How many of those buildings have begun on‑site remediation?

37 applications

How many of those buildings have completed remediation?

0

What the current end‑to‑end process times are from eligibility assessment to works starting

Current estimations suggest that a high-rise building should take c2 years from approval and receiving PTS to works starting on site. This includes appointing project teams, procuring contractors, the full up-front designs, sign off of full proposed works and costs, and navigating the building regulator to complete the Gateway two (currently 33 weeks). This is significantly quicker than the predecessor programme, where the buildings had been delayed for several years without progress. On receipt of these buildings from the Building Safety Fund (BSF) significant re-work and engagement was made to understand delays and structure the applications for success.

What operational steps are being taken to accelerate progress toward the Government’s stated goal of completing 18 metre building remediation by 2029?

Over 200 buildings have transferred from the BSF to the Cladding Safety Scheme (CSS) to benefit from the CSS’ end to end system and processes. The CSS programme has met with all the project teams and carried out capability and capacity assessments.

Many of the buildings have had significant intervention by the CSS to remove barriers and perceived blockers to delivery. The CSS has also aimed to support residents and leaseholders with the new accelerated plans, acknowledging the failures of past programmes to gain traction but enabling progress within the CSS.

Of the 200 buildings, all have entered into grant funding agreements and have had their funding reviewed and monies validated. Tendering works is now underway for all buildings, with teams either preparing the final elements of their Gateways 2s or waiting for decisions from the BSR.

138 GW2 applications have been made, with 57 approved, the average for approval is 237 days by the regulator. The CSS has worked with buildings owners, agents and leaseholders to understand the past delivery and technical issues and push past the barriers quickly to get the progress that those who live in these buildings deserve. In under two years of accepting these buildings many buildings are now moving to site. The CSS uses pace assumptions to target activity where pace is slower than anticipated.

The CSS work very closely with the sector and the BSR to share pipeline and performance data to support resource planning and unlock strategic delivery blockers to support the shared aim of delivering against published RAP targets.

Social landlords can apply to the Building Safety Fund and the Cladding Safety Scheme for funding equivalent to (1) the amount which the social landlord would otherwise be entitled to pass on to leaseholders; or (2) the full cost of remedial works where paying those costs would render the social landlord financially unviable.

As at end March 2025, government had committed £595m to support remediation of social housing through government schemes, including funding to remove Aluminium Composite Material (ACM) cladding.

Social landlords face barriers to accelerating remediation, including access to upfront capital. The Government has increased targeted support for social landlords applying for government remediation funding, and we will this year announce a long-term strategy for accelerating social housing remediation.

The Cladding Safety Scheme interacts with all applicants, including property management companies. We are a data-led programme and have designed key performance indicators into our system to ensure we can monitor and track progress and escalate applications as required. The system allows RAG ratings for all buildings to ensure that we are able to support and engage buildings experiencing delays or blockers. Where we experience delays with applications, we engage with applications to understand what the key blockers are and we are able to support them with Cladding Safety Scheme tools, such as instructing Client-Side Support for their applications.

We receive regular updates on progress from applicants and a key tenet of the programme is ensuring leaseholders and residents receive regular communications from the applicant so that they are aware of progress. Our key focus is to support applications to ensure progress occurs at pace, to provide leaseholders and residents with the necessary comfort to know that their buildings will be remediated within a reasonable timeframe.

125 buildings have transferred from the Building Safety Fund (BSF) to the Cladding Safety Scheme (CSS). We are exploring opportunities to transfer further buildings from the BSF to exploit the benefits of the CSS.

No buildings, to date, have been found to be ineligible after transferring to the CSS.

125 buildings have transferred from the Building Safety Fund (BSF) to the Cladding Safety Scheme (CSS). We are exploring opportunities to transfer further buildings from the BSF to exploit the benefits of the CSS.

No buildings, to date, have been found to be ineligible after transferring to the CSS.

Speeding up the remediation of buildings throughout England is essential. More than seven years have passed since the Grenfell tragedy, yet progress remains unacceptably slow. In the Slough area, there are five live applications to the Cladding Safety Scheme - two from social sector organisations and three from private sector applicants. Of the remaining three, one began its application at the end of January and remains in the early stages of the process. Two projects are in the initial tender stage, planning their works, and we are monitoring monthly progress updates to ensure they are on track. We remain committed to driving timely progress for every building with unsafe cladding. As set out in our Remediation Acceleration plan, by intensifying efforts to identify at-risk buildings and accelerate pace of remediation for buildings, including by fully utilising the efficiencies of the Cladding Safety Scheme, we are mitigating the ongoing threat posed by unsafe cladding in the Slough area, and across the country.

The Cladding Safety Scheme interacts with all applicants. It is a data-led programme designed with key performance indicators to ensure we can monitor and track progress and escalate applications as required. The system allows RAG ratings for all buildings to ensure that we are able to support and engage buildings experiencing delays or blockers. A key tenant of the programme is ensuring leaseholders and residents receive regular communications from the applicant so that they are aware of progress. In the Slough area, there are five live applications to the Cladding Safety Scheme of which two are experiencing delays. One is still within the design phase, while the other building is more complex having discovered potential additional works required. We are engaging these buildings to receive regular updates on their progress and are closely monitoring their performance. Our key focus is to support these applications to ensure progress at pace resumes to provide leaseholders and residents with the necessary comfort to know that their buildings will be remediated without further delay.

The Cladding Safety Scheme is able to confirm how many buildings based in the Slough constituency have registered with the scheme. To date, there have been six applications to the Cladding Safety Scheme in the Slough constituency. Two buildings were confirmed as not requiring remedial works in their Fire Risk Appraisal External Wall PAS 9980 reports, which are required to confirm eligibility to the scheme. These applications are now closed. Four are confirmed as in programme and have received pre-tender financial support. They are now compiling their works packages. This includes appointing a professional team, scoping the project and developing a works specification.

Social landlords can already apply to the Cladding Safety Scheme and the Building Safety Fund (BSF) where the cost of remediating a building would threaten the financial viability of the landlord or to cover costs which - without the protections of the Building Safety Act - could have been passed on to leaseholders and shared owners.

Under the BSF, the Government has committed £239 million to date to support social landlords to remove and replace unsafe cladding on buildings over 18 metres.

The Cladding Safety Scheme for buildings between 11 and 18 metres is open to providers of social housing on the same basis as the BSF.

The budget on 30 October 2024 committed to new investment to begin to speed up remediation of social housing. We will shortly publish a strategy to accelerate remediation in all buildings, including social housing.

To date, there have been four applications to the Cladding Safety Scheme that have been started for buildings located within the Romford constituency.

Two applications are at Apply for Grant stage where information is being gathered and submitted by one applicant. The other application is currently undergoing an eligibility check. Once this process has been finalised, we will confirm eligibility in no more than 10 days.

The remaining two applications are at Grant Funding Agreement stage. Both Grant Funding Agreements have been issued, one has so far been returned by the applicant.

In the county of Hertfordshire, 40 buildings registered for funding from the Building Safety Fund. Fewer than five of these have been deemed eligible, the remaining registrations either withdrew, were deemed to be ineligible or transferred to other schemes.

Of the 40 in Hertfordshire, seven of them are in the constituency Hertsmere all of which were deemed ineligible. Ineligibility can include those buildings that are under the height threshold (17.7m) or those with no eligible materials.

To date, there have been seven applications to the Cladding Safety Scheme in Hertfordshire, one of which is in the Hertsmere constituency. Two of these applications are currently undergoing eligibility checks and five are confirmed as in programme.

The Hertsmere application has been started and the CSS are currently carrying out checks of the applicant's uploaded Fire Risk Appraisal of External Wall (FRAEW) survey and further information from the applicant is required. Once this process has been finalised, we will confirm eligibility in no more than 10 days.

For the remaining application that is undergoing eligibility checks (based in the Broxbourne constituency), the application has been started and we are awaiting the FRAEW submission to carry out our review. Once this process has been finalised, we will confirm eligibility in no more than 10 days.

The Cladding Safety Scheme guidance requires the responsible entity to provide regular updates to leaseholders and residents at any time upon their request, including the eligibility outcomes. Further milestones requiring communications to leaseholders are published on GOV.UK for applicants.

It is essential that life safety fire risks associated with cladding are addressed as quickly as possible to ensure that residents are safe and feel safe in their homes. Most applicants have signed the Grant Funding Agreements in a timely manner. For those not signing in reasonable timeframe, Homes England takes additional escalation steps to ensure that the Grant Funding Agreement is signed. This includes frequent communications with the applicant to understand potential blockers, resolve them, and if necessary, escalation to senior stakeholders for action.

The Cladding Safety Scheme guidance requires the responsible entity to provide regular updates to leaseholders and residents at any time upon their request, including the eligibility outcomes. Further milestones requiring communications to leaseholders are published on GOV.UK for applicants.

It is essential that life safety fire risks associated with cladding are addressed as quickly as possible to ensure that residents are safe and feel safe in their homes. Most applicants have signed the Grant Funding Agreements in a timely manner. For those not signing in reasonable timeframe, Homes England takes additional escalation steps to ensure that the Grant Funding Agreement is signed. This includes frequent communications with the applicant to understand potential blockers, resolve them, and if necessary, escalation to senior stakeholders for action.

(a) 69 and (b) 101.

The Cladding Safety Scheme is open to buildings over 11 metres (and up to 18 metres in London) when measured in accordance with the guidance set out on scheme eligibility on gov.uk. The height measurement should be taken from the lowest external ground level to the finished floor level of the top occupied storey. If a building is of varying height, it is the height of the highest residential floor which is relevant when measured in accordance with the instructions provided.

The time taken to enter the pre-application stage depends on the speed of the applicant providing the necessary information. On average, applicants who enter the pre-application stage of the scheme do so two months after receiving the initial communication from Homes England which requires them to provide information about the status of their building.

To join the Fire Risk Assessor Panel firms must sign a participation agreement which sets out the terms for the panel and eligibility criteria. Along with agreeing to follow Homes England processes set out in the scheme guidance and use the correct scheme documents, firms must have:

• Relevant professional qualification to undertake fire risk appraisals as per PAS 9980 guidance
• Access to chartered engineers to perform complex assessments when needed
• ISO 9001 approach to quality control
• Professional Indemnity Insurance

Membership is renewed annually with firms having to provide evidence of their PII insurance and self-certification of qualifications and experience of firm assessors. The use of PAS 9980 and proportionality is assured by sample audit.

Since the scheme went live, four firms have left the panel through their own accord. Two pulled out due to resourcing issues and their inability to commit to meeting service level agreements and two others left due to them not receiving any business from being on the panel.

To date, Homes England have not had to remove any firms due to performance however Homes England can exercise this option should they need to.

To join the Fire Risk Assessor Panel firms must sign a participation agreement which sets out the terms for the panel and eligibility criteria. Along with agreeing to follow Homes England processes set out in the scheme guidance and use the correct scheme documents, firms must have:

• Relevant professional qualification to undertake fire risk appraisals as per PAS 9980 guidance
• Access to chartered engineers to perform complex assessments when needed
• ISO 9001 approach to quality control
• Professional Indemnity Insurance

Membership is renewed annually with firms having to provide evidence of their PII insurance and self-certification of qualifications and experience of firm assessors. The use of PAS 9980 and proportionality is assured by sample audit.

Since the scheme went live, four firms have left the panel through their own accord. Two pulled out due to resourcing issues and their inability to commit to meeting service level agreements and two others left due to them not receiving any business from being on the panel.

To date, Homes England have not had to remove any firms due to performance however Homes England can exercise this option should they need to.

The developer remediation contract requires that relevant assessors are suitably experienced, qualified, independent and competent. The department also requires the developer and the assessor to sign statements confirming that they are separate financial entities, in line with guidance issued by authorities including RICS, the International Arbitration Board, the International Bar Association and ISO/IEC 17020:2012 Conformity assessment.

The department does not recommend a list of assessors to developers. The British Standards Institution’s PAS 9980 standard and the developer remediation contract make clear that relevant assessors must meet the required standard, and the department regularly commissions independent audits of assessments obtained by developers to make sure that those standards have been met.