PPE That Delivers for the UK’s £2bn Housing Push
This year, the UK government announced additional funding of £2 billion for the social housing sector as part of ‘Plan For Change’, to support the development of 1.5 million new homes from 2026 onwards. This funding is intended to accelerate construction and avoid delayed delivery in the ‘Affordable Homes Programme’.
The chancellor, Rachel Reeves, has also promised an investment of £39 billion over a 10 year period for local authorities, private developers and housing associations to support the target of 1.5 million affordable homes. This announcement of funding will form part of the chancellor’s spending review.
At PWS, we’ve partnered with over 100 housing associations across the UK. With the government’s recent £2 billion boost to accelerate social and affordable housing, we understand the importance of safety and preparedness in supporting successful delivery of home construction and maintenance projects.
What does this mean for housing associations?
For housing associations, the additional funding brings new opportunities, but also pressure. With large-scale developments comes the need for rapid mobilisation, skilled labour, and compliant supply chains. The government has also committed £600 million to train up to 60,000 new workers, bringing fresh faces onto sites who’ll need safe, reliable PPE and workwear. Increased staffing means more people on the ground with PPE and workwear requirements, and tighter budgets around social housing makes efficient, high-quality PPE even more essential.
At PWS, we can support housing associations with fast mobilisation support, ensure quality and compliance, and empower your employees with their PPE ordering.
Mobilisation Support
We have extensive experience in fast mobilisation for new and existing customers, ensuring a reliable supply of PPE and workwear that is fit for purpose. Our expert team work closely with customers to understand their requirements with compliance in mind, ensuring each operative has the right PPE for their job role to keep them safe on the ground.
For example, we worked with a housing association customer to streamline their PPE and uniform procurement, with the aim to improve accessibility and efficiency for their staff. With a diverse workforce of over 1,000 employees across multiple operational roles, we worked with our client to accommodate varying departmental needs. You can read more about this project here.
Compliance & Confidence
PWS are a British Safety Industry Federation (BSIF) Registered Safety Supplier, meaning we pledge to supply PPE that meets the correct standards, fully complies with regulations, and holds the necessary UKCA and/or CE markings. We have been audited by the BSIF to confirm that we are a compliant, competent, and trustworthy supplier of PPE and safety equipment. You can read more about the Registered Safety Supplier Scheme (RSSS) here.
We can offer expert guidance on choosing the right PPE to protect your workforce, as well as consolidating your PPE and workwear catalogue to reduce unnecessary spend – something which is crucial when working to tight budget constraints. Our dedication to compliance helps our clients to meet health and safety regulations, reducing risk, and ensuring peace of mind during accelerated project timelines.
PWS is also ISO 9001 certified, reflecting our commitment to consistent quality, robust internal processes, and customer satisfaction. This means our customers can rely on traceability, accountability, and a continually improving service, all of which are key requirements when working within strict housing budgets and deadlines.
Empowering Your Workforce
At PWS, we want to empower your staff to work safely and confidently. Our bespoke MyWeb ordering portal allows individual operatives to take control of their PPE and workwear ordering, selecting their kit as and when they need it. This system puts less pressure on procurement teams to order in bulk and distribute to staff, with end users ordering their workwear to a depot or location of their choice through a supervisor approval structure.
We can offer new starter kits for new operatives to ensure they have the right workwear to get started on the job safely, giving confidence to those who may be new to the role or starting on a new construction project. Operatives can read more about the individual items, as well as accessing sizing guides through the MyWeb portal, empowering them with knowledge and flexibility to order new workwear as needed.
Sustainable Solutions That Work on the Ground
Sustainability is also a growing priority for many housing associations, especially when it comes to responsible procurement and long-term value. That’s why we’ve developed a range of solutions to help our customers meet their environmental goals without compromising on safety or performance.
Our exclusive Bertee Ecowear workwear and Trak safety footwear ranges are both GRS certified and designed with durability in mind. This helps reduce the need for frequent replacements and supports more sustainable, cost-effective procurement. We also work with partners like Leo Workwear, whose full range of high-visibility garments is part of their EcoViz collection, made from recycled or sustainably sourced fabrics.
To support responsible disposal, we offer a PPE and uniform recycling service through a trusted partner. This helps housing associations take practical steps toward closed-loop sustainability. All of this is backed by a logistics network powered by DPD’s fully electric fleet, helping to reduce the carbon footprint of every delivery.
With sustainability, safety, and speed all front of mind, we’re here to help you meet your goals – supporting successful housing delivery from the ground up. Over the past 50 years, we have grown long-term relationships with our housing association customers, growing with them to ensure their staff are equipped to support their customers safely. We not only act as a supplier, but as a team of advisors to help housing associations manage their safety logistics at scale.
We are constantly expanding our range of products and services to ensure we can offer the best PPE and workwear for our customers through streamlined procurement systems. PWS are equipped to scale alongside our customers, as well as new housing association clients, to support this social housing push.
With major investment in housing underway, now is the time to prepare your teams. Whether you’re expanding an existing programme or launching new developments, PWS is ready to support you with PPE and workwear you can trust.
Get in touch with us to discuss how we can support your teams’ workwear needs.
