FOI Shows Asbestos Register Could Be Run at Modest Cost
- Airtight on Asbestos
- Sep 5
- 2 min read
In July 2025 asbestos campaigner Richard Blunt raised a Freedom of Information request with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government. This was to assess the cost of setting up and operating a national register to record the energy ratings for commercial and domestic premises in the UK.
The purpose was to estimate the cost of a comparable system to record the presence of asbestos in buildings, which had been recommended by the Work & Pensions Committee, as a result of its 2022 Inquiry into the HSE’s approach to asbestos management. This recommendation had been rejected by the previous Conservative Government on the grounds that it was too expensive, and burdensome.
The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government has disclosed the following:
The register, which moved to MHCLG in 2020, cost around £2.5 million to develop over its first 18 months on GOV.UK. This figure includes salaries for civil servants and contracted developers, as well as non-staff costs such as hosting, software, and service desk provision. In its final year under the previous supplier, the service cost £3.6 million.
In 2024–25, the annual operating cost was about £1.4 million. This covers technical and operational staff, IT infrastructure, and administrative functions, and is fully funded by lodgement fees (£1.50 for domestic EPCs and £1.70 for non-domestic).
Technical maintenance for the same year cost £945,000 – £720,000 for technical staff and £225,000 for hosting, software, accessibility, and cyber-security.
Seventeen staff currently support the register’s operations, with total staffing costs of £1.1 million in 2024–25. These staff also maintain the national list of accredited EPC assessors.
Mesothelioma UK Ambassador, Richard Blunt, said,
“The government already runs a successful and very useful national register to track the energy performance of homes and offices at modest cost. To claim a similar system for asbestos is ‘too expensive’ is not logical when lives are at stake. If we can afford to log energy performance, we can afford to track a known carcinogen that kills more than 5,000 people a year.”
Ends
Contact for media enquiries: Richard Blunt
M: 07711 765 809
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