U. K. Furniture and Furnishings (Fire) (Safety) Regulations – Insights

Making the domestic upholstered furniture safer from fires

In 1988, the U.K. government introduced the Furniture and Furnishings (Fire) (Safety) Regulations 1988 to make domestic upholstered furniture safer from fires, reduce house fires caused by furniture and save lives.

The 1988 regulations set flammability requirements for cover and filling materials used in domestic upholstered furniture and set labeling requirements.

The regulations apply to persons who supply filling material and fabrics to the furniture industry or directly to consumers and those who supply furniture, furnishings or reupholstery services. These include:

Products covered by this regulation comprise six groups

• Many types of upholstered seating, including footstools, sofa beds, futons and other convertibles, bean bags, floor cushions, domestic upholstered furniture for self-assembly, upholstered headboards and many more; used furniture must meet the same standards as new furniture
• Furniture for use in the open air (garden and outdoor furniture) that is suitable for use in a dwelling, upholstery in caravans (although not vehicles or boats) and cane furniture that includes upholstery
• Divans, bed bases, mattresses, pillows and mattress pads (toppers)
• Scatter cushions and seat pads
• Permanent, loose and stretch covers for furniture, including covers for nonvisible parts of furniture
• Foam and nonfoam filling material for furniture

Products exempted by the regulations include sleeping bags, bedclothes (including duvets, loose covers for mattresses, pillowcases, curtains and carpets), as these articles must comply with safety requirements imposed by the EU General Product Safety Regulation (GPSR).

In addition, the regulations do not apply to furniture intended for export or manufactured before 1950.

Five main elements contained within the U.K. Furniture and Furnishings (Fire) (Safety) Regulations 

The U.K. Furniture and Furnishings (Fire) (Safety) Regulations include different elements, but here.
The main ones are:

• Filling materials must meet specified ignition requirements
• Upholstery composites must be cigarette resistant
• Covers must be match resistant (with some exceptions)
• A permanent label must be attached to the furniture (with some exceptions)
• The first supplier of domestic upholstered furniture in the U.K. must maintain records for five years to prove compliance

Testing, standards and display labeling requirements of the regulations

The regulations set out testing methods based on British Standard (BS) 5852: Part 1 and Part 2, and BS 6807, which determine the fire resistance of materials used in upholstered furniture.

Most new furniture must carry a fire safety visible and easily readable label at the point of sale, except for items like mattresses and pillows.

Recent consultation

In 2023, the U.K. government conducted a consultation to introduce a new approach to the fire safety of domestic upholstered furniture, based on safety outcomes that will be underpinned by a set of essential safety requirements that all products within the scope of the regulations must meet in order to be placed on the market.

To that end, the U.K. Office for Product Safety and Standards (OPSS) conducted a consultation (August-October 2023) to review and propose updates to the regulations

Amendment to the regulations

In October 2025, the Furniture and Furnishings (Fire) (Safety) (Amendment) Regulations 2025 came into force and updated the 1988 Regulations by:

• Removing certain baby and young children’s products from the scope of the regulations 
• Removing the requirement for manufacturers to affix a display label to new products
• Extending the time frame for enforcement bodies to institute legal proceedings from six to 12 months

Excluded products are:

Following this revision, products that are no longer in scope will need to meet the requirements of the GPSR in Great Britain and EU Regulation 2023/988 on GPSR in Northern Ireland.

Before placing a product on the U.K. market or supplying a product or offering or agreeing to do so, the producer must demonstrate the product’s safety. Similarly, in Northern Ireland, economic operators shall only place or make available on the market products that meet applicable safety standards. In both cases, this includes considering the fire safety of the product.

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