YOUR FMB POLICY UPDATE
The FMB regularly engages politicians and other important industry stakeholders to promote the interests of members. Here’s the latest summary of our various activities MAKING MEMBERS HEARD
Meeting with the Lords In late May, members of the FMB House Building Group met with members of the House of Lords Built Environment Committee to discuss pressures on the industry. The session, which took place in a new estate in Rugby, focused on the raft of new environmental regulations in the pipeline. Members aired their views on these new regulations and addressed the bigger picture: the decline in output from small house builders over the last 30 years. The findings from the meeting will help inform how the committee scrutinises UK Governmental policy-making.
Meeting Shadow Minister for Business and Industry
Government, and hosted at London Olympia to discuss greening the built environment. The FMB took part in a session discussing retrofitting existing building stock and noted that doing so would provide a steady pipeline of work for small local builders for many years – but it said that the UK Government has to back the industry to do it. BATJIC New BATJIC rates came into effect on Monday 19 June, with an 8% increase in wages. The Building and Allied Trades Joint Industrial Council (BATJIC) is an annually agreed voluntary wages and payment scheme for members, which is negotiated between the FMB and UNITE the Union. Members may use the scheme in its entirety or as guidance but they are not bound to follow it. We know many members choose to go beyond BATJIC rates.
The FMB met with Shadow Minister for Business and Industry, Bill Esterson, to discuss a range of issues affecting the industry, from retrofitting and skills to housebuilding. It’s important that the FMB engages with politicians, especially those on the front benches of Parliament, to ensure that the members’ voices are heard. Looking ahead Over the summer, we’ll be preparing for the Conservative and Labour Party Conferences, which provide opportunities to share the issues that matter to our members with a diverse political audience. FMB will be holding a panel session on SME house building and a range of one-to-one meetings with politicians
Infrastructure Levy and planning fees
The UK Government is determining how best to collect fees from building homes for use in public sector improvements. The FMB, along with many other construction organisations, has agreed that the proposed new system, the ‘Infrastructure Levy’, won’t be viable for members and could stop homes from being built. We have written to the UK Government in a joint letter asking for its current proposal to be reconsidered. The UK Government has also been consulting on raising planning fees for house building. While we understand that local authorities have stretched planning services, we don’t believe upping planning fees will solve the issue and it could even lead to a decrease in housing supply. We have responded to the UK Government, urging decision-makers to reconsider increasing planning fees. Innovation Zero Retrofit is high on the agenda for many in the industry and in May, the FMB attended Innovation Zero – a conference backed by the UK
and stakeholders to make sure our key messages are well understood.
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Master Builder
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