CECA has submitted its representation to HM Treasury ahead of Budget 2026. The representation sets out several recommendations to the Government, which are derived from a series of member engagement workshops that CECA undertook earlier in the year to develop the Association’s core policy positions.
Unlocking infrastructure development and delivery across the UK will support economic growth, improve productivity, and deliver local benefits to communities. CECA recognises the current constraints on the UK’s public finances. The priority for Budget 2026 should therefore be to protect productive capital investment and ensure that the Government’s programme of policy reforms is converted into a stable, investable, and deliverable pipeline of infrastructure projects to drive economic growth, create jobs, and serve businesses and communities in all parts of the UK.
To achieve this, CECA recommends that at Budget 2026 HM Treasury should prioritise the following:
- Protecting stable, long-term infrastructure investment and translating the 10-Year Infrastructure Strategy into a funded and sequenced delivery programme
- Resourcing the effective delivery of planning reforms to speed up infrastructure delivery
- Continually improving the UK Infrastructure Pipeline to provide contractors with practical, reliable, and long-term market certainty
- Urgently addressing the funding challenges in relation to skills provision across the infrastructure sector while safeguarding continuity in any reforms to the Industry Training Board system
- Supporting the speedy passage and implementation of the Commercial Payments Bill, including the prohibition of construction retentions and support for fairer payment terms
- Using the redraft of the Construction Playbook to deliver improvements in relation to early contractor involvement, the use of frameworks and to promote standard forms of contract
The Chancellor will announce the Budget on 28 October. CECA will provide commentary and analysis for members shortly following the Chancellor’s speech.
CECA’s full representation can be found here.