by Clair Mooney | Oct 28, 2021 | Main News Feed
The Cabinet Office has published an updated Procurement Policy Note (PPN) confirming that the prompt payment threshold is going to be increased for suppliers bidding for Government contracts above £5 million per annum.
From 1 April 2022, suppliers will be required to show that they pay 90% of invoices within 60 days and have an action plan in place to achieve the required standard of 95% in future, otherwise they risk being prevented from bidding. Currently a company can still pass if they pay 85% of invoices within 60 days and submit an action plan, and the Cabinet Office is continuing to take a phased approach with the threshold being “ratcheted up over time until it reaches 95%”.
On average, Build UK Contractor members now pay 94% of their invoices within 60 days, and the payment performance table shows the percentage of invoices paid within 60 days for more than 100 of the industry’s largest companies.
by Clair Mooney | Oct 28, 2021 | Main News Feed
Build UK has published an executive summary of the National Infrastructure and Construction Pipeline 2021/22 to help the industry understand recent Government announcements on the delivery of £31 billion of economic and social infrastructure procurements in this financial year.
With the Government aiming to build confidence in the industry to invest in innovation and develop capability, the summary provides a breakdown of the 418 public sector projects by sector, together with when they are anticipated to be awarded. It also includes an overview of planned and projected spend of up to £650 billion over the next 10 years to 2030/31.
by Clair Mooney | Oct 28, 2021 | Main News Feed, Skills
Chancellor, the Rt Hon Rishi Sunak MP, spoke about the absolute critical role of skills throughout his Budget speech on Wednesday afternoon. He stated: “Strengthening the skills of our people, the country’s greatest asset. That’s a real plan for growth. Higher skills lead to higher regional productivity and higher productivity leads to higher wages. With 80% of the UK’s 2030 workforce already in work, our future success depends not just on the schooling we give our children but the lifelong learning we offer to adults. We’ve already done a lot. Our Plan for Jobs invested in apprenticeships, traineeships, and the Kickstart scheme. But we need to go further. Today’s Budget invests in the most wide-ranging skills agenda this country has seen in decades. We’re increasing skills spending, over the Parliament by £3.8bn – an increase of 42%. We’re expanding T Levels, Building Institutes of Technology, Rolling out the Prime Minister’s lifetime skills guarantee, upgrading our FE college estate, quadrupling the number of places on our Skills Bootcamps and significantly increasing funding for apprenticeships.”
On Departmental spending, Sunak declared: “Today’s Budget increases total Departmental spending over this Parliament by £150bn. That’s the largest increase this century, with spending growing by 3.8% a year in real terms. As a result of this Spending Review, and contrary to speculation…there will be a real terms rise in overall spending for every single Department.”
The Treasury subsequently published its Autumn Budget and Spending Review 2021. This reveals that: To boost wages and prospects for all, total spending on skills will increase over the Parliament; by £3.8 billion by 2024-25. This funding will quadruple the number of places on Skills Bootcamps, expand the Lifetime Skills Guarantee on free Level 3 qualifications, and improve numeracy skills through a new Multiply programme. There will be extra classroom hours for up to 100,000 T Level students.
Spending Review 2021 also confirms funding to open 20 Institutes of Technology and investment for improvements to the condition of post 16 estates; including more specialist equipment and facilities for T Levels. This will be funded through a £2.8 billion capital investment in skills. Apprenticeship’s funding will increase to £2.7 billion by 2024-25 – the first increase since 2019-20. The document cites the delivery of “apprenticeship system improvements for all employers”. These include:
- an enhanced recruitment service by May 2022 for SMEs helping them hire new apprentices.
- supporting flexible apprenticeship training models to ensure that apprenticeship training continues to meet the needs of employers.
By April 2022, the Government will consider changes to the provider payment profiles aimed at giving employers more choice over how the apprenticeship training is delivered and explore the streamlining of existing additional employer support payments so that they go directly to employers. Introducing a return on investment tool in October 2022 to ensure employers can see the benefits apprentices create in their business. Extending the 3k apprentice hiring incentive for employers until 31 January 2022.
Investing approximately £10 million a year over the Spending Review in the Sector Based Work Academy Programme. Funding for the Help to Grow schemes will help SMEs improve their productivity through world-class management, skills training, and support for digital adoption.
Sunak also announced funding to extend the Kickstart scheme to March 2022. The KickStart Gateway support programme will close in December 2021.
George Swann Skills and Training Lead said,
“This budget speech clearly indicates the governments drive to encourage investment in home grown talent when it’s known the sector needs competent workers now. The first qualified Interior Systems Installer apprentices will trickle through at the end of this year, but it will not be enough to fill the current vacancies as the apprenticeship training is an 18 month programme. Although individuals will be able to fast track if they complete a T-Level or Traineeship prior to finding employment. To have an impact the government are relying on employers taking on new entrants. It’s still a complicated system, but FIS can provide information, advise and guidance on all things skills, training, qualifications and funding”.
If you need help or just want to talk something through please call George on 07552 874838, Catherine on 07900 083325 or Marie on 07799 903103.
by Clair Mooney | Oct 28, 2021 | Main News Feed
There have been mixed reviews to yesterday’s Autumn budget and spending review, with Construction News referring to it as ‘something of a soggy souffle’. Responding Jeff May, Director of Government Relations and Business Development at the Construction Products Association (CPA) said:
“We think it is understandable that the focus of the Chancellor’s Budget today was on encouraging economic growth, fiscal discipline and resisting demands from the private sector for further expenditure, and rising inflation in all its forms triggering a vulnerability to interest rate rises.
“We were disappointed to see little help for major industrial users with energy costs, or any further financial details on net zero strategies. That said, we welcome a handful of relevant items in particular: the announcements of a 12-month relief on businesses rate hikes arising from premises investment, the cancellation of the planned increase to the business rates multiplier, and the extension of the uplift to the Annual Investment Allowance will go some way to supporting manufacturers while we seek to exit the pandemic in the short-term.
“Given the pre-Budget announcements around various net zero and related sustainability strategies, along with the release in September of the National Infrastructure and Construction Pipeline, the major elements of spending for our sector appear set. The key then, as always, will be delivery. If industry and government can work together and address the supply side risks in particular – labour and skills shortages, energy prices, logistics bottlenecks, for example – then the economic stimulus from our sector in support of this Budget will be considerable.”
FIS members can read the full CPA response here.
by Clair Mooney | Oct 22, 2021 | Main News Feed
A refreshed suite of guidance on managing COVID-19 within construction contracts has been published by the Business Model workstream of the Construction Leadership Council.
The updated documents now include revised information on future-proofing JCT / NEC amendments for new contracts to ensure that if circumstances change parties take a collaborative approach. The suite also provides templates to allow parties to formally record how they can avoid disputes.
The pandemic continues to have a significant impact on the construction sector. Industry has collaborated to address the challenges that have arisen, but concern remains that businesses and their clients could still be bogged down by expensive and lengthy disputes on the impact of the virus on projects.
The publication:
• Updates and brings all guidance and corresponding templates into one place, in an easy-to-use navigable format for reference.
• Provides additional templates to allow parties to conclude their collaboration as a formal adjustment to their contracts.
• Provides a range of templates to support those at different stages of their contracts.
Commenting, Steve Bratt, Chair of the CLC’s Business Models Workstream said:
“Over the last eighteen months, the CLC has advocated for responsible and fair behaviour in both existing and future contractual arrangements to secure the long-term health of the construction industry.
“We supported companies and their clients by publishing extensive contractual guidance for COVID-19 which has been positively received.
“As our industry continues to recover, the CLC has reviewed, updated and added to the suite of contractual guidance helping those on the front line to Build Back Better.”
The guidance documents are available here
by Clair Mooney | Oct 21, 2021 | Main News Feed
In light of rising COVID‐19 case numbers, Health Secretary Sajid Javid gave a press conference on Wednesday and urged people to get vaccinated and take precautions against the virus, including meeting outdoors, wearing masks in crowded enclosed spaces, and taking regular lateral flow tests. Whilst acknowledging that the pandemic is not over and the virus will be with us for the long term, he confirmed that the Government would not be moving to ‘Plan B‘ at this stage but would remain vigilant.
Construction sites should continue to minimise the risk of COVID‐19 and the Site Operating Procedures remain available as a reference document. There is also the Use of Face Coverings in Construction and sites may wish to maintain workplace testing programmes. The Build UK COVID‐19 flowchart is regularly updated on the actions to take if a worker has the virus or needs to self‐isolate, and FIS Associate Member Citation has published guidance for employers on the key questions to think about when developing and implementing a vaccination policy for staff.
