IN Brief:
- The CPS has received 20 suspect files concerning 20 companies and organisations and 54 individuals.
- Police examined more than 15,000 individuals and 700 organisations and gathered 165 million electronic files during the investigation.
- The CPS intends to reach its charging decisions before the tenth anniversary of the fire in June 2027.
Metropolitan Police has submitted all of its Grenfell Tower investigation files to the Crown Prosecution Service, moving the long running criminal investigation into the charging decision stage. The referral comprises 20 files relating to 20 companies and organisations and 54 individuals.
Prosecutors have been asked to consider offences including corporate manslaughter, gross negligence manslaughter, health and safety offences, fraud and fraud-related offences, and misconduct in public office.
No charging decisions have been made. The CPS has committed to reaching its decisions before the tenth anniversary of the fire in June 2027, and the referral does not establish criminal liability for any individual or organisation.
The submission transfers the evidential files assembled by police to prosecutors, who will determine what, if any, charges should follow.
Police examined the roles of more than 15,000 individuals and 700 organisations connected with Grenfell Tower before identifying the 54 people and 20 organisations referred as suspects. Alongside the 20 suspect files, investigators have submitted 14 overarching evidence files.
The Met says its summary reports to the CPS run to more than four million words across 12,600 pages and reference more than 45,000 documents, images and exhibits.
The wider evidence base is larger still. Investigators gathered 165 million electronic files, took 14,700 statements and retained more than 27,000 physical exhibits, including cladding, insulation, doors, windows and smaller building components.
Grenfell Tower remained a police crime scene for 14 months, while forensic teams examined material recovered from the building as part of the evidence gathering process.
Kevin Southworth, deputy assistant commissioner at the Metropolitan Police, described the referral as “a milestone moment in the police investigation into this devastating tragedy”. He said the investigation had taken nine years because of its scale and the need to assemble evidence capable of supporting charging decisions.
The Met has worked with the CPS throughout the investigation to obtain legal guidance as the files were prepared. Investigators also reviewed the work of the Grenfell Tower Inquiry, including its 1,700-page final report, to cross-check the criminal investigation against evidence gathered through the public inquiry process.
The criminal process runs separately from the regulatory and policy changes that followed the fire. Government has continued implementing recommendations arising from the inquiry, with 30 recommendations reported as completed earlier this month.
Those reforms sit alongside the Building Safety Act regime, changes to building control and fire safety guidance, and the continuing programme to remediate unsafe cladding on residential buildings.
The referral itself creates no new construction obligation. It moves possible criminal cases from police investigation to prosecutorial review, and the offences under consideration extend from individual conduct to possible corporate liability.
The companies, organisations and individuals referred remain suspects unless and until the CPS authorises charges. Any prosecution would then have to be tested through the courts.
The submission also closes one of the longest evidence gathering phases to follow the 2017 fire. Police have said their team comprised 220 investigators, reflecting both the volume of material and the need to examine responsibilities across numerous organisations rather than a single contractor or supplier.
The physical evidence retained by police shows the extent to which construction products and building elements remain central to the investigation. More than 27,000 exhibits are being held in a secure warehouse, ranging from major façade materials to screws, nuts and bolts.
That evidence reaches into the specification, supply, installation and performance of building systems and components used at the tower, while the files now before prosecutors bring together those technical findings with evidence concerning the decisions and actions of companies, organisations and individuals.
The referral also leaves several procedural stages before any potential prosecution could begin. CPS lawyers must assess the evidence for each suspect and each possible offence against the applicable charging test, after which any authorised case would move into the court process. That means the referral is a major investigative milestone, but not the end of legal scrutiny or a determination of guilt.
For the construction sector, the scale of the evidence illustrates how decisions around specification, procurement, installation, certification and building management can remain under examination years after a project has been completed. The criminal investigation has had to reconstruct those decisions across numerous organisations, documents and physical components rather than isolate responsibility to a single stage of delivery.
The CPS decision timetable provides the next defined milestone. Prosecutors intend to reach charging decisions before June 2027, while the Met will continue working with criminal justice partners and supporting those affected by the fire.
Until those decisions are announced, the police evidence gathering phase is substantially complete but the question of who, if anyone, will face prosecution remains unresolved.
