Almost three-quarters of applications to the government’s £4.5 billion Building Safety Fund (BSF) have been assessed as ineligible, according to new government figures.
The Department for Leveling, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) says 3,611 applications have been received from the scheme for the scheme, which aims to fund the repair of unsafe non-aluminum composite material (ACM) cladding in residential buildings of more than 18 meters. open in 2020.
However, by the end of September this year, only 968 (27%) of these had been assessed as eligible: 802 private sector buildings and 166 social sector buildings. In addition, 96 buildings that have a combination of ACM and non-ACM cladding systems have been assessed as eligible for BSF funding.
In total, they are expected to receive £2.19 billion through the fund, including £1.99 billion for private sector repairs and £200 million for social sector buildings.
Of the applications not approved, DLUHC figures show 1,092 (30%) were assessed as ineligible, 1,491 (41%) were withdrawn and 60 (2%) were under review or had ‘insufficient evidence’.
The BSF was originally announced in March 2020, with a budget of £1 billion. In February 2021, the government added an additional £3.5 billion to the fund.
The BSF initially opened for applications in June and July 2020. It reopened to new applications in July 2022.
DLUHC said that overall, rehabilitation had begun on less than half (443) of the eligible buildings, and 185 of those had been completed.
Construction news noted in July that repair work was being delayed by issues such as rising prices. A Freedom of Information (FoI) response a CN revealed that some BSF applicants had already applied for variations to the funding originally allocated to them.
The government’s FoI response stated that DLUHC does not have data on how long it takes the government to process BSF variation requests.
Last year, insurers and the government unveiled a new insurance approach aimed at speeding up the removal of unsafe linings.
The International Underwriting Association (IUA) worked with DLUHC to produce a clause that can be adopted by any insurer offering professional indemnity insurance for work under the BSF.
