Grenfell Tower Inquiry final report to be published on 4 September

It comes just one day after the Metropolitan Police revealed that criminal trials relating to the Grenfell Tower fire will not begin until at least the middle of 2027.

Ahead of the seventh anniversary of the 2017 fire that killed 72 people, police laid out the timeline for potential prosecutions and revealed that 58 individuals and 19 companies or organisations are suspects in their investigation.

In a briefing at New Scotland Yard on 22 May, detectives said they will submit charging files to the Crown Prosecution Service in 2026, with final charging decisions made by the end of 2026. Trials will not start for at least six months after that, meaning it will be 10 years since the fire before any suspects appear in court.

Police revealed they were investigating offences including misconduct in public office, corporate manslaughter, gross negligence manslaughter, perverting the course of justice, health and safety offences, fraud and offences under fire safety and building regulations.

Grenfell United, the bereaved families and survivors group, said: “We said 10 years until justice only yesterday, and today’s update has confirmed that. We now have a long-awaited date for publication, and wait in anticipation of the findings.

“When the report is finally released, we need to know that [inquiry chair] Sir Martin Moore-Bick’s recommendations will be implemented by the new government in power. Nearly five years since the publication of the first report, the Tory government has failed to implement four of the phase-one recommendations.

“That is why we are calling for a national oversight mechanism: an independent public body responsible for collating, analysing and following up on recommendations from inquiries into state-related deaths.

“Hundreds of vital recommendations are made following inquiries and millions of pounds are spent, but what is the point if there is no system in place to make sure changes are made? If government implemented the recommendations following the Lakanal House fire in 2009, our experience on the 14th of June could have been very different.

“The public inquiry phase-two report will hopefully give us the truth we deserve, but it needs to bring the change we so desperately need to see. This change is the legacy for our loved ones. And to ensure no one suffers like us.”

Emma Wilson, principal lawyer at Slater and Gordon, who represents the families of three of the individuals who died in the disaster, said: “While they welcome the opportunity for closure, our clients remain dismayed at the continued delays in implementing measures to ensure a disaster like Grenfell doesn’t happen again and bringing those responsible to justice.”

The second phase of the Grenfell Tower Inquiry heard 85 weeks of evidence, stretching across almost three years, which examined the background of how the “entirely avoidable” fire was allowed to happen.

The first-phase report, published in October 2019, made a number of important recommendations for the housing sector: a ‘plan B’ in case ‘stay put’ advice fails to keep residents safe; regular checks on fire-door self-closers; personal emergency evacuation plans (PEEPs) for residents with disabilities; and the installation of manually operated fire alarms if an evacuation became necessary.

However, despite the government promising to implement them in full, all these recommendations have either been watered down or abandoned completely.

The government has rejected the need for PEEPs, branding them disproportionate. Nothing has been done to encourage the fitting of fire alarms, and while fire-door checks have been implemented, they are less frequent than the inquiry recommended.

In January, bereaved families of the 72 people who died in the fire renewed their demands for justice, which they said had not yet been served, at Grenfell Testimony Week.

Some also said that the evidence provided as part of the public inquiry into the fire, which completed hearings in 2022, showed a “defensive, cover-up, shift-the-blame culture” and people “running away from their responsibility”.