The UK government has set ambitious targets: facilitating delivery of 1.5 million new homes and 150 nationally significant infrastructure projects within this parliament, backed by a planned £725bn investment over the next decade.

This report, produced by the CBI in partnership with Browne Jacobson, sets out how the UK can unlock the private capital needed to meet these ambitions through a modernised framework of public-private partnerships (PPPs).

The report charts the history of PPPs in the UK. PPPs brought benefits — faster delivery, innovation, and risk transfer — but also raised concerns: some contracts were inflexible, others delivered poor value for money, and long-term liabilities put pressure on public finances. In 2018, the government announced it would no longer use PFIs for new projects.

The report argues this should not mark the end of PPPs, but a call for reform. A modern PPP programme must start with a simple proposition: PPPs are not a financing trick, and they are not an engineering contest — they are a delivery system for public outcomes.

It sets out five key areas requiring reform:

• Legal framework: A modernised, standardised legal framework to give investors and delivery partners the certainty they need to commit to long-term infrastructure programmes.
• Risk allocation: A principled, nationally consistent approach that allocates risk only to those best placed to control it.
• Financial models: Blended finance models, aggregated pipelines, and staged financing structures, with planning and policy risks retained on the public balance sheet to attract private capital at scale.
• Governance: A central PPP delivery body, professionalised procurement teams, and stable long-term budgets.
• Regional delivery: Statutory powers, flexible funding settlements, and integrated multi-year frameworks to ensure PPP investment is delivered effectively across every region of the UK.

A modern PPP is not a rebadged PFI. It is a programmatic, outcome-led, risk-sensible, standardised and transparent partnership model, built to support the UK's long-term infrastructure needs.

Download the report 

Media coverage

• Politico: Keep calm and carry on.
• Construction News: Business lobby calls for offsite mandate in new PPP models.
• Building Better Healthcare: PPP reform blueprint unveiled at UKREiiF to unlock £725bn UK infrastructure pipeline.
• BusinessGreen: CBI calls for new generation of public-private partnerships to ramp up infrastructure investment.
• Partnerships Bulletin: CBI: Investable pipeline needed for PPP delivery.
• Healthcare Today: A new blueprint for a PPP framework to unlock UK infrastructure investment.
• Insider Media: “Plans alone don’t pour concrete” -  CBI calls for “consistent, reliable model” for private capital.
• WiredGov: CBI CEO urges the UK to unlock a new era of public-private partnerships.
• Local Government Lawyer: Law firm partners with CBI to create new PPP framework.
• Solicitors Journal: CBI and Browne Jacobson launch PPP framework.
• Business News Wales: CBI and Browne Jacobson set out blueprint for new national PPP framework.
• Yorkshire Times: CBI and Browne Jacobson set out blueprint for new national PPP framework.