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Housing minister defends 18m funding rule for cladding despite widespread criticism
The housing minister has told MPs that the government’s decision to focus funding for dangerous cladding removal on buildings over 18m is “reasonable” despite criticism from experts, politicians and leaseholders.
Speaking in parliament today, Christopher Pincher said the government has “looked very closely at the evidence” and has “always been guided by safety” when assessing which buildings should be eligible for government funding.
He also confirmed that the government’s new loan scheme, which will be available to leaseholders living in buildings below 18m to help them pay for cladding remediation work, will not impact leaseholders’ credit scores.
He added that further details of the scheme would be made available at next month’s budget.
During Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government questions today, Mr Pincher was grilled on the government’s recent announcement of additional support for those living in buildings with dangerous cladding.
The proposals include an additional £3.5bn of government grant to pay for the replacement of cladding on buildings taller than 18m, alongside a loan scheme for those in smaller buildings that will be repaid by leaseholders at a rate of no more than £50 per month.
Shadow housing secretary Thangham Debbonaire asked Mr Pincher why the government has not established “a proper system of risk prioritisation” rather than the 18m height rule, which she said was “crude” and “doesn’t reflect the complexity of the challenge at hand”.
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She referred to a recording, previously reported in Inside Housing, that shows a key civil servant responsible for fire safety guidance tell a conference that the government had previously used the 18m rule as it did not have “time to come up with a better number”.
In response to Ms Debbonaire’s question, Mr Pincher said: “The 18m threshold is well established as a reasonable threshold for assessing risk.
“It has featured in statutory guidance since at least the 1970s. It’s used by the National Fire Chiefs’ Council operational guidance. It’s used by the Building Research Establishment. It was used by the Independent Expert Panel and Dame Judith Hackitt.”
Last week, Inside Housing reported that a number of experts – including Ted Ballieau, the former premier of Victoria, Australia, who helped lead an effort to identify cladding materials and risk-rank all buildings above two storeys in the state – have warned that the UK must rethink its approach that focuses primarily on buildings above 18m.
Mr Pincher also today responded to a question from Clive Betts, chair of the Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee, asking him to confirm whether the government’s new loan scheme would be a charge of the freeholder, meaning individual leaseholders will not be forced to take on any additional debt.
In response, Mr Pincher said: “We certainly do not wish for any costs to follow the leaseholder through their life so he is right to assume that the charge will be applied to the building and not to the leaseholder, therefore their credit rating will not be affected by it.”
He said further information about the loan scheme, as well as the government’s plans to introduce a levy on developers to help fund remediation work, will be announced by the chancellor at next month’s budget.
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