Cladding Safety Scheme: Funding and Eligibility
The Cladding Safety Scheme funds the assessment and remediation of unsafe cladding where no developer can be held liable for the cost. Here is what it covers, who qualifies, and what you need in place before applying.
Cladding Funding for Buildings Under 11 Metres
The government has extended the Cladding Safety Scheme to low-rise residential buildings in England. If you are a director or leaseholder of a development we manage, here is what it means and what needs to be in place.
New Funding for Buildings Under 11 Metres
For the first time, low-rise residential buildings in England can access government funding to remediate dangerous cladding, through an extension of the Cladding Safety Scheme. Applications are open now and close 9 October 2026, the end of an eight-week window that opened on 17 August 2026.
Funding is prioritised by fire risk, not by when you apply. Buildings presenting a high life-critical cladding fire safety risk are prioritised, and the building must contain two or more dwellings.
You Need a PAS 9980 Assessment First
Funding is available where a Fire Risk Appraisal of External Walls, carried out by a suitably qualified professional in accordance with PAS 9980:2022, identifies unsafe cladding presenting a serious life-critical fire safety risk. No assessment, no application.
For developments we manage, we will review whether the building looks likely to qualify, help the board appoint a suitably qualified assessor, and support the application. With the window already open, an assessment needs arranging now.
We do not carry out FRAEW assessments and we are not a cladding remediation contractor. That work is done by qualified specialists we help you appoint.
Your Route to Funding
4 weeks left. Applications close 9 October 2026. Funding is limited and prioritised by fire risk, so a complete application made early is the strongest position to be in.
- 01Tell us about your buildingA short conversation about the development, its external walls and what assessments already exist. No charge and no obligation.
- 02We check whether it looks likely to qualifyWhere a Fire Risk Appraisal of External Walls is needed, we help the board appoint a suitably qualified assessor. We do not carry out the appraisal ourselves.
- 03We take the application through with youAssembling what the scheme asks for and running it to submission before the deadline, with one named contact for the board throughout.
18 properties applied to date. A local company, local people, talk to us about yours.
Meeting the fund’s requirements does not create an entitlement to funding: all decisions are subject to prioritisation and to the funding available. Full details are on GOV.UK.
Is Your Building Likely to Qualify?
Tell us about your development and we will come back to you on whether it looks likely to qualify and what needs to be in place to apply before the window closes.
The government has announced its biggest building safety intervention to date as part of a wider package of measures to help end the building safety crisis across England.
The full opening of the Cladding Safety Scheme (CSS), announced in a speech by Housing Secretary Michael Gove, means that costs associated with removing unsafe cladding in mid-rise buildings will now be covered by government funding, protecting leaseholders from costs where the responsible developer cannot be made to pay.
It is estimated that thousands more mid-rise buildings will qualify, giving tens of thousands of residents across England a pathway to a safe home, with no cost whatsoever to leaseholders in the building.
The CSS will be funded by both the £5.1 billion allocated by government to fix the most dangerous buildings and through revenue from the Building Safety Levy on new development.
The scheme will be available to all medium-rise buildings between 11 and 18 metres across England and high-rise buildings over 18 metres outside of London where fire safety professionals have recommended that works must take place. The scheme will also be available to the social housing sector.
All building owners who believe they are eligible for funding need to apply through Homes England Cladding Safety Scheme application portal.
What the Scheme Covers
The Cladding Safety Scheme funds the assessment and remediation of unsafe cladding on residential buildings in England where no developer or other party can be held liable for the cost. It is government-funded and administered by Homes England outside London.
Eligibility turns on the building rather than on who owns it: the building must be residential, must have life-safety fire risks associated with its cladding, and there must be no alternative route to funding, such as a developer remediation contract or a warranty claim. A building already covered by a developer pledge is not eligible.
What You Need Before Applying
An application needs evidence, and the evidence takes time to obtain. A fire risk appraisal of the external wall carried out to PAS 9980 is the central document: it is what establishes whether a life-safety risk exists and what remediation is proportionate. Without one there is nothing for an assessor to consider.
Alongside it you will normally need proof of the building's height and use, the ownership and management structure, details of the leaseholders, and evidence that other funding routes have been examined and ruled out. Assembling that for a building with an absent freeholder or an inactive management company is usually the slowest part.
Where We Fit
We act for resident management companies, RTM companies and freeholders through the process: commissioning the PAS 9980 appraisal from a competent assessor, assembling the application evidence, corresponding with the scheme, and running the remediation works afterwards, including the section 20 consultation where leaseholder contributions are involved.