Labour Party Conference had a noticeably different mood this year. Our Chief Executive Brian Berry and the FMB team were in Liverpool, meeting politicians and construction leaders and making sure the issues affecting small building firms were part of the conversation.
There was more optimism, more energy and a sense that the Government has an opportunity to reset. That matters. Construction needs a Government with ambition for housing, retrofit and growth, and there was plenty of it on display in Liverpool.
But ambition is no longer the difficult part. Delivery is.
Small builders don't need another housing target if viable sites remain stuck in planning. Retrofit ambitions won't mean much without a long-term plan that gives firms the confidence to invest in skills and capacity. And promises of economic growth will be harder to deliver if rising employment costs leave small businesses thinking twice about taking on people.
Our sense from the conference was that there is real willingness to tackle these barriers. That's encouraging. The test now is whether that political goodwill turns into practical change for businesses on the ground.
As Brian put it:
Clearly delivery is a key factor I’m picking up, certainly on the construction side. The government has got clear objectives of building more homes, retrofitting five million properties and planning reforms. But it’s a focus on actually getting the job done and looking at those barriers.”
Labour Party Conference at a glance
- The mood was more positive, with a renewed focus on delivering the Government’s housing, retrofit and growth ambitions.
- Planning remains one of the biggest obstacles. Ambitious housing targets need to be matched by a planning system capable of getting viable sites moving.
- There was welcome recognition of the need to support first-time buyers, although the Government’s current approach may do relatively little for small local house builders.
- Skills and business confidence remain major concerns for SME builders trying to invest, recruit and grow.
- We continued to push for a national Licence to Build, making the case that raising standards and tackling rogue traders must be part of the Government’s agenda.
Small builders need to be part of the housing solution
One of the clearest themes from conference, but less so than previous years was housing delivery.
The Government’s new Your First Home scheme is a welcome recognition that first-time buyers need support. As Brian told Building in his interview following the conference:
“The industry has been calling for help for first time buyers and the government has responded. I think the government should be commended for doing this. We’ve not had any help for first time buyers, so it would be wrong to knock it.”
But there is an important caveat for SME house builders. With the scheme focused on new build, there is a risk that much of the benefit flows towards larger developers without addressing the barriers preventing smaller firms from bringing forward more homes.
For us, that brings the conversation straight back to planning.
“Will it make a fundamental change? I’m less sure. Because it’s only affecting new build, which obviously suits the major contractors, I’m not sure it’s going to have a big impact on small local housebuilders.”
If the Government wants a more diverse house-building market, it needs smaller developers building again. That means speeding up decisions on small sites and ensuring local planning departments have the resources to deal with applications.
The biggest boost for small builders would be greater investment into planning teams so they have the capacity to engage with smaller developers that need more support through the process.”
What we pushed for small builders
The conversations in Liverpool gave us the chance to put some of the biggest barriers facing SME builders directly in front of politicians – and back up what we were saying with evidence from our members.
At our construction breakfast with the Chartered Institute of Building (CIOB) and the Labour Housing Group, we used findings from our latest State of Trade Survey to show the pressures small firms are dealing with, including skills shortages and rising costs. If you completed the survey, your answers helped us make that case.
But we also pushed politicians to look beyond the immediate pressures and tackle some of the longer-term problems holding good building firms back.
At our event with the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA), we made the case for a national Licence to Build. Raising standards and tackling rogue traders isn't just about protecting customers. It would help create a fairer market for reputable builders who invest in their people, insurance and quality work.
Skills were another recurring concern. Brian joined Mike Reader MP and construction leaders to discuss how training can work better for small employers and how we can get more people into construction. With firms already struggling to recruit, any solution to the skills shortage has to work for the SMEs that will actually employ and train people.
And at the Big Construction Debate, the conversation came back to a question running through much of the conference: what will give construction businesses the confidence to invest and grow?
For small builders, that means more than setting ambitious targets. It means tackling the practical barriers that stop firms from getting projects moving, taking on people and planning for the future.
Business confidence cannot be taken for granted
That question feels particularly important ahead of the Budget.
Small employers have already had to absorb higher employment costs, while uncertainty over what might come next makes decisions about recruitment and investment harder.
Brian’s message to the Government was clear:
“The one thing I’d love to see is some clear certainty about business conditions. Since Labour’s come into power, there’s been a lot of concern about future taxes, which actually for small employers creates a lot of uncertainty.”
For an SME builder deciding whether to take on another employee, invest in equipment or expand into more projects, predictability matters.
Businesses can plan for known costs. What is much harder is making long-term decisions when the ground keeps shifting beneath them.
The Budget therefore matters not only because of any individual tax or spending announcement, but because small firms need a clearer idea of the environment they will be operating in over the next few years.
So, what does this mean for your business?
There was no single conference announcement that suddenly makes life easier for small builders.
But that does not mean Liverpool told us nothing.
The Government has ambitious plans for housing, retrofit and growth, and there appears to be a renewed determination to deliver them. There is also greater recognition of some of the barriers construction businesses face.
The question now is whether that translates into action.
Our view is that Labour's ambitions will only be achievable if SME builders are treated as part of the delivery plan, not simply part of the supply chain. That means getting smaller sites moving through planning, giving firms greater certainty to invest, making training and apprenticeships work for SME employers, and raising standards through a national Licence to Build.
Small builders cannot be an afterthought in any of this. They build new homes, improve the UK's existing housing stock, train the next generation and support local economies across the country.
Labour has set out the ambition. Now we need to see the conditions that allow small building firms to help deliver it.
