Police seek to charge up to 57 individuals and 20 organisations over Grenfell disaster
Prosecutors have said they aim to announce charges over London's 2017 Grenfell fire by next June
Up to 57 individuals and 20 organisations are suspected of criminal offences in relation to the Grenfell fire that claimed the lives of 72 people.
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Announced on Tuesday, the CPS make a charging decisions by 10th anniversary of the Grenfell disaster on June 14, 2027.
Bereaved relatives and survivors met the news with “caution, grief and determination”, saying they have already faced an unacceptably long wait for justice.
In an update at New Scotland Yard on Tuesday, the Met Police said that files of evidence will be submitted to the Crown Prosecution Service by September 30 this year, with charging decisions before June 14 2027.
The Met has looked at the role of 15,000 individuals and 700 organisations relevant to the investigation, making it the largest and most complex in the history of the Met, with the force announcing that charges will now be submitted to the CPS.
One arrest has so far been made, with the individual released under police investigation, according to the force.
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The blaze in June 2017 claimed the lives of 72 people and was found by a public inquiry to have been avoidable.
At present, 57 individuals and 20 organisations are suspected of criminal offences - a number that could still change.
The force added that a significant number of other individuals have been interviewed under caution.
It comes as the force revealed that the investigation has so far cost around £150 million – including £2 million to build smaller scale replica which will be used to aid jury understanding.
Police said 165 million electronic files had been gathered and searched for evidence while 14,400 statements have been taken as part of the probe.
Speaking at New Scotland Yard on Tuesday, the officer in overall command of the investigation Garry Moncrieff, who has stayed with the investigation despite retiring as a police officer, said offences under consideration include corporate gross negligence manslaughter, fraud and health and safety breaches.
He said that forensic investigators spent 14 months at the tower itself gathering evidence and have sifted through information linked to hundreds of companies and thousands of individuals, as well as going through details from the public inquiry.
Mr Moncrieff said: “It is important that we do it once and do it right.”
A spokesman for Grenfell United, which represents some of the families bereaved by the disaster and survivors, called for no further delay.
The group said: “Today’s update from the Metropolitan Police marks an important step in a process that has already taken far too long.
“Nearly 10 years after the Grenfell Tower fire claimed the lives of 72 people, bereaved families, survivors and residents are being told that files will begin to be passed to the Crown Prosecution Service in September 2026, with charging decisions expected before the tenth anniversary.
“For our community, this is not news we meet with celebration. We meet it with caution, grief and determination. We have waited almost a decade for accountability.
“No family should have to wait over 10 years for justice for their loved ones, if it comes at all.
“The final report of the Grenfell Inquiry laid bare the shocking failures, dishonesty and disregard for human life that led to the fire. Grenfell was not a tragedy without cause.
“Those responsible must now be held to account.
“But after waiting nearly 10 years, our community cannot be expected to endure years more of delay.
“The Ministry of Justice and the Government must ensure the courts are properly resourced so that any prosecutions linked to Grenfell are heard swiftly.
“Justice delayed any further would be unacceptable.”
The Grenfell Inquiry found that the disaster was preceded by “decades of failure” by governments and the building industry to act on the dangers of flammable materials on high-rise buildings.
It also found victims, the bereaved and survivors were “badly failed” through incompetence, dishonesty and greed.
The tower block was covered in combustible products because of the “systematic dishonesty” of firms which made and sold the cladding and insulation, inquiry chairman Sir Martin Moore-Bick said in his final report in 2024.
He also condemned the “deliberate and sustained” manipulation of fire safety testing, misrepresentation of test data and misleading of the market.