A report from the House of Commons public accounts committee (PAC) today warns that, eight years on from Grenfell, the government still does not know how many buildings have dangerous cladding, how much it will cost to address, or how long it will take to fix.
When the PAC first reported on the cladding crisis in 2020, fixing the nation’s dodgy cladding was reckoned to be a £600m programme to remediate 450 high-rise buildings with flammable cladding. It is now a remediation portfolio comprising five programmes and covering an estimated 9,000 to 12,000 medium- and high-rise buildings, with a total estimated cost of remediation, to both the public and the private sector, of anything between £12.6bn and £22.4bn.
“At this stage government doesn’t appear to have an estimate of all the necessary fire safety works including the removal of flammable cladding,” the report says.
Progress in establishing the number of buildings affected, and in remediating those with dangerous cladding, is far too slow, the PAC says. As many as 7,000 buildings are yet to be identified and work has yet to start on half of the 5,000 buildings already within the Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government’s (MHCLG’s) portfolio. The cladding crisis may have affected up to three million people. Many struggle to pay exorbitant insurance costs which, under current approaches to remediation, risk remaining high even after works have been completed. Many are trapped, unable to sell their homes or move on with their lives.
Developers, whether guilty or innocent, are all being made to contribute through the building safety levy, but manufacturers – exposed as the greatest villains in the Grenfell scandal by the official inquiry report last year – have yet to be made to make any contributions.
MHCLG permanent secretary Sarah Healey and its director for remediation policy Ben Llewelyn gave evidence to the PAC inquiry. They said that ministers were disappointed that the building products sector had not come forward with funding and that it would be "setting out its views on this matter in due course".
The PAC report recommends the government brings forward, by the end of 2025, detailed proposals as to how construction manufacturers should be required to pay a share of the fire safety remediation costs.
The report also warns of insufficient capacity and skills across regulators, local authorities and the construction sector which risk undermining the remediation plan. The PAC is seeking a clear update from government on what is being done to address the gaps between its plan, and what will be required to deliver it.
The report further highlights the potential impact of remediation plans on house-building overall. It says that the government is not taking seriously enough the risk that paying for remediation diverts social housing providers’ resources away from building new housing, and told the PAC’s inquiry that it expects the impact of its policies to be small.
However, housing associations in London reported a 90% drop in social housing starts over the last year. The PAC is seeking a formal impact assessment of cladding remediation policy on house-building from government by the end of the year.
Finally, the report finds that half a million pounds was lost to suspected fraud when taxpayer protections were relaxed to get money out to projects quickly under the Building Safety Fund. The PAC recommends that government strengthen its counter-fraud controls and ensure they are adequate to meet accelerated funding demand.
Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown MP, chair of the public accounts committee, said: “The Grenfell Tower fire will forever be a badge of shame for the nation. Residents were let down by failings at every level. A community was traumatised, and 72 lives were lost. Rightly, all in positions of responsibility have vowed to do everything in our power to prevent such a disaster ever happening again. But eight years after Grenfell, it is still not known how many buildings out there have dangerous cladding, and when it will be removed. That vow remains unkept for every day that is still the case.
“As a chartered surveyor, I take a deep personal interest in building safety. I was utterly appalled by the evidence given to our inquiry, showing residents still mired in the national cladding crisis, with no immediate solutions at hand. Leaseholders with modest financial means can often be left with potentially large financial liabilities, effectively rendering their property unsaleable. There are two main reasons for this – one, the non-cladding defects in buildings, and two, where leaseholders also have a share in the freehold. That crisis shows signs of having a chilling effect on house-building overall, with social housing providers forced to divert resources to remediation rather than badly needed new homes. Despite longstanding promises to make industry pay, government has yet to find a way to secure this outcome.
“It would, of course, have been the committee’s wish that this report carried better news for all affected. Unfortunately, we are united with campaigners in deeply regrettable scepticism that current remediation plans are capable of delivering on what’s promised. We would therefore urge government to look to the recommendations in our report, to help close the gap between their current plans, and the reality on the ground.”
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