CIOB: How corrupt is UK construction?

Monday, 16, Oct 2006 12:00

51% of UK construction professionals felt that corruption is commonplace within the UK construction industry according to a survey by the Chartered Institute of Building (CIOB).

The survey asked over 1400 construction professionals what type of corrupt practice was most commonly found, and examined attitudes of how corrupt they deemed a variety of practices to be. The study also looked at the areas in which respondents felt that corrupt practice was most likely to occur.

82% of respondent’s were managers or directors; 57% worked in large companies, 20% were employed in medium sized firms and 23% in small organisations.

76% of respondent’s regarded the employment of illegal workers as widespread in UK construction; 60% felt that fraud within the industry was prevalent and 41% had been personally offered a bribe.

Michael Brown CIOB deputy chief executive said, “People define corruption in different ways. What is corrupt to one person might be common practice or just ‘how it’s always been done’ to another. We wanted our research to take the temperature of UK construction and find out what the perception is from those that work within it and its scale.

“Whilst the majority of respondents recognised corrupt practices for what they were, there was a concerning level of people who thought, for example, that producing a fraudulent invoice was not corrupt or that using bribery to obtain a contract was also not a particularly corrupt practice. We clearly have some way to go as an industry to make ethical construction the only construction.”

The World Bank has estimated the cost of corruption to the global economy at US$1.5 trillion a year. More specifically corruption in the Great British construction industry could cost anywhere up to £3 billion a year. The total cost of corruption to the respondent’s companies was estimated at £35 million per year.

A full copy of the report is available at http://www.ciob.org.uk/resources/research

ENDS

NOTES TO EDITORS

The Chartered Institute of Building is the qualifying body for over 42,000 construction professionals in the UK and 94 countries worldwide. It has a Royal Charter to promote the science and practice of construction for public benefit, and has won recognition from Government, other professional bodies and the industry itself as being a central voice in construction.

Further information is available by contacting:

Saul Townsend CIOB Press & Communications Manager t: 01344 630 766 e: stownsend@ciob.org.uk