Fit-Testing Solutions – Early Market Engagement
The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) is looking to engage stakeholders to explore how the UK can strengthen capacity for respirator fit testing across health and adult social care, namely for “Filtering Facepiece Class 3” (FFP3) masks.
Please do share this communication through your networks or with anyone else you think might be interested or well-suited to participate in the below roundtables and/or survey.
Background
- FFP3 masks offer high levels of protection, removing at least 99% of airborne particles such as viruses, toxic dusts, and aerosols.
- There is a legal obligation to fit test employees prior to using FFP3s. This is mandated in health and safety legislation and regulated by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), where guidance to support this stipulates a requirement for in-person fit testing by a competent fit tester.
- There’s an ongoing shortage of respirator fit-testing capacity and fit-tested staff across the health and care sectors.
- DHSC is therefore seeking input from stakeholders with relevant experience and expertise to identify challenges and potential solutions.
Register your interest for a roundtable
As part of this work, DHSC will be holding three roundtable discussions, scheduled for:
- Tuesday 24 February 2026, 10am-12pm
- Wednesday 25 February 2026, 11am-1pm
- Thursday 26 February 2026, 1pm-3pm
The roundtables will discuss:
- the current status and problems with fit testing within the health and adult social care sector,
- the solutions that exist within industry or elsewhere to effectively fit test, and
- the potential development of a technological solution, such as a solution involving digital or AI tools, to improve access to fit testing within health and social care.
DHSC is keen to hear your ideas and feedback, particularly on the feasibility of innovative solutions, the practicalities, and the potential for procuring services/products. We want this to be an open discussion, allowing you to tell us what the potential solutions are.
If you would like to attend one of the roundtables, please register your interest by 11:59pm, Tuesday 17 February 2026, using the following form:
Please note that there is a maximum capacity of 25 participants per roundtable, so we may not be able to offer all eligible participants a place.
Provide your insights through our survey
All stakeholders are also invited to complete an accompanying survey, regardless of whether they’re attending a roundtable. All individual responses will be kept confidential within DHSC and used solely to gather insights on challenges and potential solutions in fit-testing capacity. Only aggregated and anonymised insights may be shared wider.
Complete the survey here: https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=MIwnYaiRMUyMH-9N6Jc6HD5FeWMrqfNMlI-J0y-poM1UM0k4NVIzMExSMFo2NzFPNk1PS0FXUVRTOS4u
Survey deadline: 11:59 pm, Monday 2 March 2026
Additional information
You can see full details in the public notice for this engagement opportunity here:
https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/009517-2026?origin=SearchResults&p=1
This could be a significant opportunity to contribute towards developing a solution for fit testing across health and social care, helping to address a need that is currently not being met. In England, there were a total of 1.71 million workforce posts in adult social care in 2024/25 (plus unpaid carers and personal assistants) and a further 1.5 million in the NHS (August 2025).
We thank you sincerely in advance for any contributions you may be able to provide. Any questions, please do not hesitate to reach out to us at fit-testing@dhsc.gov.uk.
Kind regards,
| Adult Social Care Operational Resilience Department of Health and Social Care 39 Victoria Street, London fit-testing@dhsc.gov.uk Follow us on Twitter @DHSCgovuk |