Responsible Actors Scheme RAS

1 Establishment of the RAS scheme
2 Aims of the scheme in brief
3 Eligibility for the scheme in brief
4 Conditions of membership in brief
5 Related articles on Designing Buildings

[edit] Establishment of the RAS scheme

The Building Safety (Responsible Actors Scheme and Prohibitions) Regulations 2023 includes in Chapter 1, Item 5: Establishment of scheme (Responsible Actors Scheme or RAS). "A scheme to be known as the Responsible Actors Scheme (“the scheme”), which is a scheme to secure the safety of people in or about buildings and improve the standard of buildings by securing that persons in the building industry remedy defects in buildings relating to fire safety and contribute to costs associated with remedying such defects in relation to buildings, is established in accordance with these Regulations."

Brief details of the RAS are outlined below for further detailed information visit Responsible Actors Scheme Regulations.

[edit] Aims of the scheme in brief

The Scheme aims to improve the safety and standard of buildings by requiring that any member of the Scheme must:

identify residential buildings that are over 11 metres in height in England that they developed or refurbished over the 30 years ending on 4 April 2022, and any known to have life-critical fire safety defects.
carry out or pay for remediation and/or mitigation of, life-critical fire safety defects in those buildings; and
reimburse government schemes for taxpayer-funded work to remediate and/or mitigate defects in those buildings, thus assisting the government to pay for and implement such schemes to make buildings safe.

These requirements are in accordance with the terms of a Developer Remediation Contract to be entered into between developers and the Secretary of State of the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities

[edit] Eligibility for the scheme in brief

Initial focus on major housebuilders and other large developers who have developed or refurbished multiple residential buildings, that are known to have life-critical fire safety defects by virtue of having been assessed as eligible for a relevant government cladding remediation scheme. Over time, intention is to expand the Scheme to cover other developers who developed or refurbished defective residential buildings over 11 metres in height and should pay to fix them.

Developers will be eligible for the Scheme if they meet one or more of the following three sets of criteria, and they are not a Registered Provider of Social Housing (or a wholly owned subsidiary of one):

their principal business has been residential property development; they meet the ‘profits condition’ below; and they developed or refurbished one or more residential buildings over 11 metres in height in England over the 30 years ending on 4 April 2022 (other than solely as a contractor)
they are a developer who meets the ‘profits condition’ below; and developed or refurbished (other than solely as a contractor) two or more buildings that have been assessed as eligible for a relevant government cladding remediation scheme
they are a developer who developed or refurbished (other than solely as a contractor) at least one residential building over 11 metres in height that qualifies for remediation under the terms set out in the developer remediation contract; and they volunteer to sign the contract and join the Scheme

The ‘profits condition’ will be met by any developer whose average annual operating profit over a 3-year period (companies’ financial years ending 2017, 2018, and 2019) was £10 million or higher. Certain exceptional items and unrealised value adjustments are excluded from consideration. The regulations set out the detail of the profits condition, including the required adjustments to the operating profits figures in accounts.

[edit] Conditions of membership in brief

A developer who is eligible for the Scheme may join and remain in it only if they meet these membership conditions:

members of the Scheme must enter into a developer remediation contract with the Secretary of State of the DLUHC. The standard form contract terms are available on GOV.UK and in accordance with the contract terms, a Scheme member must:
- identify residential buildings over 11 metres in height they developed or refurbished over the 30 years ending on 4 April 2022, and any known to have life-critical fire safety defects
- remediate and/or mitigate or pay for the remediation/mitigation of life-critical fire safety defects in those buildings
- reimburse government schemes for taxpayer-funded work to remediate and/or mitigate defects in those buildings
- not undertake restructurings or certain other steps which would mean that the Scheme member cannot fulfil its obligations under the Scheme
- meet all other obligations of the developer remediation contract, including keeping building owners, residents and DLUHC updated on the progress of remediation works
Scheme members must comply with requests for information made by the Secretary of State pursuant to the contract and regulations, to enable the Secretary of State to carry out his monitoring and enforcement functions
Scheme members must also not take steps to avoid their obligations under the Scheme or defeat the Scheme’s aims.

For further information regarding applications to joining the Scheme, monitoring and enforcement of the scheme, planning and building control prohibition along with any exceptions please visit Responsible Actors Scheme: plain English guide on which this article is based. Further information on the regulations can also be found via the links below: