Comment
Spring Statement 2025: All about the jobs
There is no doubt that welfare spending cuts and the ongoing poor health of the UK economy will feature prominently in the headlines on Wednesday, following the publication of the Spring Statement. The Government’s plans for economic growth may feature less prominently, however they are inexorably linked to its spending cuts agenda. Supply and demand policies will be critical to economic success, but what plans do we need to see and how can the development industry play its part in enabling growth?
Welfare accounts for 30% of total day to day public expenditure and the Government’s planned reforms are undoubtedly motivated by a need to create the fiscal headroom that will enable the Chancellor to move to an investment and growth phase. However, if its welfare reforms are enacted, this will potentially have wider supply side effects in the economy – notably creating a larger economically active workforce in search of work.
The Government is betting heavily on its ability to stimulate economic growth and to deliver more and better jobs. If this doesn’t occur, it will have removed the safety net for some of the most vulnerable and economically excluded people in society. Not a desirable epitaph for the first Labour Government to come into power in 15 years.
The need for supply and demand side policies to work hand in glove is apparent. Below, we first give consideration to demand side measures, before exploring how the development industry can play its part in enabling growth.
Demand
The Government’s Green Paper for a modern Industrial Strategy was published late last year[1]. This provided industry with a promising statement of intent but as ever the devil will be in the detail. This detail, it is hoped, will be found within the promised Industrial Strategy and the accompanying Sector Plans, which have been promised to follow in the forthcoming Spending Review.
It is anticipated that these Plans will feature the eight growth-driving sectors[2] that the Government is relying upon to create jobs. Alongside these sectors, other sub-sectors, including cyber security[3] and AI[4], have also recently been subject to detailed consideration and publications, where it is assumed, they provide strong complementary potential.
It is hoped that on Wednesday the Government retains a sharp focus on laying the foundations for delivering the modern Industrial Strategy and Sector Plans. Formalising its plans for growth and prioritisation of support to key sectors is vital for creating economic certainty, stability and the conditions which encourage industry to invest.
We hope that the Sector Plans will provide a clear route-map to delivery of growth. They must identify the essential infrastructure required to enable growth, including physical infrastructure (property, sites and premises), utilities and energy, transport and labour market requirements (skills, qualifications, experience). They must be more than warm words and headline grabbing targets, recognising geographical differences in the attractiveness to different business sectors and provide clarity on the fiscal mechanisms and policy levers available to local authorities, combined authorities and other stakeholders to plan and provide infrastructures accordingly.
A lot rides on the Government’s ability to set clear and convincing economic growth plans and to deliver on them –creating the much needed jobs for a growing labour force.
How can the private sector help?
Investors and developers are experts in providing essential infrastructure for growth, and tailoring property infrastructure and sites to meet the needs of specific business occupiers. Applying this knowledge:
- The industry can help local and strategic plan-makers to interpret Sector Plans spatially into appropriate types of sites and property that will enable growth. In this way the industry can help to develop market facing planning policies and land allocations in the right places.
- To assist decision makers in the planning application process, applicants can clearly explain and visualise the economic benefits they will provide supporting the growth of places and their economies. This will help decision makers to apply appropriate weight to the benefits of a development in accordance with the NPPF which stipulates that, ‘significant weight…be placed on the need to support economic growth and productivity'. This must go beyond a simple numbers exercise to demonstrate how a development will create ‘good’ jobs5, and how they align with the skills of host communities and offer wider societal benefits.
- Applicants can help decision makers to weigh social benefits into consideration in determining applications by documenting social value commitments and closely relating these to local economic needs. This includes establishing a framework of commitments which will deliver, for example, alternative routes to employment for local residents (apprenticeships / work experience etc.), facilitate a more diverse workforce (targeted recruitment programmes) or ensure a legacy of improved health and wellbeing by designing in features aimed at encouraging active travel or facilitating improved mental health for employees (on-site amenities or social spaces).
In summary, the Government has a lot riding on its ability to stimulate the economy, create jobs and economic prosperity for those affected by welfare reform. The property industry can help in delivering market facing plans, with appropriate infrastructure, sites and premises to enable economic growth from the sectors targeted. Now is the time to get involved to make a difference.
To discuss in more detail please contact Antony Pollard or Richard Laming.
25 March 2025
[1] Invest 2035: the UK's modern industrial strategy
[2] Advanced Manufacturing, Clean Energy Industries, Creative Industries, Defence, Digital and Technologies, Financial Services, Life Sciences, and Professional and Business Services.
[3] Cyber security sectoral analysis 2025 - GOV.UK
[4] Artificial Intelligence sector study 2023 - GOV.UK
[5] Greater Manchester Combined Authority, for example, has sought to set out what it considers to represent ‘Good Jobs’ in a voluntary Charter: The Charter | GM Good Employment Charter