The industry’s biggest payer of subcontractors Hudson Contract said average weekly pay rose by 1.1% during December to £911,  the highest level since February and the fourth consecutive month of earnings growth for self-employed subcontractors. 

The best-performing regions were the North West (up 9.1 %), the South East (up 4.1%) and the North East (up 2.6%).

Ian Anfield, managing director of Hudson, said: “December has always been the busiest and best month of the year for subcontractors because everyone is pushing to finish projects and earn their money for Christmas. 

“In that respect, it was business as usual last month, albeit nearly 10% down on 2019 as a lingering result of the pandemic. 

“Most clients are reporting healthy order books and tenders are still coming in.

“The outlook is promising so far but obviously things can change quickly. 

“There is some uncertainty around the supply of materials due to Brexit. There is also some disruption to the supply of labour due to a combination of Brexit and Covid as different nations apply different approaches on travel to England.”