Only seven social housing buildings have fully replaced their unsafe cladding in the wake of the Grenfell tragedy, shocking new findings reveal.

The homelessness charity Shelter has warned 42% of social housing buildings that use similar cladding to that used at Grenfell have not started work on replacing it.

The Grenfell Tower fire last June spread rapidly because of the type of cladding used on the building’s exterior.

In response to the tragedy, the Government organised the testing and replacing of cladding on private and public buildings.

They also established the Building Safety Programme (BSP) which publishes monthly updates on the high-rise residential buildings in England that have unsafe cladding.

There are currently 301 buildings over 18m with similar cladding to that used at Grenfell. 158 of these are social housing buildings.

In their analysis of the recent BSP update, Shelter found only 4% — or seven — of the social housing buildings with unsafe cladding have had it fully replaced.

‘It’s shocking that more than eight months on from the Grenfell fire only a tiny proportion of unsafe cladding has been replaced on homes across the country,’ said Shelter’s chief executive Polly Neate.

‘The Government’s lack of leadership has driven delays and caused confusion and it must now step up and take responsibility for ensuring these homes are safe.

‘We urge the Secretary of State to do this by providing total clarity on fire-safety and much clearer guidance on who should pay for and carry out these essential works.’

For more on Grenfell read our feature, 'Lessons from the ashes of Grenfell.'