For those that missed it today, the government brought out a new release in which it said it had agreed with @UKFtweets and @BSABuildingSocs to ensure that buildings without cladding didn't need an EWS form anymore. But that wasn't the end of the story.... https://www.gov.uk/government/news/government-steps-in-to-help-homeowners-caught-up-in-ews1-process

In response to the release @UKFtweets and @BSABuildingSocs said they didn't consent to being included in the press release. And @RICSnews said that they agreed to the press release but still needed to consider what the gov actually said.

Alongside the press release, the @mhclg released lots of data estimating the number of leaseholders and buildings that would no longer need an EWS. With an estimated 431k leaseholders helped by the change.

Currently there are 76,000 buildings over 11m that before the announcement today that would need an EWS. Over 1/3 will now be exempt because they don't have cladding.

However, while this is a step forward. It still means that 66% of all leaseholders in buildings over 11m will likely still require an EWS form. My maths is terrible, but a crude estimate is about 860k leaseholders. That is a lot of leaseholders and a lot of EWS checks.

As part of its drive to speed up the EWS checking process for buildings, the government has launched a new 'lightening quick' training programme for new qualified building inspectors that can sign off EWS forms. The targets are pretty ambitious.

Also said that they are looking to fix the problem of fire engineers not being able to access insurance to check buildings. But to be honest this has been going on since last year, so they should, and I think they have, been looking at this for months. But still no solutions.

If you want to hear more about this, here is a link to @BBCTomSymonds outlining the events, and then me mumbling my way through what it means. Fast forward to 14 mins. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m000plj7