VE Day: Council duties under the Armed Forces Covenant
As we mark the 80th anniversary of VE Day, Geoff Wild, Legal & Governance Consultant, looks at the duties of councils under the Armed Forces Covenant.
Council chiefs offer condolences after Oxfordshire fire deaths
16/05/2025 Local authority leaders have offered condolences after the deaths of two firefighters and a member of the public in a fire at a business park in Oxfordshire. |
MPs call for oversight of Grenfell inquiry recommendations
14/05/2025 MPs have called for an independent national oversight mechanism to ensure the recommendations made by the Grenfell inquiry are implemented. |
Council launches lawsuit against Grenfell fire fridge maker
28/04/2025 Kensington and Chelsea has accused the manufacturer of the fridge blamed for starting the Grenfell Tower fire of failing to carry out adequate safety tests. |
TfL bans non-folded e-bikes on network
26/03/2025 Transport for London (TfL) has announced a ban on all non-folded e-bikes on parts of London’s transport network due to the fire risk. |
LGA: Funding needed to tackle unsafe cladding
02/12/2024 Local authorities need ‘multi-year funding arrangements’ if they are to remove dangerous cladding by the end of 2029, council chiefs have said. |
NAO: 60% of buildings with flammable cladding still not identified
04/11/2024 Up to 60% of buildings with dangerous cladding have not yet been identified seven years on from the Grenfell Tower fire, auditors warn. |
'Decades of neglect' impact on fire safety enforcement
03/10/2024 Talks have been held with the Government over councils' need for more support to enforce fire safety rules after the Grenfell fire inquiry concluded. |
Council criticised for fire risk assessment failings
25/09/2024 Harlow Council has been criticised by the Regulator of Social Housing (RSH) for failing to carry out thousands of fire risk assessments. |
Regulator criticizes councils for health and safety failings
13/09/2024 Three local authorities have been criticized after the social housing regulator discovered serious failings. |
Grenfell response was 'woefully lacking'
11/09/2024 Kensington & Chelsea LBC's response to the Grenfell disaster was ‘woefully lacking', the chairman of the Local Government Association (LGA) at the time, Lord Porter, has said. |
Grenfell inquiry highlights Government and council failings
04/09/2024 Failings on the part of the Government and Kensington & Chelsea LBC enabled the Grenfell Tower disaster to unfold, the inquiry into the tragedy has found. |
Evacuation plans for vulnerable Londoners ‘postcode lottery’
02/09/2024 There has been an inconsistent rollout of personalised emergency evacuation plans (PEEPs) for vulnerable Londoners since the Grenfell Fire, research reveals. |
Ministers: Increase the pace of fixing unsafe buildings
30/08/2024 Ministers have told regulators at a round table meeting to ‘increase the pace of remediating unsafe buildings' after a major fire in Dagenham. |
Cost of refurbishment scheme doubles to £40m
25/07/2024 Plans to refurbish and retrofit five council-owned housing blocks in Kent have more than doubled in price since they were agreed last year. |
New Advanced CPD Set to Combat False Fire Alarms
22/07/2024 Advanced is pleased to announce the launch of its latest Continuing Professional Development (CPD) course: Managing False Fire Alarms: Tools & Techniques. |
‘Bleak’ future for social housing without investment
07/05/2024 Without extra funding, the future of England's social housing looks ‘bleak’, council bosses have warned. |
2,000 social housing blocks affected by ‘life-critical’ problems
02/04/2024 Almost 2,000 social housing blocks in England have ‘life-critical’ problems with their external cladding, according to official data. |
Cladding issue could be 'tip of iceberg'
06/03/2024 Barnet LBC has warned fire safety issues with nearly 600 low-rise homes could be ‘just the tip of the iceberg across the country’. |
Government ‘criminally complacent’ over cladding risk
01/02/2024 Firefighters have accused the Government of being ‘criminally complacent’ after a cladding fire in Wembley. |
Mid Devon Housing: Improving fire safety in communal areas
01/02/2024 Mid Devon Housing is increasing resident safety by deploying connected alarm systems within communal areas, utilising Aico’s HomeLINK Connected Home Solution. |
Advanced’s EvacGo Evacuation Alert System Helps Keep Residents Safe
23/11/2023 Fire protection solutions manufacturer Advanced has supplied its EvacGo evacuation alert system to three social housing tower blocks in Halewood, Merseyside. |
Newham wins landmark cladding removal case
19/10/2023 Newham LBC has become the first council in Britain to successfully prosecute a building owner for failing to remove flammable cladding. |
Number of vapes discarded each week soars to five million
08/09/2023 Five million single-use vapes are thrown away in the UK every week, an almost four-fold increase on last year, according to research from Material Focus. |
Taking fire door inspections to the next level
29/08/2023 Nicola John, Fire Door Maintenance (FDM), and Andrew Tyas, Contactless Check Solutions (CCS) explain the growing need for more thorough fire door inspections. |
Gove takes ‘personal interest’ in council landlords
17/08/2023 Seven councils are among the landlords to have received letters from housing secretary Michael Gove after falling foul of watchdogs. |
Crooked House pub demolition must be ‘catalyst’ for reform
11/08/2023 The Crooked House pub demolition should lead to planning reforms to make it easier to stop ‘unscrupulous owners’ from redeveloping pubs, campaigners say. |
Police treating Crooked House pub fire as arson
10/08/2023 The police are now treating the fire at the historic Crooked House pub – ‘Britain's wonkiest pub’ – as arson. |
Investigation launched into demolition of ‘Britain's wonkiest pub’
09/08/2023 An investigation into the circumstances surrounding the demolition of the historic Crooked House pub has been launched, the local authority has said. |
Firefighters warn Braverman over asylum barge safety
03/08/2023 The Fire Brigades Union (FBU) has written to Suella Braverman about fire safety concerns in accommodation for asylum seekers, including the Bibby Stockholm. |
Camden Council breaches standards over fire safety
24/07/2023 The Regulator of Social Housing (RSH) has found that thousands of Camden Council-run homes do not comply with fire safety regulation. |
Regulator criticises council for health and safety failures
10/05/2023 Adur District Council failed to meet a range of health and safety requirements in tenants’ homes, the the social housing watchdog has ruled. |
Final Grenfell inquiry report expected next year
04/05/2023 The final report from the inquiry into the Grenfell Tower fire is unlikely to be published until next year, according to the inquiry team. |
Three cladding firms warned of 'consequences’ for safety failures
21/04/2023 Michael Gove has warned the shareholders of three cladding firms of ‘severe consequences’ if they fail to put forward plans to help fix unsafe buildings. |
Gove delivers ultimatum to 11 housebuilders
15/03/2023 Housing secretary Michael Gove has named 11 firms who have failed to sign a contract to repair homes with safety risks exposed by the Grenfell Tower fire. |
Evacuation alert system from Advanced helps protect residents in Merseyside social housing
30/01/2023 Fire protection solutions manufacturer, Advanced, has supplied its EvacGo evacuation alert system to two high-rise residential tower blocks in Merseyside. |
Council chiefs issue cost-of-living crisis fire warning
23/12/2022 Local authority leaders yesterday reminded residents to be careful when using candles for lighting or heating this Christmas. |
Checking and inspecting lifts
05/10/2022 Nick Mellor, MD of LEIA and LIFTEX 2022, looks at how to ensure your lifts are compliant with the recently published Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022. |
Council ‘liable’ for deaths of five Grenfell residents
01/08/2022 The local authority that owned Grenfell Tower has been found liable for the deaths of five residents who died in the 2017 fire. |
Over £4bn Building Safety Fund reopened
28/07/2022 The Government has today reopened the Building Safety Fund to help protect leaseholders in high-rise homes from being stuck with unfair safety bills. |
London councils mark Grenfell fire anniversary with call for fire safety support
14/06/2022 Too many buildings across London are still waiting for unsafe cladding to be removed or for other fire safety works to be carried out, council leaders say. |
Home Office rejects Grenfell inquiry safety recommendation
19/05/2022 Government has rejected a recommendation that would require owners of high-rise buildings to prepare emergency evacuation plans for disabled residents. |
Grenfell council admits leadership was 'unable to cope'
12/04/2022 Kensington & Chelsea LBC has admitted to the Grenfell Tower inquiry its ‘leadership was unable to cope’ in the days after the tragedy. |
Developers given deadline to fix cladding crisis
10/01/2022 Developers have been warned they could face legal action or future restrictions on funding and procurement if they fail to remove unsafe cladding. |
Council breaches Home Standard after missing safety inspections
28/10/2021 Norwich City Council failed to carry out inspections relating to fire, electrical, asbestos and water safety, causing the potential for 'serious detriment to tenants'. |
Budget 2021: £24bn multi-year housing settlement
27/10/2021 The chancellor has today announced £11.5bn to build up to 180,000 new affordable homes, calling it the largest cash injection in more than a decade. |
Planning requirements on fire safety come into force
03/08/2021 New planning requirements on fire safety, known as planning gateway one, came into force this week. |
Bill aimed at improving safety standards for high-rise buildings published
05/07/2021 A new Bill aimed at strengthening safety standards for the construction of high-rise buildings will be published today four years after the Grenfell Tower fire. |
Boroughs call for ‘fit for purpose’ fire safety regime
15/06/2021 London boroughs marked the fourth anniversary of the Grenfell Tower fire yesterday by calling on the Government to put in place a fire safety regime that is ‘fit for purpose’. |
Council secures high court ruling to protect safety of residents
18/05/2021 Thurrock Council has been granted an interim injunction by the High Court to prevent residents from living in an unsafe property. |
Queen’s Speech: New law to ‘modernise’ planning system
11/05/2021 The Government has pledged to push ahead with reforms to the planning system in order to meet house-building targets. |
Government consults on new £2bn developer tax
30/04/2021 The Government has launched a consultation into a new residential developer tax to help towards the cost of removing unsafe cladding. |
Grenfell council apologises over monitoring failings
31/03/2021 Kensington & Chelsea LBC has apologised for failings in its monitoring of the organisation that managed Grenfell Tower. |
Fire chiefs renew calls to make sprinklers mandatory in schools
08/03/2021 Fire chiefs have renewed calls for mandatory sprinklers in schools as research estimates that 390,000 teaching hours could be lost to large fires this year. |
Jenrick confirms £3.5bn plan to replace unsafe cladding
11/02/2021 Housing secretary Robert Jenrick has confirmed that the Government will fully fund the cost of replacing unsafe cladding for all leaseholders in residential buildings six storeys and over in England. |
Government launches £30m fire alarm fund
01/02/2021 Residents living in high-rise buildings with unsafe cladding can now get financial support from the Government to help them buy fire alarms. |
All social high-rise buildings take action on dangerous cladding
22/01/2021 All social housing towers have had unsafe cladding removed - or have work underway - government figures have revealed. |
New regulator established to ensure building materials are ‘fit for purpose’
20/01/2021 The Government has announced the establishment of a national regulator which aims to ensure materials used to build homes will be made safer. |
Has Grenfell ground to a halt?
18/12/2020 Adam Jurka looks at why buildings with dangerous cladding should follow NFCC guidance and move over to safer and more permanent interim measures to protect residents from fire. |
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MPs call for more detail on Building Safety Bill
24/11/2020 MPs have urged the Government to provide more details on its new building safety proposals to prove they 'have teeth'. |
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Derbyshire councils commit to fitting sprinklers in schools
11/11/2020 Derby City Council and Derbyshire County Council have both signed a Statement of Intent committing to fit sprinklers and the right fire safety measures in new and refurbished schools. |
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Two-thirds of school rated ‘poor’ for fire protection measures
05/11/2020 Two-thirds of schools have ‘poor’ fire protection with 40 schools a month hit by fire last year, a new study has revealed. |
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Councils warn millions of homes do not have a working smoke alarm
21/09/2020 Councils have launched an urgent fire safety drive after figures showed that more than two million homes in England do not have a working smoke alarm. |
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Committee condemns ‘pie-in-the-sky’ cladding promises
16/09/2020 Thousands of people are at risk because of ‘serious shortcomings’ in the Government’s long-term response to the Grenfell Tower fire. |
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Schools at double the risk of fire than other buildings, data shows
04/09/2020 School buildings are twice as likely to be in a blaze compared to other non-residential buildings, new research has found. |
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Drive to replace dangerous cladding ‘lagging behind’, warn auditors
19/06/2020 Auditors investigating the programme for replacing dangerous cladding on high-rise buildings have found that progress has ‘lagged behind’ expectations. |
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Three quarters of fire doors inspected ‘not fit for purpose’
18/06/2020 More than three quarters (76%) of the fire doors inspected in 2019 were condemned as not fit for purpose, new data reveals. |
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More than 50,000 living with dangerous cladding
15/06/2020 There are 56,000 people living in buildings with unsafe Grenfell-style cladding, new analysis has revealed. |
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Residents face ‘postcode lottery’ when it comes to fire services, union warns
15/06/2020 A third of fire and rescue services would not send sufficient resources to high-rise fires, the Fire Brigades Union (FBU) has warned. |
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Launch of £1bn building safety fund
27/05/2020 The Government has outlined the details of its £1bn building safety fund. |
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Building safety fund not 'enough' says task force
21/05/2020 The government fund to replace dangerous cladding is not enough to make all buildings safe, the Greater Manchester High Rise Task Force has warned. |
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More councils sign pledge to continue with building safety work
07/05/2020 The leaders of 25 councils have signed a pledge to continue with vital building safety improvements during the pandemic. |
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Cladding remediation work to pick up pace
23/04/2020 Vital building safety work to replace unsafe cladding on high-rise buildings that had ‘significantly slowed down’ as a result of the coronavirus pandemic will resume, it has been announced. |
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Government announces ‘biggest changes to building safety in a generation’
03/04/2020 The Government has announced steps to further reform building safety, including mandatory sprinkler systems and consistent wayfinding signage in all new high-rise blocks over 11 metres tall. |
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Council chiefs say new Fire Safety Bill ‘step in the right direction’
20/03/2020 Building owners and managers of high-rise and multi-occupied buildings are to be held to account for the safety of their residents thanks to new legislation. |
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Budget 2020: £1bn Building Safety Fund to remove unsafe cladding
11/03/2020 A new £1bn fund to remove unsafe cladding from high-rise buildings has been unveiled today by the chancellor. |
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Fire safe specification: The role of door closers
11/03/2020 Graham Hulland is calling on housing authorities and local councils to put tenant’s safety first and to look closely at what must be considered to correctly specify door closers. |
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High-rise residents warn worries over fire safety causing mental distress
24/02/2020 A survey of residents living in high-rise buildings in Manchester has found fire safety risks are damaging their mental health and wellbeing. |
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Manchester becomes 'early adopter' of Hackitt Review
20/01/2020 Manchester City Council has joined three other councils to become an ‘early adopter’ of the recommendations made in the Hackitt Review. |
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Preparing for new regulations
20/01/2020 Chris Proctor warns housing providers must enact change now to improve compliance and not wait for the regulators. |
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Welsh government bans combustible cladding
23/12/2019 Welsh government has banned the use of combustible cladding on high rise buildings following the Hackitt review into fire safety after the Grenfell tragedy. |
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Fire chiefs call for sprinklers in four-storey high buildings
03/12/2019 Fire chiefs have called for the lowering of the threshold for the use of sprinklers in high rise blocks of flats in the wake of the recent Bolton fire. |
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Councils voice concerns at smoke alarm failure rate
02/12/2019 Council leaders have warned that almost 40% of battery-powered smoke alarms failed to activate in residential fires last year. |
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London council sues contractors for £130m over ‘fire safety failings’
29/11/2019 Camden Council has launched legal action against a group of contractors over ‘multiple fire safety failings’ that led to the evacuation of the Chalcots Estate two years ago. |
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Fire services to investigate cause of Bolton student blaze
18/11/2019 An investigation is underway to establish the cause of last Friday’s student accommodation fire in Bolton and to find out whether the building’s cladding contributed to its rapid spread. |
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Grenfell inquiry: Better communication between councils and fire services needed
30/10/2019 ‘Far better direct communication’ between local authorities and fire and rescue services is needed, an official inquiry has urged. |
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The safety of social housing
26/09/2019 Neil Merrick explores how councils are improving the safety of social housing two years after the Grenfell Tower tragedy. |
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Two-thirds of English schools rated ‘poor’ for fire protection
18/09/2019 Over 60% of English schools are rated ‘poor’ for fire protection systems, with only one in 20 rated ‘excellent’, new research has revealed. |
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Review into sprinklers in high-rise homes
06/09/2019 The Government has announced plans to reduce the height of tower blocks where sprinklers must be installed. |
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Hackney to take developer to court
02/09/2019 A London borough is preparing to take legal action against a developer over fire safety fears in a block of flats. |
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Whitehall ‘too slow’ in reforming fire safety rules after Grenfell
18/07/2019 The Government has been ‘far too slow’ in reforming the building and fire safety regime in the wake of the Grenfell tragedy, MPs have said. |
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Oxford council to remove ‘dangerous’ cladding from tower block
12/07/2019 Oxford City Council has announced it will remove cladding from a residential tower block after it failed a fire safety test. |
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Majority of high-rise social housing without sprinklers decade after Lakanal House fire
03/07/2019 Around 95% of high-rise social housing blocks are still without sprinklers 10 years after the Lakanal House fire took the lives of six people. |
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Grenfell Tower: Hundreds of high-rise buildings still have 'unsafe' cladding
14/06/2019 There are still 'huge challenges ahead' two years after the Grenfell Tower fire, according to the leader of the council where the disaster took place. |
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Social housing tenants ‘failed’ by poor regulation
10/06/2019 Social housing tenants are being forced to report the same problem with their home multiple times, a housing charity has warned today. |
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Ministry considers launch of a new building safety regulator
07/06/2019 A consultation exercise has been launched on reforms of building regulations for high-rise residential blocks after the Grenfell Tower tragedy two years ago which killed 72 people. |
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Fire safety in high-rise buildings to be reformed in Wales
21/05/2019 The Welsh Government has announced it will reform the system regulating fire safety in high-rise buildings. |
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Firefighters blast Government for ‘complacency’ after the Grenfell fire
21/05/2019 The Government has done nothing to ‘adequately prepare’ fire and rescue services for another Grenfell-type fire, a firefighter union has warned. |
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Whitehall launches £200m fund to replace unsafe cladding
09/05/2019 The Government has launched a £200m fund to help remove and replace unsafe cladding on privately owned high-rise buildings after campaigners raise awareness of the issue. |
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Councils urge Government to fund sprinkler installations
27/03/2019 Local authorities have called on the Government to fund the installation of sprinklers in high-rise buildings two years after the Grenfell tragedy. |
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Councils calls for tougher regulations around sprinklers in high-rise buildings
12/03/2019 Local government leaders are calling for tougher rules governing the installation of sprinklers in high-rise buildings following last year's Grenfell tragedy. |
