What is the UK Centre for Mould Safety?

[edit] One month to go, UK Centre for Mould Safety launches ahead of Awaab’s Law

The UK Centre for Mould Safety (www.UKCMS.org) launched on 27 September, 2025, exactly one month before Awaab’s Law comes into force, (part of Social Housing (Regulation) Act 2023) to ensure landlords are ready for the most significant housing safety reform in a generation.

From next month, Awaab’s Law will require social landlords to fix reported damp and mould within strict legal timeframes. The law follows the tragic death of two-year-old Awaab Ishak, caused by prolonged exposure to mould in his home.

The UK’s first national body dedicated to mould safety is delivered by Indoor Air Aware (www.indoorairaware.co.uk) - the not-for-profit organisation founded after its creator, Lisa Malyon, was rushed to hospital with pneumonia caused by mould and damp. In absence of official guidance from government, the new resource is designed to serve as an independent authority to:

• Establish national standards and free guidance on safe mould remediation.
• Provide accredited training for all professionals working in homes and public buildings.
• Offer subsidised support to housing providers to meet their new legal duties and protect the public purse.
• Empower homeowners and tenants with knowledge, a lending library of free monitoring tools, air testing, and guidance.

[edit] Background to the launch

Lisa Malyon, Founder of Indoor AirAware and the UK Centre for Mould Safety, from Purley in Surrey, comments: “I learned the hard way when dealing with mould, and became hospitalised as a result of using surface treatments without protection. My daughter’s developing lungs will never recover from the impact of mould in our living space. If this resource was available to us when we first had a problem with mould, we could have avoided the devastating health impact. I am on a mission to deliver a #BetterBritain.

“After I started the Facebook community ‘Mums Versus Mould’ I watched hundreds of families join each week who all had the same questions - it was clear that official guidance would benefit everyone. Today we have a community of over 2,100 families who have helped to shape our resources.

“Awaab’s Law will fast-track substandard and dangerous mould practices that are exacerbating the microbial risk to health that we are seeing today. Awaab’s Law will only ever benefit tenants if landlords, councils and contractors have the right knowledge, training and standards to act effectively. The UK Centre for Mould Safety exists to close that gap and protect homes, people, the economy and the NHS.”

Below the 10-year old daughter of Lisa Malyon, Founder of the UK Centre for Mould Safety, takes a steroid inhaler morning and night as a result of avoidable mould illness (image supplied by Lisa Malyon).

[edit] Mould washes and hazardous products and procedures

A key priority for the UK Centre for Mould Safety is tackling the widespread use of dangerous ‘wash and block’ treatments. Marketed as solutions, these products only mask the issue temporarily, leaving the root causes of mould untreated and the process further contaminates the living space. The wash acts as a flood of chemicals sweeping across the colony, killing some spores and hyphae, which, to the mould, is chemical warfare. The mould responds by releasing more spores and sometimes, mycotoxins, which can both have a devastating effect on the human body’s respiratory and inflammatory system.

The ‘block’ - a paint or coating containing fungicide - can create a surface that is temporarily toxic to mould. This raises the warfare stakes encouraging growth that does break through to be more chemically aggressive. Lisa Malyon continues:

“Tackling mould colonies without addressing the underlying cause - fuel poverty, damp, historical water damage, or poor ventilation - only triggers a survival response. Disturbed mould releases more spores into the air, produces harsher chemicals that affect human health, and ultimately returns stronger than before, outlasting the ‘sticking plaster’ fix that has been applied.

“Supermarket ‘mould removal’ sprays make the problem worse by normalising repeated surface cleaning while the mould inevitably grows back with a vengeance. On porous materials such as plasterboard, mould cannot be killed; these sprays simply bleach the surface, hiding the problem rather than solving it. Worse still, many products fail to warn about the need for protective equipment or adequate ventilation, instructing users to spray directly onto mould - a practice that is not only ineffective, but also hazardous to health.”

The sticking plaster approach to mould is estimated to cost UK households tens of millions of pounds a year, while the NHS spends over £1.4 billion annually treating illnesses linked to poor housing, damp and mould. Every year, 70 million inhalers are prescribed in the UK, a stark reminder of the scale of respiratory illness made worse by poor indoor environments.

Ryszard Jankowski is the Technical Director at the UK Centre for Mould Safety. He is responsible for the technical advice guides made available to the public. He comments: “Just as the Health and Safety Executive published clear guidance on the removal of asbestos, the UK Centre for Mould Safety has published exactly the same, but for mould.

“As an expert in safe microbial remediation, I couldn’t continue to watch people’s homes and health ruined by poor practices or snake oil products and services - we simply had to act, and fast, ahead of the new law coming into force on the 27th October 2025.

“The residents being put at risk is only part of the problem. There are also hundreds of thousands of people being sent to treat mould without the correct risk assessments or protective equipment every day, which will have a detrimental effect on their own health, too.

“Excess moisture in homes doesn’t only result in mould - it’s just that it is the most commonly known microbe because it’s visible. Prolonged damp conditions allow a range of microbial life to flourish, and many of these can be hidden or invisible to the naked eye. These microbes are hazardous to health - especially for those with vulnerabilities. ”

[edit] A breath of fresh air

The public health case is clear. The Royal College of Physicians’ report A Breath of Fresh Air foreworded by Chief Medical Officer Professor Chris Whitty highlights indoor air quality as “one of the biggest public health challenges of our time.” The UK Centre for Mould Safety will help translate this evidence into standards, practice and accountability across housing and buildings.

Expert backing from 29 advisors The launch is supported by a cross-disciplinary advisory group of 29 experts spanning respiratory medicine, paediatrics, environmental health, building physics, ventilation engineering, microbiology, public health, housing law and tenant advocacy. This coalition will guide the UK Centre for Mould Safety on evidence standards, training curricula, and real-world implementation, ensuring guidance is clinically sound, technically robust, and practical for landlords and contractors.

[edit] The cost of damp and mould in the UK - the facts and stats

• £1.4 billion — annual NHS cost of treating illnesses made worse by poor housing, including damp and mould (BRE Trust, The Cost of Poor Housing).
• 1 in 5 homes in England is estimated to have a problem with damp, mould or condensation (English Housing Survey).
• 70 million inhalers are prescribed in the UK every year, many for conditions worsened by poor indoor air quality (NHS England).
• In England alone, exposure to damp and mould is estimated to contribute to around 5,000 new asthma cases and 8,500 new lower respiratory infections every year (Sharpe et al., Environments, 2023).
• The impact is not evenly distributed: households in the lowest income quintile carry almost 2.7 times the respiratory disease burden compared with the most affluent, underlining how poor housing exacerbates existing health inequalities and widening the call for positive change (Sharpe et al., 2023).

[edit] Free resources, support and research

The UK Centre for Mould Safety is a not-for-profit organisation that provides technical advice guides to households free of charge and charge a subsidised £25+VAT to trade professionals. Proceeds from the sale of the guides will fund the free public service.

Households will be empowered to understand their rights and the correct procedures expected of tradespeople visiting their homes and can access free virtual ventilation visits to help diagnose ventilation or damp issues in their home.

This article was issued via press release as "One Month to Go UK Centre for Mould Safety Launches Ahead of Awaab’s Law" dated 29 September 2025 from Lisa Malyon, Founder of the UK Centre for Mould Safety.

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