Building Safety Fund

BSF meets the cost of addressing life-safety fire risks associated with cladding in high-rise residential buildings, where the building owner or developer can’t afford do so.

One of the main changes is that, as part of the new application re-launched in 2022, we need to provide an assessment of the risks posed by fire spread over external walls to identify what, if any work, is needed. This assessment is carried out via a FRAEW Pas9980 report.

In the case of social landlords, BSF allows social landlords to register for a Government’s contribution to remediation work, equivalent to the service charge increase that would otherwise be passed to leaseholders and shared owners.

The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) has published eligibility criteria and guidance for the Fund.

The Fund is open for new applications from responsible entities of private or social sector buildings that meet the following criteria:

• buildings that are 18 metres or above (with 30cm tolerance),
• buildings have at least one qualifying residential leaseholder (with the exception of social-sector landlords applying due to financial viability concerns),
• the building must have cladding, as defined in the PAS 9980:2022 code of practice,
• buildings have a Fire Risk Appraisal of External Wall construction (FRAEW) following the PAS 9980:2022 methodology which recommends actions to address fire risks to life safety presented by the external wall system.

The ownership structure in the UK can be complex - only what is known as the ‘Responsible Entity’ of a building can apply. The Responsible Entity will be responsible for the maintenance and repair of the external wall system and can be any of the following depending on the lease:

• freeholder
• head leaseholder
• private sector building owner or their agent
• right-to-manage company (RTM)
• resident management company (RMC) or
• registered provider of social housing such as a local authority or housing association.

We have applied for the fund wherever possible for buildings that are over 18 metres. As of April 2023, we had seven approved applications and registered further 26 applications with DLUHC.

We will inform leaseholders in writing when an application is made on your block.

Subject to eligibility, the Government will meet the capital costs associated with the remediation of non-ACM cladding systems that are found to be unsafe. This includes the cost of the removal and disposal of existing cladding and the cost of replacement materials and labour, as well as associated professional fees. In the case of a PAS9980, the report can propose remediation work or mitigation measures to be taken to, such as the installation of sprinklers, to manage fire risks on the building.

For social landlords, the fund is only available for residential buildings where some or all of the residents are leaseholders. In blocks where there are both tenants and leaseholders, the fund will only cover the portion that would otherwise have been passed on to leaseholders.

The Government launched the Building Safety Fund Leaseholder and Resident Service in January 2022 to give leaseholders living in blocks 18m and above access to updates on the status of applications made to the fund for their building and to understand where their building is in the process.

Once we have made an application, each building will be allocated a unique code from DLUHC. We will write to residents to confirm the code so you can track the application via the BSF Leaseholder and Resident Service website.

Please see our FAQs about cladding which will give you more detail about the work we are doing.

You can also access the Government's webpage here.