The Metropolitan Police completed the handover of its Grenfell Tower fire investigation files to the Crown Prosecution Service on 30 September, moving the case into an independent review of whether criminal charges should follow. The submission is a significant procedural step after nine years of investigation, but it is not a charging decision and does not establish that any individual or organisation is guilty.
The files concern 54 individuals and 20 companies or other organisations. They ask prosecutors to consider possible offences including corporate manslaughter, gross negligence manslaughter, health and safety breaches, fraud and related offences, and misconduct in public office. These are potential offences for review; the number of files or people involved should not be read as a count of charges already authorised.
Kensington and Chelsea Council is among the bodies referred for consideration. The offences identified in relation to the council are corporate manslaughter, a breach of section 3 of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974, and an offence under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005. The council’s referral is now part of the evidence review, and prosecutors must decide whether to bring a case.
A separate file concerns the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government and a potential breach of the Health and Safety at Work Act. The ministry’s position is legally different from that of a private company or council: government departments benefit from Crown immunity and cannot be prosecuted in the ordinary way. A formal Crown censure by the Health and Safety Executive is a possible alternative outcome if a breach is established. The referral itself is not a finding of liability.
The CPS has committed to completing its charging decisions before the fire’s tenth anniversary in June 2027. Prosecutors will review the evidence independently, applying the test of whether there is a realistic prospect of conviction and whether prosecution is in the public interest. The timetable is an expected deadline for decisions, not a guarantee that charges will be brought or that any case will reach trial.
The fire began at Grenfell Tower in North Kensington on 14 June 2017 and killed 72 people. The public inquiry and criminal investigation have been separate processes. The inquiry’s final report was published in 2024; investigators also examined its findings while assembling evidence for prosecutors. The handover now leaves the charging question with the CPS rather than the police investigation team.
The scale of the investigation helps explain why the review will take time. Investigators examined the roles of more than 15,000 people and 700 organisations, took 14,700 witness statements and gathered 165 million electronic files. More than 27,000 physical exhibits, including building materials and components, remain stored for evidential purposes. The submission also includes 14 overarching evidence files in addition to the 20 files relating to organisations and individuals.
The evidence concerns a chain of decisions and responsibilities across the construction, product, regulatory and public sectors. A prosecution review must determine what the evidence can prove about particular people or organisations, rather than treating the tragedy’s broad causes as proof against any one party. That distinction is central to a case involving complex building materials, safety systems and corporate conduct.
For bereaved families, survivors and former residents, the transfer marks movement from investigation towards a decision on accountability, but it does not close the process. Prosecutors must assess a very large body of material and identify any cases that meet the legal tests. If charges are authorised, the accused would have the right to contest them in court; if they are not, the reasons and next steps will shape what follows.
Until those decisions are made, the people and organisations covered by the files remain subjects of an investigation, not convicted offenders. The next substantive milestone is the CPS review and its decisions before June 2027. Any subsequent proceedings would be distinct from the public inquiry and would determine criminal responsibility under the applicable law.
