More than 7,000 buildings across England with dangerous cladding are yet to be identified

Thousands of buildings with dangerous cladding have not yet been identified - and some might never be. ITV News Social Affairs Correspondent Sarah Corker reports.

More than 7,000 buildings across England with dangerous cladding are yet to be identified, and some might never be, the National Audit Office (NAO) has said.

Figures up to the end of September showed there were 4,821 residential buildings of at least 11 metres in height identified with unsafe cladding. This total is thought to account for more than a quarter of a million individual homes.

The NAO has warned completing works to make all buildings safe at an estimated cost of £16 billion might not be achieved in the next decade.

Campaigners have repeatedly criticised the slow progress of remediation work in the seven years since 72 people died in the Grenfell Tower fire.

In the Budget last week, Chancellor Rachel Reeves pledged that the government would “make progress on our commitment to accelerate the remediation of homes following the findings of the Grenfell Inquiry, with £1 billion of investment to remove dangerous cladding next year”.

The NAO report said the impacts of dangerous cladding "have extended far beyond the immediate victims of the Grenfell fire, with many people suffering significant financial and emotional distress”.

Many residents have also faced costly bills for remediation, with some paying for so-called waking watches to patrol buildings while waiting for cladding to be removed.

The NAO said the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) has estimated somewhere between 9,000 and 12,000 buildings will need remediating – made safe.

The number of residential buildings of at least 11 metres in height identified with unsafe cladding is thought to account for more than a quarter of a million individual homes.

Of the 4,821 buildings identified, only half had either started or completed remediation works.

The NAO report stated: “Pace has been a persistent concern and remediation within the portfolio is progressing more slowly than MHCLG expected.”

The department estimates that cladding remediation will be completed by 2035, but the NAO warned this will be “challenging to achieve”.

The watchdog said the department “should publish a target date by which it expects all affected buildings to be remediated based on its understanding of the number of buildings to be remediated and the speed at which it expects building owners and developers to complete works”.

This should be continuously reviewed to keep track of “whether the date remains achievable as the portfolio progresses”, it added.

The watchdog also warned that the department must “manage risks” to keep its £5.1 billion cap on taxpayer contributions towards cladding remediation.

While total costs are expected to be around £16.6 billion, the department’s estimates range from £12.6 billion to £22.4 billion, the NAO said.

MHCLG has pledged to provide funding for qualifying buildings at a current forecast cost of £9.1 billion, the NAO said, with the remainder funded by developers, private owners or social housing providers.

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Gareth Davies, head of the NAO said “considerable uncertainty remains regarding the number of buildings needing remediation, costs, timelines and recouping public spending”.

He added: “There is a long way to go before all affected buildings are made safe, and risks MHCLG must address if its approach is to succeed."

The new Building Safety Levy, to be paid by developers on new developments, is not expected to start until autumn 2025 at the earliest and MHCLG is yet to confirm payment mechanisms, the NAO said.

The report stated: “To complete remediation within the cap, MHCLG will need to work around a lack of certainty over income generated by the Levy (and will potentially need to extend it beyond the 10 years initially anticipated to recoup the funds required), and the ability of social housing owners to fund remediation of their properties at a pace acceptable to residents.”

Building safety minister Alex Norris said the pace of remediation has been "unacceptably slow" and said that the Labour government is investing £5.1 billion to remove dangerous cladding.

Mr Norris said: "This Government will protect leaseholders and empower regulators to take enforcement action against those building owners who fail to act.

“Since coming into office, we have ramped up work with local authorities and regulators to speed up remediation and we will set out a remediation acceleration plan soon.”

However, the End Our Cladding Scandal campaign group said that the promises Labour made over the last seven years, including that no leaseholder should have to pay, seem "hollow" and that their focus is "on building more homes rather than ensuring our homes are safe."

“We know that being in government may mean difficult decisions must be taken, but those decisions must be made with ordinary people first and foremost in mind, rather than the interests of business which have dominated government thinking for decades. Anything less would be a betrayal of all innocent victims of this scandal," the group said.

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