Ian Anfield, MD of Bridlington-based CIS payroll company Hudson Contract says his company’s latest figures show there will always be a demand for highly skilled, safe and productive tradespeople in construction – the self-employed subcontractors.
He said: “Several trades are seeing record earnings even when housebuilding activity is relatively flat and way below government targets. If the new government and its agencies are serious about boosting output to around 300,000 new homes every year, they should recognise the positive contribution made by self-employed tradespeople, and not get sucked into constant criticism of them or their clients.
“An increase in housebuilding activity does not necessarily mean increasing the number of tradespeople by hundreds of thousands over the next few years.
“Construction is cyclical with peaks and troughs in the market. Companies will adapt and reorganise their resources to maximise the skills available to them on site. To suggest we can train or import an extra 40,000 people a year is just pie in the sky, so whatever happens, skilled subcontractors will always be in demand.”
He says subcontractors enjoyed record earnings across key trades last month, with pay for self-employed tradespeople up by 1.2 per cent to an average of £1,028 per week in August, the second highest on record. Year-on-year, earnings increased by 1.6 per cent compared to the same month in 2023.
Insulation trades saw the strongest growth, with earnings rising 7.3 per cent to a record-breaking £1,218 per week last month.
They were followed by bricklaying (up 4.6 per cent to £1,032); demolition (up 3.5 per cent to £1,025); and scaffolding (up 2 per cent to £975) subcontractors; all increasing to record levels.
Hudson’s pay trends analysis is based on payments made on behalf of circa 2,600 construction SMEs across England and Wales.
