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Grenfell fire settlement overview:
- Who: Survivors of the Grenfell Tower fire have been awarded a £150M settlement in a civil group action settlement.
- Why: The settlement is to compensate survivors and bereaved family members after a fire in the London tower block that killed 72 people.
- Where: The Grenfell fire settlement was heard in the High Court.
A civil damages settlement is set to deliver about £150 million to survivors and bereaved family members impacted by the Grenfell Tower fire of 2017.
The details of the settlement are currently being outlined by lawyers acting for the survivors in the High Court, the BBC reports.
In 2021, it was revealed that cladding panels reportedly failed fire safety tests 13 years before causing the June 2017 residential building fire — the Grenfell Tower disaster — that injured hundreds and led to 72 deaths.
The cladding panel fire safety tests were commissioned by the then-Labour government back in the 1990’s, when Parliament began having concerns about the risks of using cladding. However, they were never released to the public but instead circulated among an industry advisory group.
At a recent settlement hearing in the High Court, barrister Richard Hermer KC said a compensation sum of about £150m had been awarded across 900 cases in the “global settlement,” the BBC reports.
Court documents reportedly show the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea was one of a number of defendants, including the London Fire Commissioner and cladding giant Arconic.
Arconic said it had “agreed to contribute to a restorative justice project to benefit the community affected by the fire.”
A total of £50m, including £25m from local government and £6m from Arconic, has reportedly been pledged to the settlement fund.
Inquiry into fatal fire delayed
Meanwhile, an inquiry that began in 2021 into the fatal fire is not likely to be published until 2024. Its final hearing was in November 2022 and examined the circumstances leading up to and surrounding the blaze.
While the civil settlement provides some compensation for victims, it does not affect the potential for any criminal charges to be brought in the future, the BBC reports.
“No amount of money will ever truly compensate for what the claimants have had to endure,” Hermer said.
“This is a settlement purely of the civil claims for compensation. The settlement does not right the wrong, it does not secure accountability.”
What do you think of the settlement in the Grenfell Tower case? Let us know in the comments!
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