APS has increased its sector-wide engagement to better support members in developing and maintaining professional competence. Each week, we’ll share an update from APS HQ so you can see the breadth of work being carried out for your benefit.

What’s been happening over the last two weeks?

• Mark Snelling, APS President and Sofie Hooper, APS CEO, attended the Industry Competence Steering Group – Sector Led Group 11 on 21^st October. The Group focuses on building safety in the occupation phase. Its new Chair, Chris Jeffers, provided an update on what is happening in the ICSG space, and what is expected to be covered moving forward as part of the Group’s role to drive up competence standards across the occupation phase. Discussion took place about the scope of the Group and the need to balance individual competence requirements with what should be expected of organisational capability, or in first instance, organisational management of competence. APS is part of this Group given many of its members are engaged with work that takes place during the occupation phase, while also supporting a whole-lifecycle approach.
  
  
• Sam Allwinkle, APS Chair, attended the Compliance Plan Approach Industry Change Group as the APS representative. The Group is brought together by the Scottish Building Safety Division (BSD) and BE-ST, as one of a series of meetings with key stakeholder to discuss the introduction of the Compliance Plan Approach (CPA) in Scotland and its function together with the new role of Compliance Plan Manager. Discussion focused on the planned changes to the procedure regulations and legislation and note that this was unlikely to be approved by Scottish parliament until 2029/30. However, BSD is expecting industry and the local authority verifiers (Building Standards Authorities) to operate a voluntary system until the CPA becomes law. Other issues discussed were the focus being on HRBs, clarity of the role of CPM and relationship with other professional input in the design process, the appointment by clients, professional indemnity insurance for this role and competence, competency schemes and a register.

Recent updates that members should know about 

Unsurprisingly, the major political event taking place over the last week was the Chancellor’s budget, with a few measures being announced that would impact our members and the broader built environment in terms of workload, skills demand, professional services, and long-term sector confidence.

Housing funding (£1.5bn additional funding for the Social and Affordable Homes Programme) and a new £4.7bn "Your First Home" equity loan scheme for first-time buyers should help stimulate residential development pipelines and provider greater certainty of demand for professional services coming down the line.

On the planning and development front, Chancellor John Healey, stated that no major changes to building regulations would be made in this Parliament, however he inserted a significant caveat for where such changes are critical for safety. While the intent behind the statement was to bring regulatory certainty, many of our members are likely to be significantly impacted by the caveat.

In terms of infrastructure investment, the Budget proposes a more devolved approach – raising money locally, to be invested and spent locally, meaning that more projects can be brought to market at regional level. Data centres got a specific mention with a new British Data Centre Covenant outlining strict tests to meet. Some of the broader devolution and funding measures will be mapped further in the Prime Minister’s 10-Year Plan and the Spending Review.

Building (Local Authority Charges and Amendments Relating to Charging) (England) Regulations 2026

This Statutory Instrument (SI) applies to local authorities carrying out building control functions, private-sector Registered Building Control Approvers (RBCAs), and any applicants, developers, or property owners using these building control services in England. The Regulations come into force on 6 November 2026 except Regulation 11 in relation to higher-risk buildings on 24 September 2027 and in all other cases on 24 March 2027. Charging schemes made under the previous regulations remain in force until such time as they are updated under these new regulations.

The SI increases the number of functions and activities whereby local authorities can charge for their building control services on a full cost-recovery basis, once they have published their charging schemes online at least seven days beforehand. This includes many functions and activities under the Building Act 1984 as well as the Building Regulations.

New functions and activities where charges can be applied include:

• Accepting, rejecting or considering notices and certificates submitted by private sector Registered Building Control Approvers. To retain payments, LAs will need to notify Registered Building Control Approvers of their decision within the required time period.
• Exercise of powers regarding tests of conformity with Building Regulations.
• Actions relating to issuing notices concerning defective premises, dangerous buildings, ruinous and dilapidated buildings and neglected sites; and demolition of buildings.
• Exercise of powers of entry by authorised officers.
• Securing compliance with Building Act or Building Regulations requirements.
• Imposition of sanctions for contraventions of the Building Act or Building Regulations requirements.

Common Assessment Standard – Version 6 published

Build UK on 1^st November published version 6 of the Common Assessment Standard, which you can find here

Key changes relate to the competence questions that are becoming mandatory for all suppliers, with an explicit opt-out needed where companies do not undertake work covered by the Building Regulations.  APS is due to publish its guidance on Temporary Works, which is taking account of these new changes. Do check the news section for its publication.

What’s coming up this week? (2-8 November 2026)

Meetings that APS is involved in this week include:

• MHCLG’s Fire safety strategy working group
• November CIC Council Meeting
• CEO Sofie Hooper introductory meeting with the HSE CDM Lead

We’ll continue to keep members updated on key developments and engagement across the sector through the APS weekly alert, the APS news page and across social media channels where appropriate.

If you would like to contribute or share expertise on issues that matter to you, please contact APS HQ at info@aps.org.uk.