The construction sector in the UK has issued a warning to the British Government that new home housing targets will not be met if there are not enough workers to build the houses and the infrastructure needed.
In what is being described as an unprecedented move, they have come together with one voice to warn the Government of the dangers of the industry facing a cliff edge regarding access to European Union workers.
In an unprecedented show of unity, seven of the construction industry’s major trade bodies have set out what they believe to be the sector’s responsibilities and requirements in a post-Brexit labour market.
They warn that the Government’s new target of 300,000 new homes a year by the middle of the 2020s will not be achievable without the workers to build the houses and the infrastructure needed for their development.
They have published a Construction Industry Brexit Manifesto which commits the sector to doing much more to recruit and train additional UK workers to reduce its future reliance on migrant labour. However, it makes clear that this will not be able to happen overnight and that, for some time, there will likely remain an ongoing need for significant levels of skilled EU workers.
The document sets down the industry’s key messages to the Government on what it will need from a post-Brexit immigration system in order to be able to deliver the Government’s strategic objectives for new housing and infrastructure.
It says that the Government should agree a transition period of at least two years as soon as possible, during which time EU workers arriving in the UK should continue to have a path to settled status and that the post-transitional migration system should be based on key occupations that are in short supply, rather than on arbitrary thresholds based on skill levels or income.
The manifesto comes with the support of seven major construction trade bodies: the Federation of Master Builders, the Association for Consultancy and Engineering, Build UK, the Civil Engineering Contractors Association, the Construction Products Association, the Home Builders Federation, and the National Federation of Builders
‘The construction industry has been criticised in the past for being too disparate but it has come together here with one voice and set of clear messages. We know we need to step up as an industry and train more home-grown talent but we also have to be realistic about the future. There will continue to be some ongoing need for migrant workers and our post-Brexit migration rules will need to be fit for purpose,’ said Brian Berry, chief executive of the Federation of Master Builders.
According to John Slaughter, director of external affairs at the Home Builders Federation, the Government’s new target to 300,000 new homes a year by the mid-2020s means that home builders will need to continue to bring more skilled people into the industry.
‘Companies are building on their existing investment through the successful work of the CITB-supported Home Building Skills Partnership and are committed to doing even more, but to deliver the national social and economic necessity of an improved housing supply we will also continue to need access to foreign workers under a manageable migration system,’ he pointed out.
It means getting more smaller builders building, said Richard Beresford, chief executive of the National Federation of Builders. ‘With the country facing a shortage of skilled workers and the most acute housing crisis in living memory, the Government needs to provide certainty to existing EU workers in the UK and enable construction SMEs to attract more home grown talent into the industry,’ he explained.
