The Construction Leadership Council (CLC) today published its biennial report, setting out its key priorities for 2026 and detailing the significant progress made during 2025 under each of the CLC’s four strategic pillars: building safety; net zero, resilience and circular economy; people and skills; and next generation delivery.

Over the past year highlights include:

• Establishing the Construction Skills Mission Board to support the delivery of the £625m Construction Skills Mission, and developing over 40 competency frameworks through the Industry Competence Steering Group;
• Working closely with the Building Safety Regulator, the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government and the Health and Safety Executive to implement the Building Safety Act across the industry;
• Responding to the consultation on tackling late payment and to reform the practice of retentions;
• Growing the CO2nstructZero programme to involve over 300 companies;
• Continuing to embed the use of the Information Management Initiative Framework across the industry and Government.

As part of its 2026 strategy, the CLC has announced a major change in its strategic priorities. Following the successful launch of the Information Management Initiative in 2025, the ‘Next Generation Delivery’ priority has now been retired, and two new priority areas have been established: ‘Digitalising Planning and Building Control’ and ‘Business Model Reform’.

Isabel Coman, the Industry Sponsor for Next Generation Delivery, has stood done from her role, and two new Industry Sponsors will be appointed in the coming months. This will be alongside a formal process that will be run to appoint a new Deputy Co-Chair for the CLC.

Looking ahead, the CLC’s 2026 action plan focuses on delivering progress in relation to key issues for the industry. These include:

Net Zero, resilience & circular economy:

• CO2nstructZero: Align the CO2nstructZero Performance Framework and strategy with the Climate Change Committee’s 7th Climate Budget and embed it across industry.
• Green Construction Board: Enable and enhance procurement decisions to systematically identify and prioritise low-carbon solutions in infrastructure.
• Building safety: Working with industry and Government on the implementation of the Single Construction Regulator to ensure that the future regulation of the sector is effective and efficient.
• People and skills: Convene industry around the challenge of how we design and implement a digital skills passporting eco-system for the built environment.
• Digitalising planning and building control: Refocus the efforts of the workstream to prioritise progress on the digitalisation of the planning and building control systems, in partnership with MHCLG and wider industry stakeholders.
• Business model reform: Convene and facilitate engagement between the Government, key stakeholders and industry on recently announced legislative proposals to address late payments and abolish retention clauses in construction contracts.
• Health, Safety and Wellbeing: Publishing the Health, Safety and Wellbeing Action Plan in May 2026, followed by a Mental Health Action Plan and Joint Code of Practice in the summer providing advice to employers on creating a more supportive environment for employees.

In addition, work will continue under the digitalising planning and building control workstream to advance broader digital and data-led innovation across the sector — including the accelerated rollout of the CLC’s Information Management Initiative.

The report itself sets out detailed 2026 objectives and 2025 achievements for each of the CLC’s five core priorities and five industry working groups: Housing, Infrastructure, Domestic Repair, Maintenance and Improvement, Place, Commissioning and Assets and Health, Safety and Wellbeing.
The CLC will fully utilise its expanded board to maintain – and further strengthen – engagement with major Government departments that shape policy and outcomes for the industry.

Mark Reynolds CBE (Executive Chairman, Mace Group and CLC Co-Chair) said:

“The CLC’s latest report highlights a successful and productive 2025 but also recognises that significant work still lies ahead if the sector is to meet its long term ambitions.

“What remains unchanged is the critical importance of collaboration between Government, regulators and industry — and ensuring that organisations of every size are part of that effort.

“By working together, we can accelerate progress in 2026 on the issues that matter most, from improving skills, safety and wellbeing to enhance industry performance and helping Government to achieve its growth objectives for housing, infrastructure, retrofit and remediation.”

Chris McDonald MP (Industry Minister and CLC Co-Chair) said:

“This new report shows how vital the Construction Leadership Council’s work was to our construction sector in 2025, including establishing the new Mission Board to oversee £625m of skills investment, supporting delivery of the Building Safety Act, and growing CO2nstructZero to involve more than 300 companies.
“Construction is central to the UK’s growth and as Co-Chair of the CLC I’m proud to back its 2026 action plan, which will streamline regulation to boost productivity, improve health and safety for workers and double down on sustainability so the sector can play its part with our natural environment.”

FIS recently visited Les Compagnons du Devoir in Strasbourg, alongside representatives from Locker & Riley, George Jackson Limited, and Saint-Gobain Formula, to gain first hand insight into one of Europe’s most renowned vocational training and apprenticeship systems.

Founded in the Middle Ages, Les Compagnons du Devoir has built a long-standing reputation for delivering high quality apprenticeship programs across construction, metalwork, woodworking, and other skilled trades. Its model, combining hands on experience, structured classroom learning, mentorship, and mobility across regions is widely regarded as a benchmark for vocational education.

Its influence extends well beyond France, with European trade bodies, governments, and 21,000 employers often looking to Les Compagnons as an exemplar of structured, effective skills development that produces highly capable, versatile tradespeople.

The visit offered FIS a unique opportunity to see how Les Compagnons du Devoir combines hands on experience, structured classroom learning, and mentorship to develop highly skilled tradespeople across construction and other sectors.

We were particularly interested in how the model integrates work placements with personal development and mobility, enabling apprentices to gain experience across multiple regions and companies.

During the visit, we toured training facilities, observed workshops in action, and met with tutors and apprentices to understand the balance between practical skills, theoretical learning,professional culture and equally as important, the way they live and eat, in building those life-long skills and community. They also discussed the organisation’s approach to quality assurance, skills certification, and career progression.

FIS Head of Skills and Training Beena Nana said:

“With ongoing skills shortages, it’s inspiring to see a structured, practical approach that combines practical experience with high quality training. Learning from proven models like Les Compagnons du Devoir provides real opportunities to explore how similar systems could be implemented in the UK. Collaboration and knowledge sharing like this will be key to building a stronger, more resilient workforce for the future.”

FIS is exploring how key elements of the Les Compagnons du Devoir model could be adapted to the UK context to strengthen skills development across the sector.

By combining practical experience with structured classroom learning, mentorship, and opportunities for mobility between companies, the UK could develop a more flexible, skilled, and resilient workforce.

While the approach would need to reflect UK industry needs, regulations, and apprenticeships, learning from this proven European model offers practical insights into how a structured, high quality training system can address current and future skills shortages.”  

On Monday 23 March Government opened a consultation on proposals to merge the Construction Industry Training Board (CITB) and the Engineering Construction Industry Training Board (ECITB) into a single, unified Industry Training Board (ITB). The consultation closes on Sunday 14 June 2026.

The new ITB would serve both the construction and engineering construction sectors, replacing the separate roles currently fulfilled by CITB and ECITB.

Purpose of the consultation

The aim is to create a single body better equipped to support employers and address the skills challenges facing the construction and engineering construction sectors.

The proposal sets out:

• The rationale for ITB reform, including the skills challenges it seeks to address.
• The proposed approach to ITB reform and the intended benefits of a single, unified ITB.
• Technical details of creating a single ITB, including implications for governance, levy arrangements, and training provision.
• Alternative approaches to ITB reform that were considered.

The consultation also seeks views on two potential areas for future reform:

1. Whether further changes should be made to the employer activities covered by a single ITB.
2. Whether the maximum period for an ITB Levy Order should be extended beyond three years.

Your voice. FIS is encourages members to respond

FIS will be consolidating response via our Skills Board.  Members are encouraged to feed their views in and welcome to attend the next meeting to take part in deeper discussions. 

In response to the launch of the consultation, FIS Head of Skills Beena Nana said:

“Since becoming a Prescribed Organisation nearly a decade ago, we have consistently raised concerns about the CITB levy and how it delivers for our community, for you.  We welcome this consultation as an opportunity for our members to have their say on how we can rethink the future levies and the support the sector actually needs.

We encourage all members to review the proposals and respond. This is your platform and FIS is here to help raise your concerns and where possible, to bring change.

Your feedback will help ensure any reforms improve training, better target skills gaps, and support a workforce equipped for the evolving demands of the construction and engineering construction industries.”

The consultation comes at a critical time as workforce shortages and skills gaps continue to challenge the sector. FIS is inviting all members to take part to ensure the finishes and interiors sector is fully represented in shaping the future of the levy and training boards.

Details of the proposal, the consultation and how to respond can be found here: Industry Training Board reform – GOV.UK

Find out more about the FIS Skills Board

We are inviting members to take part in the ongoing government consultations on Construction Product Regulatory Reform.

Construction Products White Paper
This consultation follows the green paper consultation last year and seeks views on the broad reform proposed by Government to construction products to ensure that there are obligations on those placing products on the market. Members can respond directly to the consultation here before 20 May 2026, or complete and return the questions in this form and return to damianhill@thefis.org by Friday 8 May 2026.

General Safety Requirement on Construction Products
This consultation more narrowly covers the proposed regulatory regime for products not covered by a designated standard under a new General Safety Requirement (GSR) . Members can respond directly to the consultation here before 20 May 2026, or complete and return the questions in this form and return to damianhill@thefis.org by Friday 8 May 2026. 

If you have questions about the difference between these consultations, how they apply to you or the best way to respond, please feel free to contact jamesparlour@thefis.org, or damianhill@thefis.org

A ban on construction retention, interest on late payments and fines for perennial offenders are amongst a a stack of hard-hitting legislative interventions announced today by the UK Government as they set out to clamp down once and for all on payment abuse.

In what is undoubtedly the largest and most ambitious set of reforms in over a generation, this heralds a landmark day for construction.  The changes announced will include a new 60-day cap on payment terms on all large firms when paying smaller suppliers.  New mandatory interest on late payments will also be introduced, with a requirement for all commercial contracts to include statutory interest set at 8% above the Bank of England base rate.

For example, if a small business is owed £10,000 by one of its customers and is paid 60 days later than the agreed payment date, they will be owed £10,293.15 including mandatory interest (£10,000 plus £193.15 interest plus £100 compensation).

The Government also propose to ban the withholding of retention payments under the terms of construction contracts, consulting on its implementation. This will prevent small firms losing retentions to insolvency or non-payment.

In addition The Small Business Commissioner (SBC) will be given sweeping new powers to investigate poor payment practices and fine the worst offenders – with fines worth tens of millions for firms that persistently pay late or fail to comply with the new laws.  The SBC will also be given the power to adjudicate payment disputes, but FIS has been advised that this element will not apply to contracts currently covered by the Construction Act.

The measures, announced will be the toughest in the G7 and will build upon and strengthen legislation on late payments, first laid out in the 1998 Late Payment of Commercial Debt Act, over 25 years ago.  The stated aim is to boost the economy by giving small businesses better cashflow and ultimately tackle a problem that is estimated to be costing the UK economy £11 billion every year and address issues that are contributing to 38 businesses shut their doors every single day because they are not paid on time.

Responding to the announcement, Iain McIlwee, FIS Chief Executive said:

 “This is a landmark day.  We have long called for retention to be abolished and the scourge of late payment to be addressed through regulation and here we are – a plausible set of recommendations laid out and a timeline is being set.  These issues have been a cancer at the core of our sector.  Negative behaviours have become the norm and have restricted capacity, inhibited workforce development and diminished the sector’s ability to perform.

We applaud Government for taking this stand and colleagues in the Civil Service for helping to champion the concerns of the supply chain and setting the wheels in motion for change.

We appreciate this is not the end, but we do very much see it as the beginning of the end for the worst of payment abuse and FIS has already committed to working with Government, the Small Business Commissioner and colleagues from across construction to make sure that the intent of these regulations is delivered and the opportunity to reshape construction is fully grasped”

Business Secretary Peter Kyle said:

“Far too many businesses are forced to shut down because they have not been paid – that is simply unacceptable.

“We are unveiling the strongest, most robust changes to payment laws in over a generation – laws that will transform the fortunes of small businesses for years to come and make their day to day lives much easier.”

Minister for Small Business and Economic Transformation, Blair McDougall said:

“I know first-hand how difficult late payments can be, forcing you to decide if you can afford to keep a business running, pay employees or even buy Christmas presents for your children.

“That is why I’m proud to be leading the charge on tackling a problem that has been left untouched for far too long.

“These are genuinely game changing measures that will ensure no business, no employer, no family has to endure the immense strain of being left strapped for cash they have already earnt.”

Emma Jones CBE, Small Business Commissioner said:

“We are on a mission to make life easier for small firms by getting money moving faster through the economy by tackling late payments. The measures the Government has announced today will strengthen the role of my office in taking on the worst payers alongside ensuring small businesses have a stronger voice on payment terms and late payment interest. These reforms will reduce the hours spent chasing debt allowing small businesses to focus on more productive and enjoyable growth.”

FIS has already met with officials to understand the extent and timline of this work and will keep members informed, but this is undoubtedly a positive day for all in the construction supply chain and a clear step towards a better payment culture in the sector.

You can see the published documents here: Late payments: tackling poor payment practices – GOV.UK

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