The UK’s largest developers will pay millions towards affordable homes schemes after an investigation into information sharing by the CMA.
The watchdog has ended its probe into the seven developers after the group offered a series of legally binding commitments back in June. This will see a combined £100million payment for affordable housing that will be split between government schemes across the four home nations.
Seven housebuilders to pay £100million after CMA information-sharing probe
The commitments were put forward by the group of housebuilders following the CMA’s concerns over information sharing with the proviso that it would discontinue the investigation.
As a result, no ruling was made by the watchdog on whether competition law was breached, while the group of housebuilders stated that the commitments are not an admission of wrongdoing.
The housebuilders that were under investigation included Barratt Redrow, Persimmon, Vistry, Bellway, Taylor Wimpey, Berkeley and Bloor Homes.
The group will pay differing proportions of the £100million, with Barratt Redrow’s merger, completed during the investigation, seeing it pay 29% of the total.
Berkeley will pay 8% and Bloor Homes will pay 5%, while the other will all contribute between 12% and 15%.
The developers have agreed to make the payments within three months of the CMA’s formal decision, which was delivered on the 30 October.
Other legally binding commitments will last for five years, which include a pledge to refrain from sharing certain information with other housebuilders, unless that information is publicly available.
The housebuilders will also commit to providing competition law compliance training to employees annually, hiring senior officers to ensure compliance and report on the commitments.
The developers will also work with the Home Builders Federation and Homes for Scotland to develop industry-wide guidance on information sharing.
In a statement, the HBF said: “Following the launch of the CMA’s consultation on proposed commitments by seven housebuilders, the Home Builders Federation and Homes for Scotland confirmed our commitment to developing and publishing guidance on information exchange for the wider housebuilding industry. This will be published in the coming months.”
