There have been 2,820 applications to the government’s Building Safety Fund for the removal of non-aluminium composite material cladding, official figures reveal.

The fund has been set up to pay for the removal of non-ACM cladding from buildings of 18m or above.

Of the total number of applications so far received, only 22 per cent, or 624, have so far been confirmed as eligible for funding, according to data from the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government.

This amounts to £227m of funding that has so far been allocated out of a total of £5bn.

A further 354 applications have been assessed and found to be ineligible, while 349 applications have been withdrawn.

On top of this 238 applications are still being assessed, 364 applications had insufficient evidence to decide on eligibility and 891 applications lacked very basic information, according to the government.

The deadline for applications is June 30.

Cladding Consulting managing director Steven Truman says: “It’s worrying that with just over three months to go before the deadline for completed BSF applications passes, less than a quarter of registrations are currently proceeding, while a third of applications haven’t even submitted information to assess eligibility for funding.

“Thousands of homeowners could miss out on billions of pounds of life-changing funding to remove unsafe cladding from their buildings, and will be forced to dig into their own pockets to pay for the remediation work.

“The government needs to address this problem urgently.

“The entire BSF application process is proving too complicated and time-consuming for leaseholders, and it’s hard to see how many applications will meet the deadline if more support is not provided.”

But the MHCLG refuted Truman’s analysis.

A spokesperson says:“These claims are speculative and misleading. 

“Our investment of £3.5 billion brings total government funding to £5bn and provides assurance for residents that all eligible applications to the Building Safety Fund will be able to proceed.

“We have extended the deadlines for the fund – giving building owners more time to submit full applications. 

“Building owners are responsible for making sure their buildings are safe and we urge those who have been unable to provide the basic information we need to progress to do so as quickly as possible.”