Government launches £12m council housebuilding skills and capacity programme

Matthew Pennycook has announced the launch of a new programme aimed at helping councils to build up their housebuilding capacity.

The council housebuilding skills and capacity programme will be backed by £12m of funding in 2025-26.

The housing minister also announced the government was launching the Council Housebuilding Skills and Capacity Programme, backed by £12m of funding in 2025-26.

The programme includes a £5.5m council housebuidling support fund, which will help councils bring forward bids under the £39bn Social and Affordable Homes Programme (SAHP), and to help ensure local authorities in Established Mayoral Strategic Authority areas bring forward bids to support regional priorities. It will also support councils to maximise social rented housing delivery.

The programme also includes funding for the Local Government Association to develop a new council housebuilding support service which will “provide councils with tailored access to training, online tools and resources to upskill their housebuilding teams against any identified gaps in their knowledge and/or skills base.”

MHCLG is also funding LGA and to expand its Pathways to Planning programme to help recruit graduates ready to undertake training to become qualified surveyors and project managers.

Pennycook, in a statement to MPs said: “We are acting to restore the capacity of council workforces to deliver.”

As previously reported by Housing Today, the LGA has established a new Association of Directors of Housing to help councils collaborate and share best practice. The representative body will become fully operational later this year.

The government also announced that councils will be given the freedom to combine Right to Buy receipts with grant funding to finance the delivery of new homes.