PAS 9980 2026: BSI listed a date, then offered the download

BSI has listed 30 Sep 2026 as the publication date for the PAS 9980 2026 revision, the code used to appraise fire risk in the external walls of existing blocks of flats. It matters if your firm carries out those external wall appraisals, or acts on their findings. Having staff on the books is not, by itself, what puts you in scope.

If you are running the business and you have a live cladding package, the practical question is whether anything you are working from has changed.

BSI says the revision clarifies the methodology, streamlines the content and reflects industry developments. The listed date is still ahead of us, yet the same page labels the code “Current” and hands you a DRM-free download. Both cannot be true at once. Until BSI sorts that out, treat the release as unconfirmed and do not plan around the date.

PAS 9980 is a choice of method, not a new deadline

BSI says duty holders may choose PAS 9980 as an accepted methodology to help demonstrate compliance with existing legal responsibilities. Choosing it is not the same as being made to, and using it does not tick the compliance box on its own. The publication date is not a new legal deadline for your business.

The code is meant for competent building professionals with expertise in fire safety and external wall construction. Its main scope is existing multistorey blocks of flats of any height, so it is not just towers. It gives recommendations on whether a fire risk appraisal of external walls, or FRAEW, is needed and how to carry one out, and its findings feed the building’s wider fire risk assessment.

Competence is also where councils are being pushed: MHCLG’s letter on building control fees reform, sent days earlier, puts money into recruiting and training building inspectors, including for higher-risk buildings.

You might use those findings without doing the appraisal yourself. BSI names contractors and project managers among the people who act on the results to decide on remedial or mitigating measures, proportionate to the risk.

What has changed is not public yet

BSI’s public summary does not identify the changed clauses or explain what an existing appraisal might need to revisit. Its mention of proportionate action describes what the methodology is for, not necessarily something new to this edition. So the useful detail, for anyone working from an appraisal, is not in the announcement. The routes, fees and sign-off that apply to ordinary jobs are in our guide to building control for the trades.

If you commission these external wall appraisals, the date is not the thing to plan around. Ask the professional responsible for your appraisal which edition it uses and what the revised wording means for that building before you change the scope of work.