Council Housebuilding Skills and Capacity Programme​     ​
Source: gov.uk (2025-07-02)

The government has announced the launch of a new Council Housebuilding Skills and Capacity Programme to support councils to increase their current levels of housebuilding.

​The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government has funded and launched the Council Housebuilding Skills and Capacity Programme (CHSCP).

​CHSCP aims to support councils to increase their levels of housebuilding. It will be delivered in partnership with Homes England and the Local Government Association (LGA), with a mandate to upskill councils’ existing workforces, recruit and retain graduate talent to specialist positions, and drive increased engagement with the government’s new £39 billion, 10-year Social and Affordable Homes Programme (SAHP).

​This follows the establishment of the Association of Directors of Housing in March 2025, in partnership with the LGA, which aims to be the leading professional voice for councils in England on housing and homelessness, bridging the gap between local expertise and national policy. This includes acting as a focal point for the sector to collaborate and share best practice relating to the delivery of social and affordable housing.

​CHSCP has been developed following engagement with a range of stakeholders to assess the needs and capacity of both councils with housing revenue accounts (HRAs) and non-HRA holding councils across the county.

​CHSCP has 3 distinct elements, which are summarised in more detail below.

​Council Housebuilding Support Service

​MHCLG has funded the LGA to develop and administer a new Council Housebuilding Support Service.

​Following completion of a self-assessment exercise, the Service will provide councils with tailored access to training, online tools and resources to upskill their housebuilding teams against any identified gaps in their knowledge and/or skills base.

​The Service will also complement the work of the Association of Directors of Housing by creating a peer-to-peer network to allow councils to work together more effectively to deliver social and affordable housing schemes.

​During 2025-26, the Service aims to work with up to 75 councils.

​Further information about the Service can be found on the LGA’s website (https://www.local.gov.uk/our-support/council-housebuilding-support-service), including access to the self-assessment tool.

​For clarity, councils receiving support through the Service should not also seek grant to address the same issues through the Council Housebuilding Support Fund (see below).

​An expansion of the Pathways to Planning programme

​Building on the success of the department’s Pathways to Planning programme, MHCLG has funded the LGA to create two new pathways for councils to recruit graduates to their housebuilding teams. At the same time, councils will be supported to enable these graduates to train for the necessary accreditation to become chartered surveyors or construction project managers.

​This follows engagement with stakeholders where these two professions were consistently highlighted as gaps in councils’ workforces. These two new pathways aim to recruit up to 50 graduates in 2025-26, ready for onboarding with councils in September 2026-27.

​Further information about the newly expanded Pathways to Planning programme can be found on the LGA’s website (https://www.local.gov.uk/pathways-planning-council-info) and we encourage councils interested in recruiting graduates to contact the LGA at the earliest possible opportunity.

Council Housebuilding Support Fund

​At the Spending Review 2025, the government announced a new £39 billion, 10-year Social and Affordable Homes Programme (SAHP).

​To help boost the engagement of councils outside of London with the new SAHP, MHCLG has worked with Homes England to create a £5.5 million Council Housebuilding Support Fund.

​The Fund, which will be available during 2025-26, has 3 main priorities, including:

​supporting councils to bring forward bids to the new SAHP more quickly and for greater numbers of homes than might otherwise be the case without access to the Fund

​supporting councils to maximise the delivery of homes for Social Rent, in line with wider government priorities

​for councils in Established Mayoral Strategic Authority areas, to ensure their bids to the new SAHP support the delivery of regional affordable housing priorities​

​Further information about the Fund, including how to apply, can be found on Homes England’s website (https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/council-housebuilding-support-fund). The Fund’s bidding process will be open from 3 July and will close on 22 August 2025. Following a bid to the Fund, grant must be allocated to successful councils by MHCLG by 31 March 2026 at the latest.

​For clarity, councils who receive grant through the Fund should not also seek advice to address the same issues through the Council Housebuilding Support Service (see above).