Human Focus has introduced The Role of Accountable Persons & Principal Accountable Persons, an online course designed to help housing, property and building safety teams understand their responsibilities for occupied higher-risk buildings in England.
This IIRSM-approved course explains how Accountable Person (AP) and Principal Accountable Person (PAP) roles arise, what each role requires and how duties are coordinated when several APs are involved. Practical ownership scenarios show where accountability sits and why appointing managing agents, consultants or contractors does not transfer it.
The Building Safety Act 2022 places duties on APs and PAPs to assess and manage risks from the spread of fire and structural failure in occupied higher-risk buildings in England.
The Building Safety Regulator’s guidance explains that these roles depend on ownership and legal repairing obligations. A building can have several APs, but only one PAP.
Layered leases, mixed-use ownership and shared repairing obligations can make it difficult to establish who holds each role. Day-to-day management arrangements can create further confusion, particularly when organisations assume that delegating work also transfers accountability.
This training helps your organisation:
- Clarify how AP and PAP roles are identified across its buildings
- Build a shared understanding of duties among those who hold or support these roles
- Recognise the need for clear responsibilities and oversight when tasks are delegated
- Understand how APs coordinate their work and share safety information
The course is designed for people involved in managing higher-risk residential buildings in England, including:
- Current and future APs and PAPs
- Freeholders and building owners
- Housing association and local authority teams
- Board members and governance leads
- Building safety and compliance teams
- Managing agents and asset managers
Participants will learn about:
- How AP and PAP roles arise from ownership and repairing obligations for the common parts
- How accountability is identified in different ownership and leasehold arrangements
- Core duties to assess and manage building safety risks, including how AP duties relate to Responsible Person duties under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005
- Safety information sharing and Mandatory Occurrence Reporting (MOR) to the Building Safety Regulator (BSR)
- The PAP’s additional duties for registration, the safety case report, the MOR system and Building Assessment Certificate applications when directed by the BSR
- Delegating tasks while retaining legal accountability and overseeing the work
- Documents and routes for clarifying disputed roles, including the First-tier Tribunal
The course provides awareness of these duties. Completion does not constitute a formal assessment of competence to undertake AP or PAP responsibilities.
