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Brick stocks recover as shortages ease

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Brick producers are starting to replenish stockpiles offering contractors far more choice again after the surge in demand left reserves severely depleted.

The latest figures published by the Office for National Statistics show brick producers have got on top of the sudden surge in demand lifting production by 7% compared to last year.

Stock levels slumped to just 323m last October, down almost a third from 500m in 2012, and more than one billion recorded in 2009.

The Government’s Help to Buy scheme boosted construction in a bid to meet the ever increasing appetite for new housing which resulted in increased demand for bricks.

Simon Hay, CEO of the Brick Development Association said: “The brick industry has reacted swiftly in order to meet new demand by increasing brick production by nearly 7% in comparison to the same period in 2014, a tremendous effort by a capital-intensive industry.

“For the first time since the economic downturn, production is approaching 1 billion bricks in a six month period.

“Stock levels have also grown to nearly 450 million, a 33% rise in comparison to the stock levels at the first half of 2014, meaning choice in brick is now possible with reasonable lead in times.”

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Self-employed numbers grow by 39,000

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The number of construction workers using the CIS tax system rose by 39,000 last year despite Government moves to crack down on self employment in the industry.

The figures were obtained by construction union UCATT.

HM Revenue and Customs confirmed that 963,000 workers received payments via CIS in 2014/15 and “this figure will increase later this year as a result of some returns being made late.”

That is a 39,000 increase on the 924,000 workers paid via CIS during 2013/14.

UCATT said: “In April 2014 the Government introduced new rules that prevented agencies and other “intermediaries” from employing workers on a self-employed basis.

“The changes in the rules, which have resulted in hundreds of thousands of workers being forced to operate via umbrella companies, were expected to result in a fall in the number of workers employed via CIS.”

Brian Rye, National Secretary of UCATT, said: “These figures show the fragmented mess that the construction industry is in.

“The Government’s changes which were meant to reduce false self-employment clearly haven’t worked while at the same time hundreds of thousands of workers are being employed by agencies via umbrella companies.

“It is clear that the only way to resolve the problem is for fundamental change with workers either being classed as employees or being genuinely self-employed in business for themselves.

“Further tinkering of the rules will just make the situation worse.”

Howard Royse, construction industry representative for the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales and author of the book Construction Industry Scheme – Guidance and Commentary said: “The increase in the number of subcontractors being paid through CIS in 2014/15 does not indicate how long those people were engaged as self-employed – it may have only been for a few days.

“Many of those workers will have been paid through both CIS and umbrella schemes in the course of the year.

“The recent increase in activity levels in construction is bound to lead to more workers being engaged, through direct employment and self-employment. That does not in itself make those self-employment engagements bogus.

“The change in rules for intermediaries resulted in more agencies putting workers through umbrella schemes, for fear of how HMRC may enforce the rules regarding supervision, direction and control.

“No doubt some genuinely self-employed workers were affected by this reaction.

“This may well have produced a short-term reduction in money paid in tax – but the new rules for travel and subsistence expenses should address the matter of dodgy operators offering high take-home pay schemes.”

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Work platform comes away from wall on Balfour block

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Two workers were left clinging to the edge of an eighth floor ledge on a Balfour Beatty university building after a platform came away from the exterior wall.

Both workers had a lucky escape and were unhurt during the incident at Balfour’s £42m new Faculty of Art, Design and Humanities building at De Montfort University on Monday.

Industry experts said the incident involved a Mast Climbing Work Platform.

An eye-witness told the Leicester Mercury the men were on the open lift while working on cladding.

He said “The lift was going up and one part of it came away from the wall.

“The lift runs on two runners, part of the runner snapped off the wall and fell down. The lift was swinging in mid-air.”

He added that a large chunk of it also then fell on to a van below.

“The two guys in it were hanging on the window ledge as the rest plummeted down and landed below.

“I felt pure fear thinking are they going to be okay?

“At that point we were all ushered away as we did not know whether the rest would come down.”

A spokesman from Balfour Beatty said: “We are investigating an incident on our De Montfort construction site on Monday afternoon.

“While no-one was hurt as a result of the incident, we are working closely with the HSE and are assisting them with their enquiries to learn the causes and plan appropriate action.

“The safety of the public and our workforce is always our primary concern.”

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