Cladding: What money has the government promised?

The government has pledged billions of pounds to fix unsafe cladding for some high-rise building residents in England.

Thousands were left feeling unsafe and facing huge bills for safety improvements after the combustible cladding applied to many homes was found to have fuelled the 2017 Grenfell fire.

Cladding is the process of adding a new layer of material to the outside of a building.

It may be installed to increase insulation or weather protection, or to improve the building's appearance.

But some cladding has been found to be combustible, prompting a building safety crisis affecting thousands.

Freeholders, who own the land the building sits on, are supposed to absorb the cost of making buildings safe where possible.

But in practice this is often passed on to their leaseholders. Most flat owners come under this category.

These leaseholders have had to pay for extra fire safety measures until cladding or insulation is stripped off.

Many people are unable to sell their property - even if the cladding is classed as low risk - as many lenders have refused to offer mortgages on them.

In June 2017, a fire broke out in the Grenfell Tower block in west London killing 72 people.

The first phase of an inquiry concluded that cladding installed during refurbishment helped the fire spread because it was made from combustible material.

Safety inspections on other high-rise blocks revealed not just dangerous cladding, but other fire safety faults too including defective insulation, flammable balconies and missing fire breaks.

The question of who should pay for fire safety improvements - government, developers, building owners or leaseholders - is the sticking point.

Housing Secretary Robert Jenrick says the government has set aside £3.5bn to replace unsafe cladding for all leaseholders in residential buildings that are 18m (six storeys) or higher in England.

Those in lower-rise buildings will be able to access a loan to help pay for cladding removal, which they will pay a maximum of £50 a month towards.

The government says the level of help offered is based on its analysis, which indicates that buildings between 18 and 30 metres high are four times as likely to have a fire with "fatalities or serious casualties" than apartment buildings in general.

The money is on top of £1.6bn that was announced for the removal of unsafe cladding last year.

The government will also levy a tax on housing developers to help pay for the costs, which it says will raise £2bn over the next 10 years.

Some have welcomed this extra financial support, but campaigners say it doesn't go far enough.

"Many people living in buildings under 18m will still have to bear the cost - for many above £30,000 - saddled with debt around their necks for thirty years," the End our Cladding Scandal group said.

The Local Government Association said the "unprecedented funding" was an "important step" to help protect leaseholders, but that they should be helped with the cost of other safety improvements too.

A committee of MPs has estimated it would cost up to £15bn to fix fire safety defects in every high-risk residential building.

There isn't a single number on this.

The government identified 462 high-rise residential buildings with dangerous cladding, 216 of which have now had it fully removed.

That means that 246 still have the cladding - although removal work has begun on most of those.

But these figures only cover buildings that are over 18m tall and have the type of cladding used on Grenfell Tower.

The government does not supply regular statistics on other types of building.

But the Association of Residential Managing Agents says around half a million people are living in a building with some form of unsafe cladding.

The scheme does not give financial support to people whose buildings have fire safety issues for reasons other than cladding.

Balconies on a building that have been built with flammable material would be one example.

It will also not help those hoping to sell their flats in the immediate future.

This is because many mortgage-lenders are requiring a specific fire safety certificate - known as an EWS1 form - before offering them the mortgage.

The government says it is "working with industry to reduce the need for EWS1 forms".