Prospect: Clear there is a real problem with skills and funding in the BSR

Steve Thomas, Deputy General Secretary of Prospect union, responding to the House of Lords Industry and Regulators Committee report on the Building Safety Regulator, said:

“Our members in the Building Safety Regulator do vital work facilitating building and protecting safety but this report highlights some of the difficulties inherent in creating a whole new regulator and some of the recommendations are sensible.

“One thing which is clear is that there is a real problem with skills and funding in BSR, in particular the ability to train and retain sufficient numbers of inspectors. This is not something which can be easily addressed and unless pay is competitive with the private sector, something the evidence from industry acknowledged, it will continue to be an issue.

“Getting this right is essential to both growth and safety and cannot be done on the cheap.”