What Changed in Building Safety in October 2026

The Building Safety Regulator is no longer part of HSE

SI 2026/20 established the Building Safety Regulator as a standalone body on 27 January 2026, sponsored by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government. Staff transfer from the Health and Safety Executive was complete by June 2026. The functions did not change: the BSR is still the building-control authority for higher-risk buildings in England, and it still regulates the occupied regime.

A single construction regulator, using the BSR as its foundation, is still future primary legislation. The government response points to a legislative framework around 2028–2029. Until that Act exists, cite the BSR, not HSE, and not a regulator that has not been created. HSE remains the right body for CDM and F10. That is a different regime.

The Building Safety Levy is in force

SI 2025/1236 came into force on 1 October 2026, with correcting amendments in SI 2026/1034 the same day. Qualifying applications for new dwellings or purpose-built student accommodation submitted on or after that date can attract the levy. An application made before 1 October that is rejected or invalidated and then resubmitted on or after that date can also be in scope. A variation of an application that was itself made before 1 October is not.

The levy is collected through the building-control process. It does not change how the BSR assesses whether a design meets the functional requirements, and it is not an occupied-phase annual charge. Threadsovereign stores liability, amount paid, payment date and a receipt URL against a project. It does not calculate the levy or pay it. The longer explainer is at threadsovereign.co.uk/blog/building-safety-levy-now-live.

The cladding Bill has had its second reading. It is not law

The Building Safety (Remediation of Unsafe Cladding etc) Bill had its second reading agreed on 27 October 2026. Public Bill Committee is set for 12 November to 8 December 2026. At second reading the Government said it would table amendments on people who owned four to six properties on 14 February 2022, and that it is exploring protection for a later buyer’s only or principal home. Those amendments are not in the Bill as introduced.

Schedule 8 contribution caps are unchanged. The end-2029 date for buildings over 11 metres is a Government expectation, not a statutory deadline. The House of Lords private member’s bill remains at Committee stage, and the Government has said it does not support it. Detail: threadsovereign.co.uk/blog/building-safety-remediation-cladding-bill-2026 and threadsovereign.co.uk/part-5-remediation.

Gateway 2: the legal clock and the time BSR is actually taking

The legal decision periods in SI 2023/909 are unchanged. They run from a valid application and can be extended in writing: 12 weeks for new higher-risk building work, 8 weeks for work to an existing higher-risk building, and 8 weeks for a completion certificate. The client is the statutory applicant.

BSR’s bulletin for the 12 weeks to 5 October 2026 reported overall Gateway 2 approvals at 87%, and a median of 23 weeks to approval for new higher-risk buildings and conversions (55 approvals out of 57 decisions once invalidations and withdrawals are set aside). That median is performance data. It does not authorise a start on site, and it does not replace the 12-week statutory period. BSR’s 2026–27 strategic plan says it expects non-complex new-building Gateway 2 decisions within 18 weeks by the end of March 2027. That is a target, not a duty on applicants.

Category A and Category B are also unchanged. The government’s July 2026 consultation response says it is minded to take most work inside individual flats out of Category A, and that it is still looking at small works in communal areas. No statutory instrument has done that. GOV.UK still publishes the current Category A tests. File against those tests.

Two narrower points are in force and easy to over-read. Approved Document B’s second staircase for new residential buildings of 18 metres or more took effect on 30 September 2026, with a transitional route for work already sufficiently progressed. That is a design requirement, not a golden-thread field Threadsovereign checks. From 1 September 2026, Secretary of State directions dispense with some Gateway 2 procedure for small fibre-cabling holes and for rooftop mobile masts on existing higher-risk buildings. Functional requirements, dutyholder duties and competence duties still apply. Those directions are not a general Gateway 2 exemption.

BAC criteria, and the annual return that does not exist

On 9 July 2026 the BSR said Building Assessment Certificate assessments would become more proportionate and that updated criteria would follow from September 2026. Re-checked on 29 October 2026, that criteria document had not been published. The October account for principal accountable persons still describes simplified criteria, fewer new call-ins, and a fast-track for previously refused applications as work ahead. The legal position is the one already on GOV.UK: you cannot self-nominate, and when you are directed you have 28 days. Prepare the safety case, the residents’ engagement strategy and the mandatory occurrence reporting evidence before the direction arrives.

There is still no statutory annual return for an occupied higher-risk building, and the BSR charging scheme still has no annual fee on one. Registration is charged per application. A Building Assessment Certificate application is £312 for 2026–2027, plus assessment time. A yearly assurance record in Threadsovereign is an internal golden-thread record under BSA s.88. It is not a filing to the regulator. Local-authority building-control charging changes in SI 2026/1094 are a different regime and do not create an annual BSR fee.

What to do with this on a live building

Keep registering material changes within 14 days, Key Building Information within its 28-day clocks, and mandatory occurrence reports within 10 days of the occurrence coming to the accountable person’s attention. Those clocks did not move.

If a Gateway 2 or Gateway 3 application was rejected before 1 October and you are about to resubmit, check levy liability before you send it. If you are designing a new residential building at or above 18 metres, the second-staircase rule is now in force for cases outside the transition. If you are an accountable person, do not rebuild Schedule 8 spreadsheets because of the cladding Bill, and do not wait for a BAC criteria document that has not been published.

Threadsovereign prepares the pack and records the BSR reference after you file on GOV.UK. There is still no public duty-holder API that files the application for you.

• Regulator: BSR, standalone since 27 January 2026 — not HSE, and not a future single construction regulator
• Levy: in force from 1 October 2026; a rejected application resubmitted afterwards can be in scope
• Cladding Bill: second reading 27 October 2026; not law; Schedule 8 unchanged
• Gateway 2 legal periods: 12 weeks new work, 8 weeks existing work; recent median was 23 weeks
• Category A: still the current definition until a statutory instrument says otherwise
• BAC: 28-day direction clock unchanged; September criteria document not published
• No statutory annual return and no annual fee on an occupied higher-risk building

Conclusion

The useful discipline this month is to match each headline to an instrument. The levy and the regulator’s independence are law. Gateway 2 times in the bulletin are performance. The cladding Bill and the Category A proposal are not yet changes you can rely on, or ignore a current duty for. We will update the Part 5 guide and this note when the Public Bill Committee reports, and the BAC guide if BSR actually publishes the new criteria.