Five things I’ll be looking for in the Red Book
Budget reporting in Britain follows a familiar pattern. Day one, the main headlines about tax, or fuel duty, or some 'rabbit out of the hat' announcement not leaked in the run up to the big day.
Then overnight journalists and analysts pore over the 'Red Book' – the Budget detail published online by the Treasury as the Chancellor sits down. And it is here that many of the less headline-grabbing but equally important measures affecting our industry could emerge.
So, what might that famous Red Book contain on 28 October? For councils, housing associations and all of us involved in the building and retrofit of social homes and public buildings, here are five things I’ll be watching out for.
1. More devolution of housing and retrofit money
It looks very likely that combined authorities and mayors across England will be given greater discretion over housing and retrofit investment instead of having to bid scheme-by-scheme to Whitehall. This has already started, but I suspect we’ll see more.
Government has talked explicitly about transferring more housing powers, resources and functions away from the centre. Look out too for news of how the £5bn Warm Homes Fund will help councils and housing associations stretch retrofit programmes further. The budget could expand guarantees or concessional lending rather than simply writing bigger cheques.
With decision-making closer to home that should, in theory, allow funding to be aligned more closely with local need, land, infrastructure and skill. It’s why framework providers such as LHCPG, with five regional offices including in Scotland and Wales, offer invaluable local guidance.
It could even create opportunities to bring new housing, retrofit and infrastructure programmes together. But it will also place greater responsibility on local authorities and their partners to demonstrate value for money, deliver meaningful social value, manage procurement risk and develop deliverable pipelines.
1. More support for council housebuilding
The most obvious Budget move would be further measures to improve councils’ capacity, financing and ability to use the new £39bn Social and Affordable Homes Programme.
Government has said it wants to “reinvigorate council housebuilding” and shift more powers and resources to local areas. But it’s been a long time since most councils operated as self-contained municipal housebuilders.
So, I’ll be looking out for whether councils across England will also be given the internal staffing capacity and access to partnership models and new delivery structures needed to convert that ambition into starts on site.
The government has already made £21.8m available via the Council Housebuilding Support Fund, to help about 75 councils in this round, with bids closing on 2 November. I will be watching for further measures that continue to strengthen the people behind commissioning and delivery – more planners, pre-development experts, partnership project managers and procurement specialists. In the meantime, frameworks can give councils access to that expertise while they build their own teams.
3. Could the MBacc model go much wider?
The government has backed development of the Greater Manchester Baccalaureate, designed to create a clearer technical education pathway connecting school subject choices to local jobs.
Crucially, one of its gateways is 'Construction and the Green Economy', covering careers including electricians, solar installers, heating engineers, retrofit coordinators, bricklayers, plumbers and civil engineers.
There is little point committing billions to housing, retrofit and infrastructure if there are not enough skilled people to deliver it. So my eyes will be on how the Budget bolsters further education and vocational training; how much support will be given to employers to create sustainable entry level jobs, apprenticeships and other incentives to keep young talent in the sector. At LHCPG, we’ll be stepping up support for skills development through measurable contractual commitments, social value and opportunities for SMEs.
4. Solar, batteries and heat pumps brought together?
The Warm Homes Plan is already moving well beyond an insulation-only approach, with rooftop solar, battery storage, clean heating, energy efficiency and flexibility all part of the picture for housing. It also recognises the need to keep homes cool during hot summers.
Schools, hospitals and other public buildings, meanwhile, are getting rooftop solar and batteries through Great British Energy.
Watch for any expansion of the government-backed public estate programme because it simultaneously cuts public-sector energy bills and creates renewable capacity.
There could also be further indications in the Budget that this now becomes part of a broader retrofit strategy for all buildings – the national infrastructure programme that many have been demanding for years. Procurement models will increasingly need to address holistic energy performance rather than individual technologies in isolation, and technologies will need to work together to reduce whole-life costs.
5. Grid connections and energy networks become a Budget issue
Of course, renewables depend on local electricity capacity. Money for renewables is of limited use if schemes cannot connect. I would expect Treasury language around grid infrastructure, connection queues and local energy infrastructure to sit alongside housing and planning measures.
I would also expect continued or expanded support for heat networks. The Warm Homes Plan allocates about £1.1bn to heat networks through to 2030, making them an important area to watch for councils, regeneration schemes and larger housing developments.
None of these measures is guaranteed. But they're certainly my frontrunners. The Budget I’m hoping to see is about intelligent support to boost delivery. Funding announcements only translate into delivery when clients have the confidence that comes from robust and sufficiently developed specifications, viable procurement routes, a stable team of experts around them and the capacity to manage contracts. This is where my colleagues and I at LHC Procurement Group can play our part.
Jennifer Castle is group chief operating officer at LHC Procurement Group, which has been providing not-for-profit frameworks, technical procurement support and social value to public sector organisations for 60 years.