Open consultation

Equality analysis for local authority building control changes

Published 14 November 2025

Applies to England

Policy

The policy intention of reforming the regulations for charges that local authorities can set and collect for their building control services is to help put such services onto a more financially sustainable footing. It is part of a wider programme of works to improve building control services, to reverse the decline in capacity and to make it an attractive career choice. This was highlighted in a section about building control in the Government’s response to the Grenfell Tower Inquiry’s final report. 

The Building (Local Authority Charges) Regulations 2010 have not been updated significantly since that time, despite a commitment in 2010 to review them in 2013, which did not happen. The Building Safety Act 2022 and other secondary legislation following the Grenfell Tower fire have yet to be reflected in the charges that local authorities can set. The Building Safety Act 2022 amended the Building Act 1984 by increasing the scope for the regulations that set the framework for charges and fees by adding a new section 105B. This scope now permits regulations to include charging for functions and activities that local authorities carry out under the Building Act itself, such as sending notices requiring compliance with regulations or concerning the need to put right problems with dangerous buildings.  

The foreword to HMT’s guidance, Managing Public Money states that it sets out the main principles, specific requirements and good practice for dealing with public resources. For public services such as local authority building control, this guidance states that their costs should be funded as fully as possible through charges and fees paid by users of those services. This means that charges, rather than local authority taxes, should be the majority source of income. Such charges should factor in direct and indirect costs and overheads, such as recruitment, training and development of Registered Building Inspectors. The proposed changes to the regulations will permit local authorities to receive charges for many more functions and activities. Due to the public and democratic nature of local authorities, it is acknowledged that there will be some activities where full cost recovery is not possible (such as servicing councillors in their democratic activities), and there are current exceptions set out in the consultation document where, due to either the need for more data, or where other interventions are taking place and introducing charges would interfere with these other interventions.  

Due to the current limited range of chargeable functions and activities, local authorities, where they have published such data, generally report significant and growing deficits for their services and, where a few have recorded surpluses, there is anecdotal evidence from some heads of services that surpluses are used to plug funding gaps for other local authority services rather than either used to grow services to meet demands. 

Therefore, these reforms aim to enable local authorities to charge at full cost-recovery for a wider range of chargeable functions and activities and, as a by-product, grow their workforces.  

When preparing this consultation, it was clear that there is very little data or information that is readily available about the charges that LABCBs set, the costs associated with, or the frequency of, the use of the majority of functions and activities they carry out. Therefore, this consultation asks for responses in several places that will inform a detailed impact assessment, including for the Public Sector Equality Duty assessment. 

The most recently available large scale Building Control workforce survey from 2023 by Kinetiq, which was co-badged with the Local Government Association, the trade bodies LABC (Local Authority Building Control) and CICAIR (Construction Industry Council Approved Inspectors Register, which has now been disbanded) contained some information about diversity in the Building Control, both public and private sectors. This highlighted, at that time, 87% of 1172 respondents were white, 81% were male, and 64% were 46 years of age or older with the largest cohort of 19% in the 56–60-year-old age range, which means there is a reasonable probability of many of these retiring in the following five to ten years. 8% recorded having a disability and 86% recorded being heterosexual.  

58% of the workforce had more than 15 years of service, with 32% having more than 25 years of service.  

The government’s response to the Grenfell Tower Inquiry does not explicitly mention expanding the diversity of the workforce, but clearly this needs to happen to bring in different perspectives and experience as has been recognised by respected voices in the wider construction sectors. 

The wider aims of the government’s construction ambitions seek to benefit all sections of society with better and purposefully designed, safer and more environmentally sustainable buildings across all types – dwellings, commercial and public sector buildings, such as schools and health facilities.

Building work solely required for disabled persons

One area where charges for building control services have not been permitted in different iterations of charging regulations, since 1983^{[footnote 1]}, is where work is to be carried out on existing dwellings or existing buildings to which the public are admitted, where the work is solely for disabled persons. The consultation includes some analysis of English Housing Survey data, costs to a very limited number of local authorities for work done on existing dwellings, and research conducted by Foundations, the Building Research Establishment and the Centre for Ageing Better.  

The reason for why this prohibition on charging came about in 1983 is not clear.  

The consultation does not propose to change the policy at this time regarding dwellings. To do so, without more in-depth policy considerations about the funding sources to pay for building control functions could have a disproportionate impact on those affected. Therefore, as part of a longer-term call for evidence, it seeks views from consultees on how these costs should be funded as a way of finding a fair and financially sustainable way forward for local authority building control services, where benefits appear to accrue to other public services such as the NHS and social care currently.  

However, the consultation does propose to permit charging for such purposes relating to buildings to which the public are admitted. As with local authorities, owners or operators of such buildings are also subject to the Public Sector Equality Duty. Therefore, given that local authorities should be able to recover their costs as fully as possible from users of such services, rather than tax-payers, then owners or operators of buildings to which the public are admitted should be charged for the use of these services. 

The Building Safety Regulator (BSR) has the same prohibitions regarding its charges when carrying out building control services on higher-risk buildings. The consultation also proposes to allow the BSR to charge for building control services where this kind of work is done on those parts of existing higher-risk buildings to which the public are admitted. There are no proposals to remove the prohibition when it comes to charging for building control services for such building works done in or for dwellings in existing higher-risk buildings.  

The Government plans to hold more in-depth engagement with disability charities and Disabled People’s Organisations during the consultation period about the call for evidence and proposals.

Summary of the evidence considered in demonstrating due regard to PSED

The Building a Safer Future Independent Review of Building Regulations and Fire Safety: Interim and Final Reports from 2017 and 2018 were published following the fire at Grenfell Tower. These assessed and offered critiques of the then building regulations and building control legislative frameworks, practices, competence and systems which were in place prior to the tragedy at Grenfell Tower. These publications led to significant reforms that resulted in the Building Safety Act 2022 and associated regulations, which sought to address weaknesses that had been identified. The impact of these reforms has yet to be evaluated.  

The Grenfell Tower Inquiry final report also analysed the significant failings of building control in contributing to the tragedy and the Government’s responded to recommendations that the Inquiry made about building control. The actions in response to these recommendations are currently being rolled out, including the proposals that may result from this consultation, which aim, among other things to help put local authority building control bodies on a more financially sustainable footing with increased capacity and competence across England.  

While recent evidence and firm data regarding building control services in local authorities is limited, the Government is aware that some local authorities are struggling to provide any building control service, partly due to a scarce human and financial resources. The knock-on effect in such cases means that services that support much-needed housing and other development are adversely affected. This is likely to have a negative impact for people, (irrespective of any kinds of protected characteristics), businesses, services, and the wider environment. 

Therefore, the proposals in this consultation are part of a wider programme that seeks to address such issues as those referred to above. 

The previous section to this document sets out key evidence that has been used to date. The consultation paper seeks further information that aims to build a clearer picture of services and, in particular, the proposal regarding removing the exception that prevents local authorities (and the Building Safety Regulator) from charging for services that are connected with the provision of access or facilities for disabled people in existing buildings to which members of the public are admitted.

Assess the impact

An assessment of impact will be produced once more data and information has been gathered through the consultation and associated engagement opportunities.  

In particular, the consultation seeks data on costs of providing building control services (both for LAs and the BSR) for works carried out for people with disabilities for existing homes and existing buildings to which the public are admitted. The data the Government currently has is weak regarding the impact this is having on: 

• the provision of building control services

• the benefits to individuals of those services for building work has carried out done on existing homes 

• the benefits to other services from the current free service provided by local authorities and the BSR where building work has been carried out on existing homes, and 

• the benefits to owners and operators of existing buildings to which the public are admitted from the current free service provided by local authorities and the BSR  

Any data provided through the consultation will inform the policy direction and a fuller version of the PSED analysis.

Summary of the analysis

To date, the analysis has focused on the data set out in section 1.1 above about the demographics of the building control workforce. The proposals in the consultation seek to address the longer-term financial sustainability of local authority building control services, which include recruitment, training and development of new staff. Data on this objective can only be gathered in the longer term and we will work with the building control sectors to understand the impacts as part of a wider programme of reforms to improve the longer term competence and capacity of the sectors.  

The summary of a fuller analysis can only be prepared once there has been a consultation with its responses on which to base such analysis.

Decision making

Any decisions made concerning this set of policies will follow from the consultation and its analysis. 

For the proposal and call for evidence regarding charges associated with works done for people with disabilities on existing buildings to which members of the public are admitted and existing private dwellings, we will engage specifically with relevant stakeholders specifically during the consultation period, taking this engagement and the written submissions into account from the consultation. These responses will inform further policy development and monitoring arrangements for measures taken forward.

Monitoring arrangements

Monitoring arrangements will be set out once the consultation has taken place and there is a clearer understanding of what will be monitored and evaluated as a result of the policy and wider programme of changes to put local authority building control services on a more financially sustainable footing that will improve capacity and competence for services across England. 

For the proposal and call for evidence regarding charges associated with works done for people with disabilities on existing buildings to which members of the public are admitted and existing private dwellings, we will engage specifically with relevant stakeholders specifically during the consultation period, taking this engagement and the written submissions into account from the consultation. These responses will inform further policy development and monitoring arrangements for measures taken forward.

1. 1983 no. 1611 Building and Buildings The Building (Prescribed Fees) (Amendment) Regulations 1983. ↩