Nine years on from Grenfell, the cladding remediation programme has spent billions but left thousands of social tenants still living in unsafe blocks. Here is the 2026 status and what tenants can do.
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Nine years after the Grenfell Tower fire, cladding remediation across England remains incomplete. The Building Safety Fund, the Cladding Safety Scheme, and developer-funded remediation under the Building Safety Act 2022 have together moved tens of thousands of buildings into one of three states: remediated, in active remediation, or still awaiting works. Phase 2 of Awaab's Law in 2026 brings fire-safety into the 24-hour and 10-working-day deadlines for social landlords. For social tenants in blocks still on the waiting list, that combination is now a measurable lever.
The remediation picture in 2026
Three funding streams have shaped what has happened.
1. Building Safety Fund (BSF). The original 2020 fund for ACM cladding on residential buildings over 18 metres. Mostly closed to new applications. The buildings it covered are at various stages of completion.
2. Cladding Safety Scheme (CSS). Successor scheme covering non-ACM dangerous cladding, expanded to buildings 11 to 18 metres. Still receiving applications and active.
3. Developer-funded remediation under the Building Safety Act 2022. More than 50 of the largest developers signed contracts to remediate buildings they built, without using public money. Progress on this stream has been uneven across developers.
The National Audit Office reported in November 2024 that the programme is well behind schedule. Of an estimated 9,000 to 12,000 buildings over 11 metres with unsafe cladding, fewer than 1,400 had completed works by August 2024, and most affected buildings had not even been identified. At the current pace, the NAO warned, the work will not finish on time. Many social-housing blocks are now in their third or fourth year of "in progress" status.
What this means for social tenants today
Three practical realities for a social tenant in a block that is still awaiting or in active cladding remediation.
1. Day-to-day repairs are often deprioritised during remediation. Where contractors are on site, smaller repair jobs are sometimes paused on the basis that the wider works will pick them up. This is not always lawful. If your boiler is broken or your windows do not close, the landlord's repair duty under Section 11 LTA 1985 continues regardless of any cladding programme.
2. Fire-safety hazards have to be reported separately. The cladding remediation programme deals with the external building envelope. Internal fire-safety hazards (smoke alarms, fire doors, escape routes, communal compartmentation) are separate. If your smoke alarm has been disconnected, your fire door wedged open, or your escape route blocked during remediation works, that is a reportable hazard.
3. From Phase 2 of Awaab's Law in 2026, fire-safety hazards fall into the 24-hour and 10-working-day clocks. Until Phase 2 commences, fire-safety hazards are covered by Section 11, Homes (Fitness for Human Habitation) Act 2018, and HHSRS, but without the new statutory deadlines. After commencement, a reported fire-safety hazard that the landlord categorises as an emergency must be investigated within 24 hours.
What tenants in remediated or remediating blocks should do
- Photograph the current state of communal areas regularly. Particularly fire doors, smoke alarms, signage, and any visible damage where the work is in progress.
- Keep a written log of every contractor visit, delay, and complaint. Cladding remediation has a long tail. The log is what evidences delay.
- If a day-to-day repair gets deprioritised "because the works are coming", get the landlord's position in writing. This is the documented evidence later.
- Report fire-safety hazards separately and explicitly. Use the words "fire-safety hazard" in the report so the landlord cannot fold it into a generic works-package response.
- From Phase 2 commencement, label any fire-safety report with the Awaab's Law category. "I am reporting an emergency fire-safety hazard" or "I am reporting a significant fire-safety hazard" puts the landlord on the 24-hour or 10-working-day clock.
Where the money has not reached
Specific concerns remain for several categories of tenant:
Leaseholders in mixed-tenure blocks. Some funding streams excluded leaseholders or required them to contribute. The Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024 cut leaseholder remediation costs in some cases but not all. Leaseholders should check whether their freeholder is covered by a developer pledge or the BSF/CSS, and whether their service charge has been correctly reduced as a result.
Tenants in blocks below the height threshold. Buildings under 11 metres are not in the funded programme but may still have dangerous cladding. The legal route here is harder and often relies on the landlord's general fire-safety duties under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005.
Tenants in blocks where the developer is insolvent. Where the original developer has gone into administration, the recovery routes are slower. The BSF or CSS may pick the building up, but timelines stretch.
How Section 11 and Awaab's Law interact with cladding
A common landlord argument: "Your repair is on hold pending the wider remediation programme." This is not a legal defence.
- Section 11 LTA 1985 requires the landlord to keep the structure, exterior, installations and heating in repair. The duty applies whether or not a remediation programme is in progress.
- Awaab's Law Section 10A LTA 1985 sets the statutory deadlines from 27 October 2025 (Phase 1) and 2026 (Phase 2). The deadlines run from the date of the tenant's written report. The presence of a remediation contractor does not pause the clock.
Where a landlord has used the cladding-programme excuse to delay an Awaab's Law-deadline repair, that excuse is the breach evidence.
Where Support for Tenants fits
We act on Section 11 and Awaab's Law disrepair claims in social housing. Where the cladding-remediation context is an aggravating factor (delays, deprioritised repairs, broken fire-safety equipment during works), it strengthens the case rather than weakens it. On no win, no fee terms you pay nothing up front, and the solicitor's fee only comes out of your compensation if you win, never out of your own pocket. For tenants whose primary issue is the cladding itself (not the day-to-day repair around it), the Building Safety Regulator and the local council's environmental-health team are the right enforcement routes.
Free call: 0800 030 4669 | Read about high-rise window safety
Sources: Dangerous cladding: the government's remediation portfolio, National Audit Office (4 November 2024).
Support For Tenants is a trading name of Cyntex Group Ltd, authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority as a Claims Management Company. FRN 1020217. Registered in England and Wales.
Reviewed against current housing law for England and Wales as at 24 May 2026. Checked by our SRA-regulated panel solicitors. This is general information, not legal advice for your specific case. Any compensation figures or ranges shown are illustrative only and not guaranteed; every case is different.
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