Building Safety Fund Status For New Applications After September 2025

Over 11 million people living in high-rise buildings still face uncertainty due to unsafe cladding. The BSF is officially closed, but the government is still working on fixing things. They replaced it with a bigger application that covers more properties. Our Real Estate Agents London team helps buyers, sellers, and flat owners understand how these changes affect property transactions and valuations.

This guide covers the latest Building Safety Fund updates, how eligibility worked, what the Cladding Safety Scheme means for your property, and what to do right now.

What Is the Building Safety Fund?

A government-backed program that pays for the removal and repair of dangerous external cladding on high-rise residential building structures is the Building Safety Fund (BSF). The program started because of the Grenfell Tower disaster in 2017, which showed that the external wall systems on thousands of blocks in England were not working properly.

The fund’s major focus was on fire dangers to life that were linked to external cladding. It did not cover routine maintenance, internal repairs, or general fire safety works.

It was the main way for the government to give money from 2020 until it closed in September 2025, especially for property owners in London who needed help with cladding remediation.

History of BSF: From 2020 to Closure in 2025

The Building Safety Fund went through several important changes between its launch and closure. Understanding that timeline helps leaseholders:

1. Identify which rules apply to any existing application
2. which scheme now covers buildings that haven’t secured funding yet

2020: The Fund Opens for High-Rise Buildings

The government announced the BSF in March 2020 and formally opened applications in June of the same year. At launch, it targeted residential buildings over 18 metres with non-ACM (non-aluminium composite material) cladding. 

Quick Information: A separate parallel fund for ACM cladding, the type used at Grenfell Tower, was already running at the same time.

2022: A New Methodology Replaces the Old Approach

The BSF reopened in July 2022, and it was much better than before. The original Consolidated Advice Note (CAN) route is based on PAS 9980:2022. After that, every new application must include a Fire Risk Appraisal of External Wall Construction (FRAEW).

2023: The Cladding Safety Scheme Launches

The government started the Cladding Safety Scheme (CSS) in July 2023 to give more money to medium-rise residential buildings that are between 11 and 18 meters tall. Before this, only buildings over 18 meters could access any form of government remediation funding. 

1 September 2025: The Building Safety Fund Closes

On September 1, 2025, the government officially stopped accepting new applications for the Building Safety Fund. The social sector ACM fund and the commercial sector ACM fund both ended on the same day. From then on, all new applications for remediation funds in England must go through the Cladding Safety Scheme.

If you haven’t applied for and received remediation cash for your facility, the Building Safety Fund is no longer an available route. The Building Remediation Hub’s Cladding Safety Scheme is currently the only place to apply for fresh funds for cladding repairs.

Building Safety Fund Eligibility

Not all homes were eligible for BSF help. At the time of application, a building had to meet all of the following criteria:

1. Height of 18 meters or more, with a tolerance of 30 centimeters
2. At least one eligible residential leaseholder in the building 
3. Cladding as described under the PAS 9980:2022 code of practice 
4. A completed FRAEW following the PAS 9980:2022 methodology 
5. Application sent in before September 1, 2025

Who Could Submit an Application?

Only a responsible person or group could legally apply for a building.. The following groups were eligible:

• Freeholders (person who owns the land)
• Head leaseholders
• Resident management companies (companies that manage residents)
• Right-to-manage (RTM) companies
• Registered providers of social housing, including housing associations and local authorities

What BSF Covered

The BSF paid for all of the work needed to make sure that the external cladding of qualified buildings didn’t pose a fire safety issue. The FRAEW assessment decided what kinds of work will be financed.

Depending on the level of risk, funded works could include:

• Installing better fire alarms or sprinklers in places where the risk is lower
• In circumstances with a higher risk, the whole external cladding system, including insulation, must be replaced.
• Balconies and other external wall elements where the FRAEW classified them as adding to fire risk (2022 procedure onwards)

Exemptions

BSF funding did not cover the following:

• General building upkeep or cosmetic renovations that don’t have anything to do with fire safety
• Do work on buildings that are less than 18 meters tall.
• Remediation costs previously committed to or funded by a developer under a written remediation contract 
• Funding for cleanup contracts executed on or before June 10, 2025, will be available in the past.
• Internal fire safety work that doesn’t include outside cladding

Fire Risk Appraisal of External Wall Construction (FRAEW)

A specialist assessment carried out by a qualified fire risk assessor from an approved professional panel is an FRAEW. It looks at how likely it is that the building’s outside walls, including the cladding materials, insulation layers, cavity barriers, and balconies, will catch fire

For both BSF and CSS applications, you must have a completed FRAEW. Without it, no government funding can be approved or released.

Note on PAS 9980:2022: 

This is the code of conduct for the industry that tells fire risk assessors how to look at the construction of external walls in homes. Only buildings with cladding as defined under this standard qualify for government funding.

Leaseholder Protections Under the Building Safety Act 2022

One of the main concerns for flat owners in cladding-affected buildings is personal financial liability. The Building Safety Act 2022 introduced strong legal protections that protect qualifying leaseholders from paying for remediation costs. These protections apply regardless of whether remediation is funded through the BSF, the CSS, or any other route.

What Makes a Leaseholder Qualifying?

If all of the following conditions are met, A leaseholder is classified as qualifying:

1. The property is in a building over 11 metres in height
2. On 14 February 2022, the property was the leaseholder’s main home, or the leaseholder had no more than three residential properties in the UK.

The Cladding Safety Scheme

The Cladding Safety Scheme (CSS) is now the only way to fix new cladding in England. It launched in July 2023 along the BSF and formally replaced it on 1 September 2025.

• It includes all homes that are 11 meters or taller.
• Open to applicants from both the private and public sectors on the same terms

CSS Shares The Core Objective Of The BSF

CSS and BSF have the same main goal: to cover the full cost of life-threatening fire dangers that come with cladding on residential buildings. Homes England now handles all applications across England, including London, which was formerly handled by the GLA.

How to Apply to the Cladding Safety Scheme

You can send your application to CSS through the Building Remediation Hub at claddingsafetyscheme.homesengland.org.uk. Only someone or something that is legally responsible for fixing and maintaining the outside of the building can apply.

BSF vs CSS: Which Scheme Applies to Your Building?

The table below shows which government scheme covers a building based obased on where it is, how tall it is, and when the application was made. Use this to identify the correct funding route for any building in England.

Buildings in London

Buildings Not in London

EWS1 Forms and Property Transactions

The EWS1 (External Wall System 1) form is a professional fire safety assessment of a building’s external walls. Many mortgage lenders demand an EWS1 form for homes in buildings over 11 metres before approving a loan. 

The form has a rating:

1. A satisfactory grade usually means that transactions will go smoothly.
2. If a lender gives an application an unsatisfactory grade, they may decline the application, and the sale may be delayed.

Is the Building Safety Fund still available?

No. The BSF closed to new applicants on 1 September 2025. The Cladding Safety Scheme is now in charge of all new funding requests. That is managed by Homes England. If a building didn’t get financial permission before September 1, 2025, it has to start the CSS procedure all over again

The switch to the CSS really does make things better. Buildings that are between 11 and 18 meters tall and were not eligible for government funding for repairs can now get help for the first time. The big new investment in social housing that was announced in June 2025 makes it much easier for people to get housing.

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