What the label is
The Furniture and Furnishings (Fire) (Safety) Regulations require upholstered furniture supplied in the UK to meet ignition resistance standards, and to carry a permanent label saying so. It is a small sewn-in tag, usually under a seat cushion or attached to the frame underneath.
It applies to sofas, armchairs, dining chairs with padding, beds and headboards, mattresses, futons, scatter cushions, seat pads and children's furniture. Essentially anything with filling and a cover.
There is a separate swing ticket that comes with new furniture at the point of sale, which people often mistake for the label. That one is display-only. The permanent sewn-in label is the one that matters afterwards.
- A permanent sewn-in tag
- Usually under a cushion or on the frame
- States compliance with the fire regulations
- Required on upholstered furniture
- Also on mattresses and cushions
- No label means no resale, no donation
Why it's such a hard line
The regulations exist because of how upholstery fires behave. Older foam fillings ignited fast and produced dense toxic smoke, and upholstered furniture was a major factor in domestic fire deaths before the standards came in. The improvement since has been substantial.
Because it is a safety regulation rather than a trading preference, it applies to second-hand supply too. That is why no charity shop, reuse organisation or second-hand dealer can take upholstered furniture without an intact label — it is not fussiness, it is the law they are operating under.
It is also why they cannot make an exception for something obviously in good condition. Without the label there is no evidence the item meets the standard, and the person supplying it carries the liability.
Label missing and nobody will take it?
Then it's disposal — but it doesn't have to be landfill. We separate frame, springs and foam.
What it means for landlords
Furniture supplied in a let property must comply, and the practical consequence is that a landlord furnishing a flat from second-hand sources needs to check every upholstered item for its label.
It is worth photographing the labels at the point of furnishing and keeping them with the inventory. If a question ever arises — an insurance claim, a fire, a local authority inspection — that evidence is far easier to have than to reconstruct.
The same applies to holiday lets and HMOs, where scrutiny is generally higher. Anything unlabelled should be replaced rather than used, however good it looks — see landlord clearance for clearing the old stock out.
If the label has gone
Then the item cannot be donated, sold or supplied with a let property, and disposal is the only remaining route. That is a genuinely frustrating answer for a sofa in good condition, but it is the position and no charity will move on it.
Check thoroughly before concluding it has gone: under every cushion, on the underside of the frame, inside the back panel and along the base rail. On older items the tag is often stapled to the frame underneath rather than sewn to the fabric.
For disposal, upholstered seating made before 2019 is kept separate from other waste and sent for high-temperature disposal rather than being buried or split into parts — that is the rule in Scotland, and it is why we load it apart from everything else. A single sofa is a quarter load at £160 + VAT with the carry included — see furniture removal and mattress removal.
