The announcement of the Autumn Budget in November drew both praise and criticism, but it seems that contractors will benefit from investment in a number of construction projects in 2018, that were announced both within the Budget and throughout the year.
Investment in construction
Housing
The government has said that they want to raise the housing supply within the UK by 300,000 per year by the mid-2020s. In order to do this, the government will provide £15 billion in financial support to house building and will ensure that more land is made available to build these new homes with planning reforms. This ultimately means that construction contractors will have significantly more opportunity for housing projects over the coming years.
HS2
2018 will also see the first major construction projects begin on High Speed Two (HS2). With construction expected to continue well into the 2020s, this will inevitably lead to a significant increase in construction contractor demand and subsequently more opportunities for contractors at each stage of the development.
Training
Skills shortages are affecting industries throughout the UK, with construction skills one of the priority sectors that the government will be focusing on in the first instance. To tackle this growing issue, the government will be investing £30 million in the testing of both AI and educational technologies, thus ensuring that those working in construction have the right skills to work effectively and efficiently.
With the coming 12 months looking to be a great time for those working within the construction industry, we want to ensure that construction contractors are able to focus on the project at hand, safe in the knowledge that they are working compliantly under the Construction Industry Scheme (CIS).
Under Exchequer’s CIS service we ensure that all contractors working with us are compliant with HMRC guidelines, amongst numerous other benefits. Alongside this, we offer a comprehensive public liability insurance for our contractors so that they are covered in the event of a claim made against them.
