Grenfell investigation reaches CPS as MHCLG confirms evidence file

The Grenfell investigation has moved into formal prosecutorial review after the Metropolitan Police handed all files from its criminal investigation into the Grenfell Tower fire to the Crown Prosecution Service. The handover moves the nine-year case into the stage where prosecutors decide whether any criminal charges should be brought.

The files relate to 54 individuals and 20 companies or organisations. Police say the submission consists of 20 case files alongside 14 overarching evidence files, with the CPS committed to making charging decisions before 14th June 2027, the tenth anniversary of the fire.

In a significant development for the built environment, the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government has separately confirmed that a file relating to the department is among those referred. MHCLG says that file concerns whether the evidential requirements are met in relation to a potential breach of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974.

MHCLG confirms its own file is before prosecutors

The distinction matters. The Met has asked the CPS to consider a range of possible offences across the Grenfell investigation as a whole, including corporate manslaughter, gross negligence manslaughter, health and safety offences, fraud and fraud-related offences and misconduct in public office.

MHCLG has not said it has been referred for those wider offences. Its statement is narrower: the department says the CPS will conduct a full and independent review of the evidence relating to a potential Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 breach.

Housing Secretary Angela Rayner said the department had been notified by the Met in 2023 that it was under investigation and had cooperated throughout. She described the referral as a development of “significance and gravity” and said the Government would continue to cooperate with the criminal justice process.

Rayner also repeated the Government’s acceptance of institutional failure, saying the state had failed in its “fundamental duty” to keep Grenfell Tower residents safe.

No charging decision has yet been made against MHCLG, any individual or any organisation. Referral to the CPS is the start of the charging review, not a finding of guilt and not a prosecution.

What referral to the CPS actually means

The CPS now has to assess the evidence gathered by police and decide whether the legal test for criminal charges is met. That review is independent of the Metropolitan Police and of government.

Frank Ferguson, head of the CPS Special Crime and Counter Terrorism Division, said charging decisions would be made independently after a “thorough and careful review” of the evidence. Sky News reported his statement that prosecutors remain confident they can complete the process before 14th June 2027.

That date is a target for charging decisions, not for any eventual trial. If charges are authorised, the criminal process would continue through the courts and the people or organisations charged would be entitled to contest the allegations.

The CPS had already been working with the Met during the investigation, giving advice as evidence was assembled. The final submission nevertheless marks the point at which prosecutors can assess the completed files for formal charging decisions.

A Grenfell investigation measured in millions of records

The scale of the Grenfell investigation explains why the referral has taken so long.

The Met says investigators examined the roles of more than 15,000 people and 700 organisations connected with Grenfell Tower before identifying the 54 individuals and 20 organisations now covered by the files.

Police gathered 165 million electronic files, took 14,700 statements and retain more than 27,000 exhibits. Those exhibits include cladding, insulation, doors, windows and smaller components recovered during the investigation.

The Met’s summary reports to the CPS alone run to more than four million words across 12,600 pages and reference more than 45,000 documents, images and exhibits. Grenfell Tower was retained as a crime scene for 14 months, while police and forensic teams also examined debris recovered from every floor.

Deputy Assistant Commissioner Kevin Southworth called the handover a “milestone moment”. He acknowledged the nine-year wait but said the investigation had to be meticulous in order to present the best possible evidence for charging decisions.

The Inquiry findings remain separate from the criminal process

The criminal investigation has developed alongside, but is legally separate from, the Grenfell Tower Inquiry.

The Inquiry’s Phase 2 report, published on 4th September 2024, examined the causes of the disaster and failures involving central and local government, the building industry, construction products, testing, design, refurbishment and fire safety. It made 58 recommendations, including 37 directed at government.

The Government responded in February 2025 and has since been publishing progress reports on implementation. Its latest progress report was published on 10th September 2026.

Those inquiry findings are important evidence and context, but the Inquiry did not decide criminal liability. The Met says its investigators examined the Inquiry’s work in detail and cross-referenced the 1,700-page final report against the criminal investigation.

That distinction is central to reporting this stage accurately. Findings in a public inquiry and failures admitted by public bodies do not themselves establish that a criminal offence has been committed.

Why the Grenfell investigation matters to building-safety and property professionals

This is not a change to planning law, and it should not be treated as one.

Its relevance to Planning Geek readers lies in the much wider building-safety system reshaped after Grenfell: building regulations, construction-product testing, fire safety, professional accountability and the continuing programme of remediation for unsafe buildings.

The Government’s own response to the Phase 2 report accepted that the disaster exposed failures across the system intended to keep residents safe. Rayner said on 30th September that “confidence will only be rebuilt through sustained action and visible change”. Since then, the regulatory landscape has changed substantially, but the criminal investigation is examining historic conduct and potential offences arising from the events that preceded the fire.

That is separate from the rules now governing building control, higher-risk buildings and remediation. A charging decision next year would not, by itself, alter the Building Regulations or create a new planning requirement.

It does, however, underline why record-keeping, product information, regulatory responsibility and clear lines of professional accountability are not administrative detail. They can become central evidence when safety systems fail.

There is also an immediate backdrop. Planning Geek reported earlier today that an estimated 103,000 dwellings remain in occupied monitored buildings where cladding remediation has not started, according to the latest MHCLG figures. The accountability process and the remediation programme are different strands, but both stem from the continuing consequences of the building-safety failures exposed by Grenfell.

Survivors and bereaved families push against further delay

Grenfell United, representing some bereaved families and survivors, said it expects the case to move forward “without further unnecessary delay”.

The group said families had “waited long enough” and added: “No family should have to fight this hard, for this long, for justice.” Its reaction was reported by Sky News as the files reached prosecutors.

The CPS has acknowledged that delay directly. As the Grenfell investigation enters this new stage, Ferguson said prosecutors understood the enduring impact on bereaved families, survivors and others affected, and recognised the toll of the long process.

The Government response was similarly careful. Rayner said the independent criminal justice process must now take its course and that MHCLG would cooperate fully.

Other organisations begin to identify themselves

The Met has not published a full list of the 54 individuals or 20 organisations covered by the files.

MHCLG has publicly identified itself because the department confirmed its own referral. The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea has also confirmed that the Met referred the Council to the CPS in relation to corporate manslaughter, section 3 of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 and the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005.

The Council said the CPS will independently review the evidence and decide whether to charge. That does not mean the Council has been charged. Inside Housing reported council leader Elizabeth Campbell describing the referral as a “significant moment” for bereaved families, survivors, residents and others affected. Its more detailed list of referred offences should not be transferred across to MHCLG, whose own statement identifies only a potential breach of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974.

That caution will remain important as more organisations or individuals potentially identify themselves. Until the CPS announces charging decisions, being named as a suspect or as the subject of a submitted file is not the same thing as being prosecuted.

What happens next

The practical next step in the Grenfell investigation is now with specialist CPS prosecutors.

They will review the evidence in the individual case files and the overarching material and apply the two-stage Full Code Test. The current Code for Crown Prosecutors requires an evidential stage followed by a public-interest stage. Police say they will continue working with the CPS during that process.

The stated deadline is before 14th June 2027. It is possible that different files may require different decisions or further work, but neither the Met nor CPS has suggested that the handover itself predetermines any outcome.

For building-safety professionals, landlords, developers and public bodies, the significance of 30th September 2026 is therefore procedural but substantial. The Grenfell investigation has moved from evidence-gathering into formal prosecutorial review.

What comes next will depend on the CPS’s assessment of the evidence, not on the findings of the public inquiry, political statements or the weight of public expectation.