FenceX 2025 – Have You Booked Your Free Tickets Yet?
The countdown is on! FenceX 2025 takes place on Wednesday 15th October at NAEC Stoneleigh – and this year’s show is shaping up to be the biggest and most dynamic fencing industry event yet.
Visitors can look forward to:
💥 The largest-ever destruction testing schedule at a UK fencing exhibition
⚙️ A dedicated Gate Automation Zone in partnership with DHF
🌿 The Best Practice Day, with live outdoor demonstrations of timber and metal fencing techniques, horse and deer netting, and real-world problem-solving from leading contractors
🎤 A full seminar programme covering apprenticeships, standards, safety, and business essentials
🤝 Networking with 80+ exhibitors from across the sector
🥓 Don’t forget – all pre-registered delegates will receive a free breakfast roll on arrival.
✈️ Plus, every visitor will have the chance to enter our free prize draw to win a weekend for two in Ghent, including travel, hotel, and an exclusive tour of Locinox’s impressive new factory. To enter, simply drop your name badge into the prize bucket as you leave the show.
🎟️ Entry is completely free – but you must register in advance to secure your ticket (and your bacon roll!).
👉 Register today at www.fencex.com
Supporting Construction Activity
Ahead of the Autumn Budget on Wednesday 26 November, Build UK as part of the CLC has followed up on recent meetings with the Treasury by setting out in a letter to the Chancellor a number of targeted interventions to support construction and unlock investment, enabling the industry to deliver the homes and infrastructure the economy needs.
The new Building Safety Levy, which will be implemented from 1 October 2026, will also add more cost to companies already paying for the remediation of housing, further increasing the cost of new homes.
The industry is keen to work with the Chancellor and newly appointed Construction Minister, Chris McDonald, to drive growth and offer employment opportunities across the UK; however, businesses have limited capacity to absorb further cost increases.
AFI FISS-CSCS Card Update.
With the Smart Checker and other construction site logging card systems that are part of the Application Programming Interface (API) with CSCS we have seen steady volume of cards being used on site and the statistics reflecting the seasonal and slight dip in general confidence in the construction market apart from the big drop off in June that was due to some technical issues, with some on site systems for card recognition.
The continued enforcement by tier one contractors of the Building Safety Act and the Building Regulations have shown an increase in the roles and responsibilities of site managers asking for the correct card for the correct roles on site. AFI’s continued representation at Build UK, National Highways, CLC and our mission to keep fencing exempt from the CITB levy, is gaining the recognition within construction of fencing as a specialist skill and the FISS-CSCS card the only accepted fencing card on site.
AFI (previously the Fencing Contractors Association FCA and the European Fencing Industry Association EFIA ) introduced FISS being one of the first CSCS partner cards to be recognised but until now we had knowledge of card types, numbers awarded, in circulation and expired but we did not have on site use. This information now shows us the usage data of FISS-CSCS cards on site so helping us to be better informed on usage and site requests compared with other sectors partner cards. This helps us to see industry conditions by actual on site usage.
Chart shows FISS-CSCS cards scanned on site by month.
With the seasonal variation and CLC’s withdrawal of Industry Accreditation (Grandfathers Rights) hitting the January figures, and the technical issues in June the figures reflect the members comments that confidence in construction whilst returning conditions are still challenging but show that the prospects look steady and not a rapid decrease in the amount of projects being fulfilled.
AFI will continue to inform fencing, within the construction sector, of the effectiveness of FISS-CSCS cardson site, with our continued commitment to site safety and recognition of fencings unique skills required that are not part of the wider construction industries skill set to achieve the correct on site fencing installation.
All data supplied by CSCS a partner in FISS, along with AFI and Lantra as the administrators
Migration Advisory Committee Update
Following the changes to the Points-Based Immigration System in July, which included raising the threshold for a Skilled Worker Visa to RQF Level 6, the Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) is now reviewing the Temporary Shortage List (TSL), which is a way for occupations at RQF Levels 3 – 5 to be eligible for a Skilled Worker Visa.
Occupations are currently only included on the TSL where the MAC has advised that it is justified, they are in key sectors, and there is a workforce strategy in place to maximise the use of the UK workforce. The first stage of the MAC review, which is expected to be completed in October, is focussed on the operation of the TSL and the terms and conditions that are attached to occupations on it, including time limits and caps on number of visas. Stage two will look at which occupations should be included in the next update to the TSL, and the CLC has been advised by the Department for Business and Trade that occupations at RQF Level 2 will not be considered.
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