A New Deal for Britain’s Builders

This is a guest blog by Ian Anfield, Managing Director of Hudson Contract

The Labour government should start a different kind of conversation with construction and build a new relationship with our industry to drive economic growth and increase social mobility across the UK. As a leading supplier of business services to construction SMEs, we welcome the Government’s commitment to “get Britain building” and accelerate much-needed development through planning reform.

The sector has had 10 ministers in the last five years, a sign that previous administrations failed to take construction seriously. Our industry needs stability and a proper infrastructure plan, even if it shows less spending initially. Ideally, the new construction minister would have a brief to work across other government departments such as education with its crumbling schools, health with its ageing estate, and environment with its filthy rivers as well as housing and transport.

As for the workforce needed to deliver infrastructure improvements and 1.5 million new homes, the government should recognise the essential contribution made by self-employed tradespeople. These tradespeople represent the most highly skilled, productive and flexible pool of labour resource in construction and will be essential to the success of Labour’s growth mission.

If the government wants to tackle wider issues around employment, productivity, skills and training, it should start at the top, not the bottom, of the sector. To boost job creation, the industry needs a regular supply of work, local procurement rather than national frameworks, major contractors to pay on time and the abolition of retentions, which hit cash flow.

These measures will help smaller firms to grow and create employment and training opportunities in communities across the UK.

Alongside reforms to the apprenticeship levy, the abolition of the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education (IFATE) and the creation of Skills England, the government should strip the Construction Industry Training Board (CITB) of its levy-raising powers after decades of failure and absorb it into the new national skills body. The CITB has amassed a cash pile of more than £100m which should cover termination costs, with a small number of good people and a significant amount of cash left over that could be rolled into Skills England.

The model for engagement with our industry also needs a shake-up as the current arrangements via the Construction Leadership Council and trade federations do not work. This is primarily because those organisations have no relationship with the vast majority of construction companies. A recent poll by Survation showed just 12 per cent of construction firms are members of the main federations. Of the large number of construction firms we deal with, very few are aware of the Construction Leadership Council and none have contributed to its policies or lobbying activities.

Hudson Contract helps construction SMEs comply with tax and employment law so they can get on with growing their businesses. We have 2,600 clients, ranging from small building firms to tier two contractors, and engage more than 70,000 subcontractors each year on their behalf.

Based in Bridlington, a coastal town in East Yorkshire, we operate a sponsorship and mentoring scheme for young people to become apprentices with small and micro construction firms. The 260 apprentices we have sponsored so far have learned valuable trade skills and will go on to develop rewarding careers. We know construction is a very entrepreneurial industry: official statistics confirm it has the second highest levels of upward intergenerational mobility of any sector.

It would be great to see the new government celebrate construction and its skilled trades and dynamic owner-managed construction firms – they will be vital for economic growth and social mobility across the UK.