Sector experts said reforms could mean fewer construction workers coming to the UK when more are needed to hit Labour’s pledge of 1.5 million homes during the five years of this parliament.
But the Government’s immigration crackdown – unveiled by Sir Keir Starmer in a white paper published on Monday – requires people applying for a UK work visa to have a higher standard of English than the current rules state.
Rico Wojtulewicz, head of policy at the National Federation of Builders (NFB), said tightening visa rules on issues such as language would “without question” harm the Government’s prospects of achieving their flagship housing policy.
“You need to really have a broad strategy [to meet the pledge],” he told The i Paper.
“Every little barrier just makes things a little bit harder. This is definitely something that is going to add an extra layer of complexity.”
The Government has pledged to build 1.5 million home over the five-year period of this parliament (Photo: Monty Rakusen/ Getty Images)
Wojtulewicz called for the construction industry to be exempted from the all of the changes to tighten visa worker rules “until we have a strategic effort across key government departments to ensure that the industry workforce can sustainably grow through business enablement,” he said.
Plans to train up new apprentices to fill the gaps would be a “drop in the ocean”, industry leaders claimed.
But according to reports, under Starmer’s proposed immigration policy, employers must prove to a new Government body that they are training British workers through apprenticeships and other schemes. Firms will also face penalties if they can’t show they are investing in the domestic workforce.
“But I don’t think those targets are attainable as it is anyway if we kept the system as it is,” he said.
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“I don’t think it’s probably fully hit the industry yet of what the implications could be,” said Hickey, director at Make NW, a development management consultancy,
“If the Government does want to meet their target, high-rise developments will form part of that. They can’t just rely on single dwelling, low-rise homes. They won’t be able to deliver the figures.”
“If the Government wants to deliver these figures, the reality is, the workforce in the UK isn’t there. So I think there would have to be some sort of softening or leeway for the construction industry,” he added.
Moves were ongoing in the industry to recruit and train UK workers, he said, pointing to recent data showing planning permissions in the year to March for new homes to were the lowest for a decade.
“If the Government gets other policies correct and does manage to increase housing output we will need to recruit people, potentially, a percentage of which would need to be from abroad.
In a Downing Street speech, the Prime Minister said the Government would “take back control of our borders” and bring down net migration figures, which stood at 728,000 in the year to mid-2024.
He said: “Let me put it this way, nations depend on rules, fair rules.
“In a diverse nation like ours, and I celebrate that these rules become even more important without them, we risk becoming an island of strangers, not a nation that walks forward together.”
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