. A waking watch is defined as a: ‘system whereby suitably trained persons continually patrol all floors and the exterior perimeter of the building in order to detect a fire, raise the alarm, and carry out the role of evacuation management' (PAS 9980:2022, Fire risk appraisal of external wall construction and cladding of existing blocks of flats – Code of practice, published by BSI Standards Limited in 2022)

Following the Grenfell Tower fire, many buildings containing unsafe cladding were no longer able to support a Stay Put fire strategy. As a result, a sector led group convened by the National Fire Chiefs Council (NFCC) issued guidance to support a change to a simultaneous evacuation strategy by putting in place a Waking Watch or a common fire alarm. The Waking Watch, when established and operated in accordance with the sector led guidance, is an acceptable temporary short-term risk mitigation strategy, but the guidance is clear that a common fire alarm is preferable on the grounds of both safety and cost efficiency. However regardless of interim measures or alarms, the guidance and government acknowledge the best way to make buildings safe is to carry out remedial work. Such Waking Watches are interim measures and are not a suitabkle substitute for the swift remediation of buildings with an unsafe cladding system.

The Waking Watch Relief Fund (WWRF) was relaunched in 2022 with £35 million focused on high-rise residential buildings (above 17.7 metres) with a waking watch in place (at cost to leaseholders) due to unsafe cladding, and the £27 million with expanded eligibility to residential buildings of any height with a waking watch in place due to any fire safety defect. The scheme was also relaunched in 2023 with £18.6 million and a further £2 million to fund the installation of a common alarm system replacing waking watch measures in all residential buildings where a waking watch was in place in England, regardless of where the costs of the waking watch fell.

The government advised that the common fire alarm system installed should generally be designed in accordance with the recommendations of BS 5839-1 for a Category L5 system and any bids that price the work at more than £1,500 per flat will face additional scrutiny, according to the guidance.

Under the Fire Safety Order, it is the responsibility of the Responsible Person to ensure the safety of the occupants of a building from fire, and in addition assess the risk and identify suitable mitigating measures where they are needed. MHCLG published guidance, ‘Advice for Building Owners of Multi-storey, Multi-occupied Residential Buildings’ to support Responsible Persons in reviewing their fire risk assessments and in the decision-making process for whether interim measures are needed. The Simultaneous Evacuation guidance was produced and updated to help the Responsible Person adapt their building’s fire strategy once it is established that interim measures are needed.