The Government has released its response to the Building Safety Levy (BSL) consultation, confirming the taxation levels it seeks to impose across the development industry. 

The BSL will come into force in Autumn 2026 with levy rates charged per square-metre of chargeable floorspace for works on non-previously developed land (PDL) and works on previously developed land. PDL rates are discounted by 50%. 

Richard Beresford, Chief Executive of the National Federation of Builders (NFB), said: “The Building Safety Levy is anti-growth, anti-SME policy, which will weaken the housebuilding industry and put the Government’s 1.5 million home promise in further jeopardy. It rejects the polluter pays principle, targeting innocent housebuilders, and risking unintended consequences, such as shrinking the size of new build homes. 

“The industry already knew that the Conservative government had chosen to tax innocent housebuilders while letting guilty parties off the hook. We had hoped that Labour, the Government of growth, would reject such a bad policy that hinders industry growth, but instead it choose proportionate unfairness.” 

Several BSL exemptions will be in place, including for government funded projects and sites of fewer than ten homes. Rates are highest in areas with the most expensive housing and lowest in the least expensive.