Background to the report

In the wake of the Grenfell Tower disaster, the Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government (the Department) established the Building Safety Programme (the Programme) “to ensure that residents of high-rise residential buildings are safe, and feel safe from the risk of fire, now and in the future.”

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In May 2018 the Department announced £400 million to fund remediation for high-rise residential buildings with unsafe ACM in the social housing sector. In May 2019 it announced that around a further £200 million would be made available for the remediation of equivalent buildings in the private sector. These funds do not cover all buildings that fall within the Programme.

Content and scope of the report

This investigation examines how the Department:

  • is assuring itself that it has correctly identified all the buildings which fall within scope of the Programme, and that they are being fully remediated;
  • is managing the pace of progress of remediation; and
  • has decided which buildings qualify for remediation funding, and how it has assessed risks outside the scope.

“MHCLG has made progress in overseeing the removal of dangerous cladding from many buildings, particularly in the social housing sector. However, the pace of progress has lagged behind its own expectations, particularly in the private residential sector. It has a long way to go to make all high-rise buildings safe for residents.

 “Going forward, it is important that the Department successfully manages the administrative challenges of funding building owners to carry out remediation work, particularly given its intention to commit a further £1 billion in full by the end of March 2021.”

Gareth Davies, the head of the NAO

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