Almost three-quarters of applications to the government’s £4.5bn Building Safety Fund (BSF) have been assessed as not eligible, according to new government figures.
The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) says that 3,611 applications for the scheme – intended to fund the remediation of unsafe non-aluminium composite material (ACM) cladding on residential buildings taller than 18 metres – have been received since the scheme opened in 2020.
However, by the end of September this year, only 968 (27 per cent) of these had been assessed as eligible: 802 private sector buildings and 166 in the social sector. In addition, 96 buildings that have a combination of ACM and non-ACM cladding systems have been assessed as eligible for BSF funding.
Together these are set to receive £2.19bn through the fund – including £1.99bn for remediation in the private sector and £200m for social sector buildings.
Of the unapproved applications, DLUHC figures show that 1,092 (30 per cent) were assessed as ineligible, 1,491 (41 per cent) were withdrawn, and 60 (2 per cent) were under review or had “insufficient evidence”.
The BSF was originally announced in March 2020, with a £1bn budget. In February 2021, the government added an extra £3.5bn to the fund.
The BSF initially opened for registrations in June and July 2020. It reopened to new applications in July 2022.
DLUHC said that in total, remediation had started on fewer than half (443) of the eligible buildings, with work completed on 185 of these.
Construction News noted in July that remediation work was being delayed by issues including rising prices. A Freedom of Information (FoI) response to CN revealed that some applicants to the BSF had already applied for variations to the funding that they were originally allotted.
The government’s FoI response stated that DLUHC does not hold data on how long it takes the government to process applications for BSF variations.
Last year, insurers and the government unveiled a new insurance approach intended to speed up the removal of unsafe cladding.
The International Underwriting Association (IUA) worked with DLUHC to produce a clause that can be adopted by any underwriter providing professional indemnity insurance for work under the BSF.
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