CPA says fuel, staff and tax costs are holding back plant-hire investment

The Construction Plant-hire Association (CPA) has said fuel costs, the expense of taking on staff and rising tax liabilities are stopping its members investing in people and equipment, as official data showed construction output fell again in August.

In a post on its website, the CPA said it had been featured in GB News setting out what the latest Office for National Statistics (ONS) construction figures mean for the industry. It said its members had been sending the same message for months.

The association described fuel costs as devastating and said it was too expensive and too risky to take on staff, especially young people, while tax liabilities were holding back investment.

The CPA said plant-hire firms supply 85% of the machinery used in British construction, and that when they cannot afford to invest, the homes and infrastructure the country needs do not get built.

"We're ready and willing to work with Government to turn this around," the CPA said.

The ONS figures

The CPA said the latest ONS data showed housebuilding across Great Britain fell by 11.5% this August compared with the same month last year.

The ONS August 2026 construction output bulletin estimated that monthly construction output fell by 0.2% in August 2026, and that total output fell by 1.0% over the three months to August.

The ONS said the monthly decrease came solely from new work, which fell by 0.7%, with private new housing, down 1.9%, the main contributor to that fall.

Over the three-month period, the ONS said new work fell by 1.4% and repair and maintenance by 0.3%. Private new housing fell by 3.2% over the three months, the main negative contribution to the decrease.

The ONS also revised its July 2026 estimate to a 0.5% fall, having previously reported a 0.1% rise.

Measure, three months to August 2026	Change
Total construction output	-1.0%
New work	-1.4%
Repair and maintenance	-0.3%
Private new housing	-3.2%

The CPA also said UK construction activity had fallen for 21 months in a row, citing S&P Global's purchasing managers' index (PMI).

Housing target

The CPA said it backs Prime Minister Andy Burnham's ambition to deliver 1.5 million new homes, and that housebuilders and their supply chains want to deliver them. But it said the latest figures showed the sector needed support if that ambition was to become homes for people to live in.

The government restated its commitment to deliver 1.5 million homes this Parliament in a 24 August announcement of nearly £10bn of allocations to build council, social and affordable homes.

"No child should be raised in a hostel room and no family should wait ten years for a front door of their own," Burnham said in that announcement.