Eight years after the Grenfell Tower disaster, the cladding crisis continues to impact millions across the UK, with remediation efforts moving at an unacceptably slow pace.
According to a recent House of Commons Public Accounts Committee report the scale and cost of addressing unsafe cladding has grown significantly since the issue first gained attention, with between 9,000 and 12,000 buildings now believed to require remediation at a potential cost of up to £22.4 billion.
The Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government (MHCLG) originally set aside £600 million to fix around 450 high-rise buildings.
However, the remediation programme has since expanded into five separate initiatives, covering a far greater number of affected properties.
MILLIONS TRAPPED
Despite this expansion, work has yet to start on approximately half of the 5,000 buildings already identified within the government’s portfolio, and up to 7,000 additional buildings over 11 metres in height are still to be assessed.
The slow pace of progress has left an estimated three million residents trapped in buildings with flammable cladding, facing emotional distress and severe financial hardship.
Many have been forced to pay exorbitant insurance premiums while being unable to sell their homes or move on with their lives.
The government has capped taxpayer contributions to the crisis at £5.1 billion, with the remaining costs expected to be covered by private owners, social housing providers, and developers through measures like the Building Safety Levy, set to take effect from autumn 2025.
RESPONSE CRTICISED
The MHCLG’s recently introduced Remediation Acceleration Plan has faced scrutiny for lacking ambition and failing to address several key barriers to progress, including landlord reluctance, supply chain constraints, and funding shortfalls for social housing providers. The report expresses concern that the plan does not ensure product manufacturers contribute to the cost of removing their dangerous cladding products.
The target set by the government aims to complete high-rise remediation by 2029. However, critics argue that this timeline, stretching to 12 years after Grenfell, is still too slow. Many buildings may not even have begun remediation works by then, and key legislative changes required to support progress remain outside MHCLG’s control.
SKILLS SHORTAGE
A significant obstacle to accelerating remediation efforts is a shortage of skilled workers in the construction sector. Fire risk assessors and trained cladding specialists are in short supply, exacerbated by competing demands for workers to meet housebuilding targets.
Delays in building control approvals by the under-resourced Building Safety Regulator (BSR) have also held up progress, with approval times reportedly taking four to five times longer than the targeted 12 weeks.
The report recommends that MHCLG outline, by July 2025, what measures it is taking to expand the capacity of the remediation workforce and ensure local authorities have the necessary powers to enforce safety requirements.
FINANCIAL BURDEN
The financial and emotional toll on affected residents remains severe. Many continue to face uncertainty over whether remediation costs will be passed onto them, and despite government commitments to address skyrocketing insurance premiums, rates for high-rise buildings have doubled since 2016.
Even after buildings are remediated, some insurance costs remain prohibitively high under current standards, which prioritise risk to life rather than property.
The report calls on MHCLG to conduct a review of insurance premiums to assess the impact of new fire safety standards and explore further measures to reduce costs for residents awaiting remediation.
FRAUD RISKS
Despite years of work, the government still does not have a precise estimate of how many buildings require remediation or the exact cost.
The most recent estimate, which places costs between £12.6 billion and £22.4 billion, is considered too broad given the time elapsed since Grenfell. Additionally, concerns remain over the risk of fraud in the allocation of remediation funds. A previous effort to speed up the process in 2020 led to relaxed taxpayer protections, resulting in a suspected fraud loss of over £500,000.
The report urges MHCLG to publish updated cost estimates and outline plans to hold construction manufacturers accountable for a share of fire safety remediation costs.
HOUSEBUILDING TARGETS
Beyond the direct impact on affected residents, the remediation crisis threatens to disrupt the government’s housebuilding targets.
The government aims to build 1.5 million homes during this Parliament, but the construction industry’s limited workforce, combined with financial strains on social housing providers, could make this goal difficult to achieve. Reports indicate that new social housing starts in London have already dropped by 90% over the past year.
The committee has recommended that the government conduct an assessment of how its remediation policies, including the Building Safety Levy, are affecting housebuilding and take action to prevent further delays in new housing construction.
With legislative hurdles, workforce shortages, and insurance complications still unresolved, campaigners warn that without urgent action, the UK’s cladding crisis will continue to leave residents in limbo for years to come.
SITUATION IS UNTENABLE
Henry Griffith, Policy Officer at Propertymark, says: “The Public Accounts Committee report on the remediation of dangerous cladding confirms exactly what Propertymark has said about the lack of progress to remediate unsafe cladding.
“The current situation is untenable and is causing many flat sales to stall. We welcome many of the recommendations for the Ministry of Housing, including a review of insurance rates, reducing costs for leaseholders and reporting on its efforts to accelerate cladding. We hope UK Government Ministers urgently consider the recommendations laid out in the report which would be welcomed by our agent members and by leaseholders.”
