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VAT rise will threaten builders' jobs, warns FMB
03/11/10
Edited by Andy Jowett.The government's plan to increase VAT from 17.5 per cent to 20 per cent in January will cost builders' jobs - including those required to deliver the coalition's proposed Green Deal, it has been claimed.
According to the Federation of Master Builders (FMB), independent research has shown the rise will cause the domestic renovation and maintenance market - which is currently worth £45.5 billion a year - to contract by two per cent.
This loss of £910 million will cost some 7,500 builders, electricians and plumbers' jobs at a time when the home improvement sector needs to "grow massively" if it is to meet the Green Deal's goal of refurbishing 26 million properties by 2030.
FMB director-general Richard Diment said: "At a time when the government wants to create jobs and get people to improve the energy efficiency of their homes, they have decided to bring in a policy which will have exactly the opposite effect."
He had previously called for VAT on labour for home improvements to be cut to five per cent, arguing this would create 55,000 jobs in 2010 alone.
