UK: This week, I received a response from the Welsh Government to the UK RAAC Campaign Group’s Open Letter on the RAAC National Crisis. The reply, sent from an official Buildings Safety Wales email address, was unsigned (click here to read letter).

The content of the letter was courteous, but ultimately illustrative of the problem homeowners across the UK now face: widespread recognition of harm, paired with a persistent reluctance to accept responsibility or show leadership.

What the Welsh Government said

In summary, the Welsh Government response confirmed that:

Policy responsibility for RAAC rests with the UK Government;

The Cabinet Secretary for Housing and Local Government has forwarded our letter to the UK Housing Minister for consideration; and

The Welsh Government remains “committed to working collaboratively” with other governments.

What it did not do is more telling.

What the Welsh Government did not address

The reply did not:

Engage with the extensive evidence dossier provided on the historic promotion and regulation of RAAC;

Acknowledge the growing number of Welsh homeowners affected;

Refer to the findings or pressure arising from the Welsh Petitions Committee;

Commit to joint action with the Scottish Government;

State a position on a UK-wide National RAAC Fund—or, if that fails, on a devolved solution; or

Support calls for a public inquiry into how this material was promoted, regulated, missed, and in some cases concealed.

Most concerningly, the response was unsigned. At a time when families are living with unsafe homes, displacement, debt and deteriorating mental health, the absence of a named official is not a trivial procedural issue. It signals distance, not accountability.

Passing the problem is not leadership

Our Open Letter did not call on devolved governments to bear sole responsibility for a crisis stemming from decisions made before devolution. On the contrary, it made clear that this is a UK-wide building safety failure requiring a nationally funded remedy—and that devolved governments must act to protect citizens if the UK Government abdicates its responsibility.

Devolved governments are not powerless bystanders.

They have:

A duty to advocate vigorously for their citizens’ safety;

A platform to apply coordinated political pressure on Westminster; and

A responsibility to speak plainly and take direct action, including providing immediate remedies, if the UK Government fails to act.

Forwarding correspondence to a UK Minister is not the same as leadership. It is administration.

Why devolved pressure matters

RAAC was promoted, specified and installed during a period of centralised UK control. The consequences are now being managed unevenly across devolved nations, while England continues to under-identify the scale of the problem due to weaker regulatory intervention.

This creates a distorted national picture that allows the UK Government to minimise the crisis and delay action.

Only visible, coordinated pressure from Scotland and Wales—speaking with one voice—can correct that imbalance.

Homeowners are not asking for sympathy

They are asking for:

Fairness;

Consistency;

Restoration to their pre-RAAC financial position or fully funded remediation; and

An honest reckoning with how this failure occurred.

They are also asking for something more basic: for governments to stop treating this as a problem to be passed on, reframed, or quietly managed, and to start treating it as a national injustice that demands resolution.