Remediation Acceleration Plan

Alex Norris Excerpts

Thursday 17th July 2025 Written Statements

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government (Alex Norris)]

On 2 December 2024, this Government published our remediation acceleration plan, setting out our approach to accelerating the remediation of residential buildings with unsafe cladding in England and improving the experience of affected residents.

Today we are publishing an update to that plan, setting out key progress and introducing new measures to achieve the plan’s three objectives:

fix buildings faster—so that those buildings already known to us can be made safe at pace;

identify all 11 metres plus residential buildings with unsafe cladding—so that every building at risk is found and fixed; and

support residents—so that people affected by unsafe cladding are treated fairly and compassionately throughout the process.

Through this work we will overcome the barriers of cladding remediation so that residents can be safe, and feel safe, in their homes.

The plan is an essential part of this Government’s ambition to deliver a safe, sustainable built environment that meets residents’ needs. It complements our broader housing goals, including the delivery of 1.5 million high-quality homes over this Parliament. The recent spending review laid the foundations for the largest increase in social and affordable house building in a generation. However, tackling legacy safety issues in our existing stock remains a vital priority. This update ensures that those challenges remain front and centre.

Fixing buildings faster

The plan’s first objective is to accelerate the pace of cladding remediation for those buildings already known to be affected. Since December we have made considerable progress in strengthening enforcement, streamlining delivery and working with the sector to meet stretch targets. To build on this momentum, we are introducing a range of further measures.

Working in partnership with the social sector, we have published a new joint plan between the Government, social landlords and regulators, enshrining 22 commitments that, alongside new funding, will shave years off remediation timelines. At least 110 social landlords have already signed up to the joint plan. Those signatories collectively account for over 75% of buildings known to require remediation. There is no time to waste, and we will implement our equal access policy with immediate effect. We have today changed the rules of the cladding safety scheme to give social landlords the same access to Government remediation funding as private landlords, underpinned by this Government’s new investment of over £1 billion.

We will also bring forward a Remediation Bill as soon as parliamentary time allows, which will focus on accelerating the remediation of historical unsafe cladding and protecting leaseholders in the process. That includes creating certainty about which buildings need remediation and who is responsible for remediating them and making obligations for assessing and completing remediation clearer through the legal duty to remediate, with severe consequences for non-compliance. We intend to introduce a backstop for the Government to bring an end to the building safety crisis; and giving residents greater control in situations of acute harm where landlords have neglected their responsibilities.

We have also been working collaboratively with mayoral strategic authorities who are developing and delivering local remediation acceleration plans. We have provided over £5 million to support these plans in 2025-26.

To support the join-up of our remediation work, we are also establishing a national remediation system—a single dataset covering information on all relevant residential buildings over 11 metres. The system will improve efficiency by allowing information sharing among regulators, delivery partners and local authorities.

Identifying all 11 metres plus residential buildings with unsafe cladding

To fix all 11 metres plus residential buildings with unsafe cladding, we must first ensure that every building at risk has been identified and reviewed. In December, we estimated that between 4,000 and 7,000 buildings requiring remediation had not yet been identified. Through improved data, we have now narrowed this estimate to between 500 and 3,400 buildings with unsafe cladding left to bring into a remediation programme.

We are on track to identify the vast majority of buildings requiring remediation by the end of this year, thanks to the continued development of our national remediation system, regional investigations and proactive support from delivery partners. Where buildings require further investigation because external, visual indicators are insufficient to determine if remediation is required, we are approaching landlords to review fire risk assessments and provide support, ensuring that these buildings are either remediated or ruled out.

Supporting residents

Leaseholders should not bear the burden of remediating fire safety cladding defects that they did not cause. Our approach is guided by a commitment to fairness, transparency and compassion.

To ensure that cladding remediation funding is driven by risk, rather than an arbitrary height requirement, we will provide funding in those exceptional cases where multi-occupied residential buildings under 11 metres have life-critical fire safety risks from cladding and do not have an alternative route to funding.

One of the most difficult situations that a resident can find themselves in is a decant—where a residential building is deemed unfit for occupation and residents must leave their homes until they are made safe. We will put in place legislation to ensure that the vast majority of decants are avoided through prompt intervention or, where decants are necessary, residents can return to their homes as quickly and safely as possible.

We will deliver a long-term, sustainable approach to the waking watch replacement fund, with new funding committed to install alarm systems and help keep residents safely in their homes while their buildings await remediation, and to protect leaseholders from unnecessary costs.

We will outline the information that residents should receive during remediation. This will draw on existing guidance from the Health and Safety Executive to support residents in understanding their rights, what to expect and how to raise concerns if they believe something is unsafe. Strengthening accountability and improving delivery standards will ensure that residents are placed at the heart of building safety.

This update reflects a co-ordinated national effort, led by the Department and delivered in partnership with metro mayors, national and local regulators, and industry. Our goal is clear: to remove all barriers to remediation in order to get buildings fixed faster and allow residents to feel safe in their homes.

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