Grenfell Files Sent to Prosecutors: What 54 People and 20 Organisations Now Face
The Metropolitan Police has sent evidence files on 54 individuals and 20 companies and organisations to prosecutors for decisions on criminal charges over the Grenfell Tower fire.
The handover happened on 30 September 2026. It covers the full police investigation into the fire that killed 72 people in North Kensington, west London, on 14 June 2017. The force called it a "milestone moment" in a press release titled "Met submits all Grenfell files to the CPS for charging decisions" on its official news site The Guardian.
The files list possible offences including corporate manslaughter and gross negligence manslaughter. The first applies when a company's serious failures cause death. The second applies when an individual's extreme carelessness causes death, such as ignoring an obvious risk. Prosecutors are also considering health and safety offences, fraud and fraud-related offences, and misconduct in public office, which concerns public officials failing in their duties.
The Crown Prosecution Service, the body that decides whether to bring criminal charges in England and Wales, has said it will make charging decisions before the 10th anniversary of the fire on 14 June 2027. The Service has previously said it has been working closely with the Metropolitan Police Service throughout the Grenfell investigation, in a news item titled "CPS statement on Grenfell".
The file comes after nine years of inquiry work. Investigators sent 12,600 pages of evidence to prosecutors. They took 14,700 statements and stored more than 27,000 exhibits including cladding, insulation, doors and windows. The wider investigation examined the role of more than 15,000 people and 700 organisations.
In anticipation of potential court proceedings, scale replica parts of Grenfell Tower are being built at a cost of £2m for use as court exhibits.
In May, police had said up to 57 individuals and 20 companies could potentially face criminal charges BBC. The September submission refines the individual caseload to 54, alongside 20 companies and organisations, and will form the basis for the CPS assessment.
A 2024 public inquiry found the fire was avoidable.
The broader context here is that the focus now moves from gathering evidence to testing whether it can support charges. Each possible offence has a different legal bar and requires careful handling of documents and exhibits. The volume of material and the replica tower parts point to work on how to explain technical issues around cladding systems, compartmentation and regulation to a jury. The June 2027 deadline gives survivors, bereaved families and those under investigation a clear date for the next step.
