20 Mar 2025
CIH's submission to The Centre for Social Justice’s call for evidence on skills to build
We welcome the opportunity to respond to the Centre for Social Justice’s (CSJ) call for evidence into skills and labour shortages in the UK construction sector.
We have outlined our high-level response to the consultation below, answering those questions that are relevant to our position as the professional body for the housing sector.
What are the primary factors contributing to the skills shortage in the housing and construction sector?
We have a desperate need to boost the supply of affordable housing in the UK, particularly social rented homes, to tackle the rising levels of homelessness and those forced to live in temporary accommodation. It is therefore welcome that the government has a commitment to growing housing delivery, with an ambition of building 1.5 million homes in this parliament.
However, to achieve this target, it is crucial that the skills, resources and capacity of the sector are expanded to meet the challenges ahead. The UK Housing Review’s Autumn Briefing and upcoming 2025 publication outline the challenges in achieving the 1.5 million homes target, and what is needed to support the sector in delivery. Specifically, the closest we have reached to achieving the required level of housing delivery was significantly supported by council housebuilding. Local authorities have since experienced ongoing cuts to finances and support, and many are severely struggling, as outlined below. As such, there are many areas of skills and capacity shortages that must be addressed to build at the scale required.
The call for evidence notes the CITB report which outlines the consequential gap of 251,000 construction workers required to meet new demands. There is also a rise in demand for construction workers in the UK.
We support the work of the Chartered Institute of Building (CIOB) in this space, particularly in attracting new people to the construction sector and recommendations for addressing the skills gap. We would like to reflect the key points in their response to CSJ’s call evidence around the history of construction employment and the current pressures facing the sector.
In our response to the National Planning Policy Framework consultation, we outlined the limitations in local authority planning departments, which may impact the effectiveness of the government’s planning reforms. This is both for capacity and resource issues, and skills gaps, particularly for ecological expertise. Planning is a crucial element in the development process, especially for housing, and this will therefore significantly impact upon the construction sector.
Government figures show that in 2022-23, Natural England received 17,761 planning application consultations, and missed its statutory or otherwise agreed deadlines in around 13 per cent of cases. Workload and resourcing issues, especially higher than normal levels of staff churn and the need to upskill new staff, were identified as the main driver of missed deadlines. Simultaneously, Natural England has indicated an intention to focus its advice provision on high-risk and high opportunity casework, noting that decision makers should expect more standardised approaches for lower risk cases. In response to changes, LPAs are supposed to take on the responsibility to apply standardised guidance in the event of lower risk cases, which is a concern when just over a quarter (26 per cent) of LPAs do not have access to ecological expertise. This is especially vital with the recent announcements in the Planning and Infrastructure Bill to reform ecological approaches to planning and the role of Natural England.
With regard to skills gaps, the rapid evolution and reforms of the planning system mean that now more than ever, we need planning officers with a broad range of skills and knowledge, including digital technologies. The government committed to 300 new planning officers and the Planning Skills Fund to address these gaps, however a report by the Resolution Foundation found that an increase of 300 planners translates to fewer than one additional planner per local authority in England, and represents less than 10 per cent of the total fall in public sector planners since 2010. Such a small increase is unlikely to have a material impact on equipping the planning system for kickstarting housebuilding to the levels required.
As noted, local authorities are facing significant resource difficulties, beyond planning alone. The ‘Securing the Future of Council Housing’ report by over 100 councils outlined the clear and imminent threats to ensuring that council housing remains able to support local authorities and be a lifeline for many in need. Research by Savills for the local authority housing sector has also highlighted significant financial pressures that are affecting the Housing Revenue Accounts (HRA) of every local authority across the country, which CIH outlined in our report on the HRA debt settlement.
Local authorities also play a key role beyond approving planning decisions. Many councils have strong development programmes themselves, and are key players in increasing the supply of affordable housing in their areas. Additionally, our members have raised the increasing role they are playing in brokering development deals between developers and registered providers in Section 106 agreements, which are facing many difficulties in some areas. The government has also recently emphasised the use of compulsory purchase order (CPO) powers by local authorities, which requires increased capacity to use these powers effectively.
Therefore, it is crucial that local authorities are resourced in order to contribute towards much needed building initiatives in their crucial role of working with and between those developing new homes.
Visit their website for more details on The Centre for Justice's call for evidence.
For more details on our response please contact Megan Hinch, senior policy officer, megan.hinch@cih.org.
