Listed below are our most recent news posts. You can also view our News Archive, containing posts from 2020 until present.
We are delighted to publish a new member only document our Guidance Note on Moisture Measurement – In-Situ Probe Method. This is now available via the members area of the CFA website www.cfa.org.uk.
Following concerns raised by industry regarding moisture testing using the sleeve/probe method, work began on the guidance note in December 2022 with the formation of a working group. Whilst the changes proposed were relatively simple, the technical research to support them was discussed in detail, as was the format, and some additional critical parameters. The final document was approved for publication in June 2024.
Richard Catt (CFA CEO) commented: “This is a really important update that ensures a better understanding of the moisture condition of a subfloor. I am delighted that the CFA has been able to facilitate and deliver this work for industry.”
The CFA would like to take this opportunity to thank all those members who have been involved in the project for their hard work and support.
The CFA would like to welcome Conren Resin Flooring Limited, a New Contractor Member from Wrexham.
CITB has launched its Strategic Plan 2025?29 ahead of Consensus to outline how it will help the industry to meet its skills and training needs over the next four years. CITB’s purpose is to support the industry to develop a skilled, competent and inclusive workforce now and in the future, and the Strategic Plan sets out three key objectives:
The CITB Consensus process will begin on 17 March 2025 and your nominated Levy contact should have received our Consensus timeline for formally consulting Build UK members in scope to CITB on the continuation of the Levy.
The New Hospital Programme (NHP) has launched the procurement process for its Hospital 2.0 Alliance Framework, which will be used by NHS Trusts across the country for the design, construction and handover of new hospital schemes.
Any members interested in applying for a place on the £37 billion framework can find out more in the contract notice and the deadline is 19 March.
With a new CITB report revealing that around three times the number of apprenticeship starts in construction are needed to keep pace with demand in the sector, the Government has announced a number of reforms to apprenticeships in England to help boost numbers by a further 10,000 a year and meet its targets in key areas such as housebuilding.
With immediate effect, apprentices who begin their training when aged 19 or over will no longer be subject to the mandatory requirement to achieve level 2 qualifications in English and maths. From August 2025, the minimum duration required for an apprenticeship will be reduced from 12 to eight months, with Skills England to prioritise which apprenticeships will be shortened based on key shortage occupations. We are awaiting further details on how these changes align with the industry’s competence frameworks and will be applied to construction?related apprenticeships.
A reminder that employers do not pay National Insurance contributions for apprentices under the age of 25 and earning less than £50,270, and CITB’s New Entrant Support Team is available to help with finding, recruiting and retaining apprentices.
To coincide with the Procurement Act coming into force this week, which has introduced significant changes to public sector procurement, Build UK has published an updated version of the Common Assessment Standard to ensure that it remains relevant and up to date for use by public sector clients and their suppliers.
Version 4.1 includes minor updates to the question set and associated guidance to reflect the requirements of the Procurement Act, as well as the changes to company size thresholds from 1 April. Suppliers will be required to complete the updated question set when they next go through the certification process for the Common Assessment Standard with a Recognised Assessment Body.
The new Procurement Specific Questionnaire, which has been published for use by public sector clients under the Procurement Act, confirms at paragraph 45 that the Common Assessment Standard should continue to be used for pre?qualifying suppliers for ‘works’ contracts. It also states that where possible, public sector clients should “avoid requiring Common Assessment Standard certified suppliers to re?input their information”, which will reduce duplication for the supply chain even further.
The CFA would like to welcome Siteform Flooring Contractors Ltd, a new Contractor Member from Greater Manchester.
Legislation will be introduced in Finance Bill 2024-25 to amend section 42(1)(a) and 42(2) to provide for the new rates of Landfill Tax. The rates being amended, and the new rates will be:
| Materials sent to landfill | Rates from 1 April 2024 | Rates from 1 April 2025 |
| Standard rated | £103.70 tonne | £126.15 tonne |
| Lower rated | £3.30 tonne | £4.05 tonne |
We have been made aware of 2 spam emails being sent to CFA members and wish to bring them to your attention.
The particular emails that have come to our attention have been distributed from shirleyfracis550@gmail.com and thompson.clark046@gmail.com although there may be other alternative emails in circulation from these companies - please see the graphics at the bottom of this notification.
We can confirm that the CFA is NOT working with or in partnership with these senders or the related businesses. We want to reassure you that we do not generally share the CFA membership list with any third parties and should we ever enter into any partnerships with a third party for a project, we would ensure that members were made aware of this in advance.
The CFA always takes action when members receive spam or spurious emails and can confirm that we have issued the senders of the spam/scam a cease and desist instruction.
PLEASE IGNORE AND DELETE THESE EMAILS FROM YOUR SYSTEM, as well as any follow-up versions. We would ask that you make sure that relevant personnel within your company are made aware that these are not genuine emails.
You can register spam emails with the ICO: https://ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint/nuisance-calls-and-messages/spam-emails/report-spam-emails/ or with Action Fraud.
The CFA would like to welcome back D Good Flooring Ltd, an Associate Contractor Member from West Sussex.
As part of its Plan for Change, the Government has announced further measures to speed up the delivery of homes and infrastructure projects across the UK, with the Prime Minister promising to “back the builders of this nation and say no to the blockers” as part of his mission to kickstart economic growth. The latest measures include:
• £2.65 billion in funding over the next two years to build or maintain up to 1,000 flood defences, protecting more than 66,000 properties.
• £90 million of funding to upgrade four major road schemes in England: A350 Chippenham Bypass in Wiltshire, A647 Dawsons Corner and Stanningley Bypass in Leeds, South East Aylesbury Link Road in Buckinghamshire, and A127/A130 Fairglen Interchange in Essex.
• Reform of planning rules to allow smaller nuclear power plants to be built for the first time in the UK.
• Launch of a consultation on increasing minimum energy efficiency standards in the private rented sector, which would include offering landlords a choice over how to meet the standards and a maximum energy efficiency investment cap of £15,000 per property.
The Government has published a working paper detailing the principles and objectives for its 10?year infrastructure strategy, which will be published in June and set out a long?term plan for the country’s economic, social and housing infrastructure, and members can provide feedback via email.
At this time of year it can be challenging for operatives working on site in cold conditions. The HSE website provides useful guidance to help keep employees as comfortable as possible while working in cold and wintry environments, including clarity on what the law says about temperature in the workplace and advice on how to protect working in low temperatures.
We have been made aware of a spam email being sent to CFA members and wish to bring it to your attention.
The particular email that has come to our attention has been distributed from florence@edigihub-leadspro.services, although there may be other alternative emails in circulation from this company - please see the graphic at the bottom of this notification.
We can confirm that the CFA is NOT working with or in partnership with this sender or the related business. We want to reassure you that we do not generally share the CFA membership list with any third parties and should we ever enter into any partnerships with a third party for a project, we would ensure that members were made aware of this in advance.
The CFA always takes action when members receive spam or spurious emails and can confirm that we have issued the sender of the spam/scam a cease and desist instruction.
PLEASE IGNORE AND DELETE THE EMAIL FROM YOUR SYSTEM, as well as any follow-up versions. We would ask that you make sure that relevant personnel within your company are made aware that these are not genuine emails.
You can register spam emails with the ICO: https://ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint/nuisance-calls-and-messages/spam-emails/report-spam-emails/ or with Action Fraud.
The CFA would like to welcome MJ Hillson, a New Associate Contractor Member from Bedfordshire.
We have been made aware of a spam email being sent to CFA members and wish to bring it to your attention.
The particular email that has come to our attention has been distributed from scarlet@elead-ssuccess.live, although there may be other alternative emails in circulation from this company - please see the graphic at the bottom of this notification.
We can confirm that the CFA is NOT working with or in partnership with this sender or the related business. We want to reassure you that we do not generally share the CFA membership list with any third parties and should we ever enter into any partnerships with a third party for a project, we would ensure that members were made aware of this in advance.
The CFA always takes action when members receive spam or spurious emails and can confirm that we have issued the sender of the spam/scam a cease and desist instruction.
PLEASE IGNORE AND DELETE THE EMAIL FROM YOUR SYSTEM, as well as any follow-up versions. We would ask that you make sure that relevant personnel within your company are made aware that these are not genuine emails.
You can register spam emails with the ICO: https://ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint/nuisance-calls-and-messages/spam-emails/report-spam-emails/ or with Action Fraud.
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Following the introduction of the Building Safety Act, which requires individuals to be competent to undertake their roles, CSCS is making changes to the Labourer and Trainees card from 1 February to “better align with the competency expectations of the Act” and encourage more new entrants to start on a ‘Red’ card with a recognised training pathway.
All CSCS cards obtained via Industry Accreditation have now expired and the CITB funding available to support individuals who require a qualification to move onto the appropriate card has been extended until 31 March 2026.
Legislation to amend the Reporting on Payment Practices and Performance Regulations to introduce new reporting requirements on retentions has now been approved by Parliament, and large companies will be required to include the following information on retentions as part of the payment reports they submit every six months:
These amendments to the Regulations will apply to each financial year of a company beginning on or after 1 April 2025, which means that for companies with a financial year beginning on 1 January, their first reports containing the new metrics will be for the period 1 ? 30 June 2026 and need to be submitted by 30 July 2026.
During the Parliamentary process, Minister for Services, Small Business and Exports Gareth Thomas highlighted Build UK’s payment performance table saying: “Its work shows a significant improvement in terms of payment, and we hope a similar level of improvement will be achieved by the requirements in this [Statutory Instrument]”. We are currently working with the Department for Business and Trade to update the guidance to the Regulations which is expected to be published in March.
The CFA would like to welcome Lee Sullivan Contract Flooring Ltd, a new Associate Contractor from Brighton.
The CFA would like to welcome Flooring Supply Centre, a New Associate Contractor Member from Merseyside.
The CFA would like to welcome Raysaf, an Associate Contractor Member from London.
The CFA would like to welcome back, returning contractor member APR Contracts Ltd from Ramsgate in Kent.
The Government has published The Companies (Accounts and Reports) (Amendment and Transitional Provision) Regulations, which amend the criteria for determining if a company is classified as a micro?entity, small, medium or large business for reporting and audit requirements under the Companies Act.
From 6 April 2025, the turnover and balance sheet thresholds for micro?entities, small and medium businesses will increase by approximately 50%, and companies that move down a size category will be entitled to the accompanying reduction in reporting and audit requirements as part of efforts to reduce the regulatory burden. The regulations also remove the requirement for companies of all sizes to include specific information on the employment of disabled persons within their directors’ report.
The CFA would like to welcome Screed Works Limited, a New Contractor Member from Berkshire.
National Apprenticeship Week (NAW) 2025 will run from Monday 10 ? Sunday 16 February to showcase the benefits of apprenticeships. Taking place in the run up to Open Doors Week, NAW 2025 will have the theme ‘Skills for Life’ focussing on how apprenticeships can help employers develop a workforce with future?ready skills, whilst setting up individuals for a rewarding career. All members are encouraged to start thinking about how they can celebrate their apprentices and highlight the value of apprenticeships in construction, and there are lots of ideas in the NAW 2025 Toolkit.
For any CFA members in?scope to CITB who are looking for support with apprenticeships, CITB’s New Entrant Support Team is available to help with finding, recruiting and retaining apprentices, and further information can be found in its Employer Support Welcome Pack.
The Prime Minister has published a ‘Plan for Change’ setting out how the Government will deliver on its five national missions ? kickstart economic growth, build an NHS fit for the future, safer streets, break down the barriers to opportunity, and make Britain a clean energy superpower ? with milestones to track progress by the end of this Parliament. Designed to ‘galvanise efforts across Government’, the milestones include:
The Government has confirmed that the Spending Review next spring will prioritise the milestones and “where programmes do not represent value for money or deliver on their outcomes, [it] will take the necessary decisions to find savings”. Building on the Plan for Change, the Government has also strengthened decision?making powers for planners to speed up the planning approval process and is developing its proposals for building on the ‘grey belt’.
To provide a simplified route into the industry for new entrants with prior training, CSCS has announced that individuals who have attained an approved Level 2 (or above) occupation related non?competence qualification will be eligible for a two?year Trainee card from 1 February 2025. More information on the routes to a Trainee card can be found in this flowchart.
The Joint Administrators' proposals for the eight ISG subsidiaries that entered administration on 20 September have now been published by EY. The document provides an overview of the events that led to the administration, together with a final statement of affairs for each company. The eight subsidiaries jointly owed £1.1 billion, and EY has confirmed it will only recover £35 million from cash and assets, meaning that there is “insufficient property to enable a distribution to be made to unsecured creditors”.
Source: Build UK 5.12.24
A new Fair Payment Code (FPC) has been launched by the Small Business Commissioner in place of the previous Prompt Payment Code to ‘award best practice and drive improvements in payment performance’.
By signing up to the FPC, companies agree to be ‘clear, fair and collaborative’ with their suppliers and will be awarded Gold, Silver or Bronze status for a period of two years depending on the time taken to pay invoices:
To apply to the FPC complete the expression of interest form and you will then receive an application form with guidance to support it.
Compliance Chain and Smas Worksafe have become new Recognised Assessment Bodies for the Common Assessment Standard as Build UK continues to support members to reduce bureaucracy in the pre?qualification (PQ) process.
With the data sharing solution enabling Contractors and Clients to obtain key PQ data from any Recognised Assessment Body, companies now have a choice of seven Recognised Assessment Bodies when seeking certification, minimising duplication across the industry. There are two levels of certification ? desktop and site?based ? and companies can apply to any one of the Recognised Assessment Bodies for the appropriate level depending on their trade, size and the requirements of their clients. Compliance Chain and Smas Worksafe are both offering desktop certification only and their products are called ‘Compliance Chain ? Gold Supplier Membership’ and ‘Smas Worksafe Pro’.
All Recognised Assessment Bodies are reviewed every year to ensure their competence, and the five existing ones ? Achilles, Constructionline, CQMS, SCCS and Veriforce CHAS ? have all successfully completed this process for another 12 months.
The Government has released guidance on the new ‘failure to prevent fraud’ offence, which will come into force on 1 September 2025. As part of the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act, large companies will be held to account where a fraud offence is committed for their benefit by an employee or agent and they did not have reasonable fraud prevention procedures in place.
The CFA would like to welcome CK-Interiors Limited, a new Contractor Member from Nairn in Scotland.
We would like to remind members that there are now just six weeks to go until all CSCS cards obtained via Industry Accreditation expire on 31 December and that they should have a plan in place to move workers onto the relevant card as soon as possible. CSCS has issued guidance on replacing Blue, Gold and Black Industry Accreditation cards, and there are increased CITB grant rates available for workers achieving certain S/NVQs to replace cards.
CSCS does not issue cards for non?construction occupations and any workers who are no longer undertaking a recognised construction occupation on site do not require a CSCS card.
CSCS has also announced that the initial validity of a Labourer card will be reduced from five to two years from 1 February 2025 to encourage more new entrants to start on the appropriate Red card with a recognised training pathway. Any operatives who continue in a labouring role will be able to renew their card for five years by providing evidence that they are employed as a labourer.
We have today been notified by the CLC (Construction Leadership Council) that the The Minister for Building Safety and Homelessness has made a statement regarding CE Marking for construction products.
The statement announces an extension of the recognition of CE marking for construction products in Great Britain.
This extension, as well as the longer-term future of CE/UKCA marking, is conditional on a commitment from the Government to system wide reform of the construction products regulatory regime. The full announcement can be viewed here.
In summary this means that:
• CE marking will be accepted past 30 June 2025 for construction products.
• The Government has committed to system wide construction product regulatory reform.
• UKCA marking will remain a valid and accepted regulatory mark.
• The Government will explore the long-term future of CE/UKCA marking as part of this regulatory reform.
• Any subsequent changes to the recognition of CE marking would be subject to a minimum 2-year transitional period.
• The Government will engage with UK Conformity Assessment Bodies, the UK Accreditation Service, and the wider industry to strengthen the conformity assessment market.
The Statement also makes announcements in relation to National Classes fire testing standards.
Source: CLC (2.9.2024)
The CFA’s recently launched Clear Our Workspace campaign toolkit is available for members to view and download from the CFA website member area.
This initiative is designed specifically to address a significant challenge faced by our contractor members - maintaining clear and accessible workspaces on multi-trade sites.
Central to this campaign is the CFA principle of the “responsible no”, supporting members in occasionally making the tough decision to delay installation if site conditions are not suitable.
Building on the success of our first site conditions campaign “Winter Warning” (developed to helps members to achieve adequate heating on sites during the colder months) the new “Clear Our Workspace” campaign tackles another critical area: clear workspaces and uncontaminated subfloors. Every UK flooring contractor knows the frustration of working in environments where multiple trades overlap, leading to cluttered workspaces and contaminated subfloors. Such conditions not only hinder productivity but also jeopardise the quality and integrity of flooring installations. This latest campaign offers a comprehensive response to this widespread issue.
The Clear Our Workspace toolkit has several key resources to help raise awareness and foster better collaboration from main contractors and other trades on-site. Among these resources are a site poster, which can be printed and displayed on notice boards ensuring that all trades are aware of the requirements for a successful flooring installation.
The full kit includes the site poster/flyer, an email footer for members to add to their emails to highlight the importance of clear workspaces, and section 2 of the CFA Guide to Contract Flooring that applies. We have also created some tea/coffee coasters for members to use as giveaways for clients to help raise awareness. Members can obtain these by emailing info@cfa.org.uk or calling 0115 941 1126 - please note supplies are limited and so will be allocated on a first come first served basis.
We are delighted to publish our digital 2024/2025 Guide to Sustainability. This annual publication highlights key information, products, services and case studies, and is fast becoming more and more important as a reference document for our sector. It aims to help anyone with a current flooring project (with sustainability at its heart) to deliver best practice. At the same time, it provides some thought leadership pieces around the future of sustainability in the commercial flooring sector.
Returning to its roots as a guide, there is a very practical article on ways that contractors can improve their green credentials outside of installing sustainable products. A whole list of accessible actions and improvements that make both environmental and business sense. Doing the right thing, whilst at the same time making a flooring contractor more attractive as a supply chain partner to work with.
Included in the Guide is an update on the CISUFLO project https://www.cisuflo.eu/. Our work has really begun to gain momentum and we are supporting trials of a circular broadloom carpet. It’s an incredibly interesting project that has many threads including design for circular products and tagging materials so that they can be identified at the end of life and recycled. Tagging concepts have included bar codes and other electronic tags read by scanning the floor with something such as an RFID reader that will provide data such as the manufacturer, design and how they can be recycled. A product passport if you like.
All of the content has a wide reach and audience and we would like to thank everyone who contributed.
Here we have our full archive of previous news posts available to view in date-order.
