CONSTRUCTION EMPLOYERS FEDERATION THE VOICE OF THE INDUSTRY
New UK Government must work with NI Executive to fix capital funding deficit PRIORITIES INCLUDE ENHANCING THE NI EXECUTIVE’S CAPITAL BUDGET, DELIVERING A COMPREHENSIVE SPENDING REVIEW AND SUPPORTING DEVOLVED POWERS TO RAISE REVENUE, ACCORDING TO THE LATEST CEF CONSTRUCTION SURVEY…
The latest CEF Construction Survey reflects a strong view within the Northern Ireland construction industry that the new UK Government must form an early collaborative partnership with the NI Executive to deal with our infrastructure deficit and put the public finances on a much sounder, longer-term footing. The survey, which collected data from NI-headquartered firms which have a collective annual turnover of approximately £2.5bn, covers 2023/24 and reflects on many of the key challenges that contractors, civil engineers and homebuilders are facing currently. The main findings included: • 65% of respondents said their turnover had increased by at least 10% in 2023/24 • 55% said that their profit margins
were slightly better in 2023/24 than 2022/23, while 18% said profit margins were worse year on year • Over the last year, some 80% of firms were operating at full or almost-full capacity On the industry’s skills challenge, the three main issues that were identified were: • Specific skills shortages in construction trades • Visibility of pipeline and market confidence to recruit new workers • The perception of construction as an attractive career path Materials shortages are almost completely resolved: 96% said any issues were now manageable. Inflationary issues have abated, but by no means for all, with 75% of respondents saying they now
had a moderate impact but were manageable and 25% that they were continuing to have a serious impact causing financial concern. The three main priorities for the new UK Government are: • Urgently enhance the NI Executive’s capital budget this year to deal with shortfalls for clients such as the housing associations and NI Water • Speedily deliver a Comprehensive Spending Review to allow the NI Executive to set a multi-year budget for 2025/26 onwards • Encourage the NI Executive to use powers it already has to raise revenue to grow its own budget On the future of the Apprenticeship Levy, survey respondents were evenly split between two options: • Maintain the Levy as is, but ensure that the money raised from NI companies is spent on apprenticeships/training in NI • Devolve the power to raise the Levy to the NI Assembly and enable the NI Executive to craft its own approach to using the funds for apprenticeships/training
“While a number of the key challenges of recent years such as unprecedented inflation and materials shortages have undoubtedly abated, the principal issue looking ahead is the lack of finance available to the Northern Ireland Executive.”
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