The investment was confirmed in a trading statement today and follows criticism of construction standards by new homeowners.

Persimmon said: “Our substantial additional investment in work in progress, which amounted to c. £140m at June 2019, has been a fundamental driver of the improvements in quality and service, and will continue with further investment through to the year end. ”

The company is rolling out a team of independent construction quality inspectors across sites and has introduced a retentions scheme for home buyers to protect them from build problems.

Persimmon is also releasing homes later in the construction cycle which saw completed sales fall 6% year-on-year to 7,584 homes.

Group Chief Executive Dave Jenkinson said: “Persimmon’s top priority is the delivery of higher levels of quality and customer service.

“I am determined to ensure that the Group makes further headway by implementing our additional quality and customer care initiatives”