A grant worth £3.5billion has been announced to help end the cladding scandal that has affected flat owners across the UK.

Robert Jenrick said the money would ensure that leasholders in high-rise flats would face ‘no costs’ to have cladding removed or replaced.

The housing secretary added that people in low and medium rise blocks would never have to pay more than £50 a month for cladding removal work.

However, he announced that a new tax would be imposed on residential property to fund the scheme.

The Housing Secretary said that without Government action building owners would simply pass on the costs of remediation work to leaseholders.

He said: ‘That would risk punishing those who have worked hard, who have bought their own home, but through no fault of their own have found themselves caught in an absolutely invidious situation.

‘Importantly, it also risks slowing down the critical works to make these homes safer.

‘I’m therefore, today, making an exceptional intervention on behalf of the Government and providing certainty that leaseholders in high-rise residential buildings will face no costs for cladding remediation works.’

Grants to remove cladding are only available to people living in buildings higher than 18 metres, with those in smaller ones having to rely on loans for the cost of the work.

He said a ‘long-term scheme’ will be developed to protect people in this situation.

‘This will ensure that we end the cladding scandal in a way that is fair and generous to leaseholders,’ Mr Jenrick added.

Conservative MP Stephen McPartland has previously called the Government ‘incompetent’ regarding its handling of the cladding crisis.

‘It is clear they don’t have a grip on the situation and their incompetence is creating this problem,’ the Stevenage MP told The Times.

‘Millions of leaseholders are facing financial ruin and we will not accept loans. They are not a solution, they are a disgraceful betrayal.’

The National Leasehold Campaign tweeted yesterday: ‘Another sleepless night for leaseholders worried sick about what Robert Jenrick will announce tomorrow regarding their futures.

‘Please Robert you have a chance here to save millions. They ALL deserve this. Please don’t help some and not others.’

Criticism has been growing towards the Government’s response to the cladding crisis in the wake of the 2017 Grenfell Tower fire.

The fire was sparked by a fault in a fridge-freezer and spread quickly to several floors of the tower in west London. The cladding and insulation was cited as the cause for the rapid progression of the blaze.

The House of Commons has been told how huge numbers of people, especially leaseholders, are ‘stuck in the middle’ and living in ‘unsafe homes’ which they cannot sell, but are having to foot the bill for repair works and expensive waking watches.

It is thought 3 million people have been left with worthless homes as a result. Several leaseholders have spoken to Metro.co.uk over the last few months about how they are facing bankruptcy and homelessness.

Earlier this month, Labour demanded the creation of a national taskforce to ‘get a grip’ on the cladding crisis.

At last week’s Prime Minister’s Questions, Boris Johnson said: ‘We are determined that no leaseholder should have to pay for the unaffordable costs of fixing safety defects that they didn’t cause and are no fault of their own.’

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