Burnham unveils safeguards against rogue builders exploiting homeowners
Prime Minister Andy Burnham has condemned rogue builders as “crooks” who exploit vulnerable homeowners and can cause severe personal and financial harm. He announced Government-backed measures intended to make home-improvement work safer and reduce losses from unfinished, poor-quality or fraudulent projects.
A new Trusted Partners app, due next week, will hold customers’ payments until agreed project milestones are completed and is expected to be available to up to 100,000 traders by the end of September. A separate Approved Codes Scheme will require participating firms to meet higher customer-service standards; it launches in late September and is due to be fully operational by December. The Government says homeowners lost £14.3 billion to cowboy builders over five years, although it is endorsing rather than funding the two schemes.
- Burnham announces measures targeting rogue builders.
- Payment app will release funds at project milestones.
- Homeowners reportedly lost £14.3 billion in five years.
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Home-improvement projects can involve large payments before work is finished, leaving homeowners exposed if a builder takes the money and abandons the job or does poor work. Rogue builders may also mislead customers about their experience or fail to put problems right, causing financial loss and disruption at home.
Andy Burnham is the prime minister, and the Government says it wants to improve protections for people hiring builders. The measures involve two schemes: one designed to hold customers’ payments until agreed stages of work are completed, and another setting higher customer-service standards for participating firms.
The Government estimates that homeowners lost £14.3 billion to cowboy builders over five years. It is endorsing the schemes, but not funding them, so their reach will depend on firms joining and customers being able to use them.
Both sides, in good faith
The strongest fair case each way — we don't pick a winner.
The case for
Supporters argue that staged payments and stronger service standards can protect homeowners from fraud, unfinished work and costly repairs, while giving trustworthy traders a way to demonstrate reliability. They see the schemes as a proportionate response to substantial reported losses that could build consumer confidence without requiring direct public funding.
The case against
Critics could argue that voluntary schemes may offer uneven protection if coverage is limited, standards are weakly enforced or homeowners mistake government endorsement for a guarantee. They may also question whether the schemes address the causes of poor building work effectively, and whether the reported scale of losses justifies relying on private initiatives rather than stronger public oversight.
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Originally published by Daily Mail as “PM says cowboy builders ‘prey on the vulnerable, rob our neighbours of their futures and, above all else, they destroy lives’”.