Budget 2020 – a new building safety fund

The government announced a new £1bn building safety fund in the Spring Budget on 11 March, to fund the remediation of unsafe non-ACM cladding on buildings 18m and over in both the private and social sectors.

The funding is in addition to the £600m the government has already made available for the remediation of category 3 aluminium composite material (ACM) cladding.

The types of non-ACM cladding which are considered unsafe were set out in the government’s building safety advice for building owners, published on 20 January, and include high-pressure laminate (HPL) and wood. 

The new £1bn fund will be available for buildings in both the private and social sectors. In the private sector, grants will be made available to leaseholders of flats. In the social sector, the government has acknowledged that many building owners are already carrying out remediation work of this type. It has made clear that, where a building owner has already committed to funding remediation work without passing the cost onto leaseholders, it must honour this commitment. We are working with MHCLG to secure clarity on the sector’s and our leaseholders’ eligibility to access the fund.

The government states that this would enable them to prioritise the funding for those who cannot afford the cost, thus removing barriers to remediation and safety.

It has also confirmed that the total investment of £1.6bn to support the remediation of ACM and non-ACM cladding will be the limit of the government’s funding for remediation.

The government intends to publish the prospectus for the new fund in May, and open for registrations soon after.

If you have any questions about our work on building safety, please contact our building safety team.