Asbestos clearance appointment ban does not commence until November 2027
S.I. 2026/1153 brings technical amendments into force in 2026, but retains the existing clearance-commissioning arrangement for a further year.
1Summary
The Control of Asbestos (Amendment etc.) Regulations 2026 (S.I. 2026/1153) amend the Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012 for Great Britain. Most of the statutory instrument comes into force on 25 November 2026. Its substantive amendment to regulation 20, however, does not commence until 25 November 2027. From that date, the employer required by regulation 17(b) to ensure post-work cleaning cannot appoint the person assessing whether the premises have been thoroughly cleaned and are suitable for reoccupation. The legal change is a limited prohibition on appointment by the cleaning employer, not a freestanding statutory test of independence. Compliance teams should therefore map current analyst appointment routes and amend procurement and subcontracting arrangements before the delayed commencement date.
The Explanatory Note describes an independently appointed assessor. The operative provision is narrower: it does not itself prohibit common ownership, continuing commercial relationships, referral arrangements or other financial interests between the cleaning employer and the assessor. It also does not specify who must appoint the assessor instead.
2What changes
- 1. Regulation 2(2) substitutes regulation 20 of the Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012 on standards for air testing and site clearance certification. The substituted rule retains requirements concerning accreditation and specified quality and technical matters for air measurements and clearance assessments.
- 2. New regulation 20(4) prevents the employer responsible for thorough cleaning under regulation 17(b) from appointing the person who assesses cleaning and suitability for reoccupation. The provision commences on 25 November 2027, not on the general commencement date.
- 3. The instrument does not create a general statutory definition of an independent assessor. It addresses the direct appointment link between the cleaning employer and the clearance assessor. Organisations should test group-company structures, framework agreements and referral arrangements against their own governance requirements, but those wider relationships are not expressly prohibited by regulation 20(4).
- 4. Regulation 2(3) updates the reference in regulation 31 to the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 (Application outside Great Britain) Order 2013. Regulation 2(4) removes the redundant reference to the revoked Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2007 from Schedule 3. These provisions commence on 25 November 2026.
- 5. No full impact assessment has been produced. The Explanatory Note states that no, or no significant, private- or voluntary-sector impact is foreseen, but publishes no estimate of changed commissioning costs, accredited analyst availability or programme effects during the changeover.
3Who is affected
Employers carrying out asbestos work and responsible for cleaning are directly in scope from 25 November 2027: they must cease appointing their own clearance assessor. Building owners, occupiers, dutyholders and project clients may need to appoint the assessor or establish another compliant route, although the instrument does not assign that role expressly. Accredited asbestos inspection and testing organisations may receive work through revised procurement arrangements. Workers, occupiers and persons returning to premises remain subject to the previous appointment arrangement until the delayed provision commences.
The instrument does not create a new enforcement body or state an assessment of enforcement capacity. It records consultation with HSE, the Office for Nuclear Regulation and other appropriate bodies, but does not identify the other consultees or publish their representations. The one-year delay operates as the practical transition period, without an explanation in the instrument of why that duration was selected.
4Key dates
- 02 November 2026: S.I. 2026/1153 was made and signed by Stephen Timms, Minister of State at the Department for Work and Pensions.
- 03 November 2026: S.I. 2026/1153 was laid before Parliament.
- 25 November 2026: Regulations 2(3) and 2(4), and the remainder of the instrument other than regulation 2(2), come into force.
- 25 November 2027: Regulation 2(2), substituting regulation 20 of the Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012, comes into force; the cleaning employer appointment prohibition begins.