How do I check the fire label on a second-hand nursing chair at a car boot?

Where is the permanent fire label on a nursing chair or glider?

A nursing chair is adult upholstered seating. It is not on the list of baby products that the Furniture and Furnishings (Fire) (Safety) (Amendment) Regulations 2025 took out of scope on 30 October 2025. The 1988 Regulations still require a permanent, durable label on furniture of this type. GOV.UK's 2025 guidance says second-hand supply still needs that permanent label, and points suppliers at regulation 14.

RoSPA's second-hand furniture section is the reason parents end up on their knees in a field: the fire label is often cut off. Business Companion's car-boot guide tells traders to be particularly careful with upholstered furniture.

• Underside of the seat — the most common sewn-in patch on a glider.
• Back of the seat cushion, inside a zip flap.
• Underside of an arm, or the rear skirt where the fabric turns under.
• On a wooden-framed rocking chair, along the underside of the seat rail.
• A loose hang-tag (display label) may still be tied to a newer chair. From 30 October 2025 it is no longer required. It is not a substitute for the sewn-in label.

How do I read the label in a field?

1. 1
   Ask to turn the chair over A seller who will not let you see the underside is refusing the only place the permanent label usually sits. Do not buy on a photo of the front fabric alone.
2. 2
   Find cloth, not a swing ticket The permanent label is a sewn or stapled fabric patch. Schedule 7 to the 1988 Regulations is the labelling schedule GOV.UK still points to. A paper hang-tag can be missing after October 2025 without failing that schedule.
3. 3
   Read what is still printed You are looking for a statement that the filling and cover meet the furniture fire regulations, plus a maker name and a UK postcode or batch where they were printed. Faded ink is still a label. A cut thread line with no cloth is not.
4. 4
   Photograph the patch Take a photo in daylight before you pay. If you later want Trading Standards to look at it, you need the wording, not your memory of a muddy stall.
5. 5
   Do not invent a verdict A present label records what the supplier declared. A missing label means you cannot confirm the ignition tests from the stall. Neither result is a homemade 'this chair will not burn' claim.

What changed in October 2025 — and what did not?

GOV.UK is explicit: the 2025 changes do not remove the permanent-label duty. Second-hand suppliers should still read regulation 14 of the 1988 Regulations as amended.

What if the label has been cut off?

RoSPA's line is that a missing label makes it difficult to know whether the product meets the regulation. That is the whole finding. It is not a licence to guess that the foam is old, or that the chair will pass, or that a wash-off smell is the test.

If the patch is gone, you cannot confirm compliance from the stall. Walk away, or treat the price as the price of an unlabelled upholstered chair whose filling you cannot identify. MayTally does not grade used furniture as a pass or a fail.

In shortIn short: flip the chair, find the sewn-in patch, photograph it. A missing hang-tag after October 2025 is a different fact from a cut-off permanent label. No permanent label means no confirmation of the ignition tests.

Does this check apply to baby mattresses and changing mats?

Not as a 1988 furniture-label hunt. From 30 October 2025, baby and children's mattresses under 170 cm by 75 cm, changing mats, play mats, highchairs, prams and several other nursery items are out of scope of those fire regulations. They still have to meet general product-safety law. The Lullaby Trust's mattress list (waterproof cover, firm and flat, no rips, good fit, fire-resistant label where the product still carries one) is a sleep-product check, not this chair process.

If you came for a cot mattress, stop here and use a mattress checklist. If you came for a glider or nursing chair, the permanent label on the underside is the job.