Government pledges to bring forward £3bn of public spending in the construction industry from 2010-11 to the current year to mitigate the effects of the downturn, have yet to feed through to recruitment, according to recruiters in the sector.

Brian Smith, owner and managing director of Vanguard Site Services, says that despite budgets for social housing being agreed in March, money hasn’t been released, and new projects have been put back. Smith told Recruiter: “My clients are in limbo, and have no idea when these projects are going to start.”

Adrian Davies, business development director at Acorn, told Recruiter the situation is “massively disappointing.”