Responding to the Government’s legislative agenda set out in today’s King’s Speech, Robin Fieth, Chief Executive at the Building Societies Association said:

Housing and planning

“We welcome the plans to revise the planning framework to get Britain building again. A coherent plan to build more homes across all tenures, enabling diversity of supply, as well as delivering the necessary infrastructure, is vital to address the current housing crisis. Building societies and credit unions look forward to working with the Government to help more people buy a home of their own.

“The Renters' Rights Bill which aims to improve the private rented sector to prevent no fault evictions and empower tenants to challenge unreasonable rent increases is welcome and we look forward to seeing the detail."

Audit reform

“We welcome the Government’s commitment to publish draft legislation to reform audit and corporate governance and remove unnecessary rules on smaller companies defined as Public Interest Entities. Audit fees for the sector have almost tripled over the past five years. We will be looking for greater proportionality in the audit regime for smaller, simpler businesses that are currently classified as Public Interest Entities. 

Industrial Strategy Council

“The announcement to establish the Industrial Strategy Council is welcome as business needs to be involved if the Government is to deliver on its growth agenda.  By including mutuals and co-operatives the Government will make a strong start to delivering on its commitment to double the co-operative and mutual economy.”

Ends

Contact: Katie Wise / 020 7520 5904

Notes to Editors:

The Building Societies Association (BSA) represents all 42 building societies, as well as 7 of the larger credit unions. Building societies serve around 26 million consumers across the UK and have total assets of over £515 billion. Together with their subsidiaries, they have helped over 3.5 million families and individuals to buy a home with mortgages totalling over £385 billion, representing 24% of total mortgage balances outstanding in the UK. They are also helping over 23 million people build their financial resilience, holding over £385 billion of retail savings, accounting for 19% of all cash savings in the UK.  Within this, societies account for 40% of all cash ISA balances.

With all of their headquarters outside London, building societies employ around 51,500 full and part-time staff.  In addition to digital services they operate through approximately 1,300 branches, holding a 28% share of branches across the UK.