What the CITB can offer
The CITB offer grants and project funding for employers in the construction industry to provide learning and development experiences to employees and sub-contractors.
Both are available for CITB registered companies ONLY
Be aware that smaller companies may be exempt from paying the levy or receive a 50% reduction if your total wage bill (payroll and Net CIS) is between £120,000 and £399,999.
You do not necessarily need to be paying the levy but you MUST be registered – NO LEVY NO GRANT
The scheme helps to maintain standards on construction sites and to ensure the right skills are available for the industry to grow.
The awarded funding / grants can be used for all directly employed staff on the payroll AND your sub-contractors
Grants
Who can apply for a grant?
All eligible employers who are registered with CITB and up to date with their Levy Returns can apply for grant including small employers who are not required to pay the levy.
There are a variety of grants available but the ones we can help you obtain are listed below:
Short period qualifications
A grant for directly employed learners and all sub-contractors, for the achievement of approved qualifications at Level 2 or above which take less than 1 year to complete, including;
- NVQs
- NEBOSH National Certificate in Construction Safety and Health,
- ILM Leadership and Management Practice for the Construction and Built Environment Sector, and
- additional plant-related NVQ units.
You can apply for £600 per achievement for approved full qualifications (up to 4 achievements at each level per person).
Full information on how to apply and which courses are eligible can be found on the Short Period Qualifications page.
Short Duration Achievement
A grant for directly employed learners and all sub-contractors on the achievement of approved short duration courses, which last from 3 hours to 29 days and are focused on core construction skills needed across the industry.
Rates for these courses vary and are based on factors such as duration, intensity, and practical content.
You can apply for:
- Tier 1 – £60 per course *
- Tier 2 – £140 per course *
- Tier 3 – £240 per course *
* Above increased from April 2023
Refresher training is payable at half the value of the full grant tier:
- Tier 1 – £30 per refresher course
- Tier 2 – £70 per refresher course
- Tier 3 – £120 per refresher course
SMSTS and SSSTS are included in the list of available short duration courses.
The number of course achievements each employer can apply for is capped.
Full information on how to apply and which courses are eligible can be found on the Short duration achievement grants page.
Skills & Training Funding
What is this funding for?
The funding aims to help small and micro construction companies to deliver high quality learning and development experiences to employees.
It provides extra incentive to access CITB grant eligible training.
From 2020, it also supports a wider range of activity, with a greater emphasis on innovation, and management and leadership training.
Refer to the Guidance notes (PDF, 197KB) for further details.
Who can apply for funding
You can apply if:
- you are a CITB-registered employer
- you have 1-99 directly employed staff on the payroll (employees must be in addition to yourself / business owner)
- any previous project paid for by the Skills and Training fund has been signed off as complete.
You can apply for funding once every 12 months.
How much can you apply for
CITB-registered employers can apply for funding related to how many direct employees they have:
- Employers with 1 to 49 directly employed staff can receive up to £5000.
- Employers with 50 to 74 directly employed staff can receive up to £7500.
- Employers with 75 to 99 directly employed staff can receive up to £10000.
Before you apply
Make sure you’ve read and understood these documents
You can also discuss your application with your local CITB Adviser, who will be happy to assist and ensure your application form has been completed correctly and all of the questions have been answered clearly e.g. Value for Money & Quality.
How to apply
Please complete the Skills and Training Fund application form (Excel, 289KB)
For further guidance and support when completing your application form, please watch our ‘how to’ video (External link – Opens in a new tab or window)
- Download the application form and save it to your computer
- Complete all fields, saving regularly along the way to prevent loss of data
- Please make sure the training activity is in the future and not in the past. We are unable to fund retrospective activity
- Save and send the completed form to [email protected].
What can we do to help?
As an Approved Training Organisation (ATO) we can help you to receive the funding and grants that;
- you are entitled to
- will ensure your staff and sub-contractors receive the training needed to grow your business
We deliver a large number of events that you and your sub-contractors can attend at our training centre in Liverpool.
Our main events include:
Click here for our public course calendar.
We can also arrange in-company events that can take place on your premises for a more cost effective way of meeting your training requirements.
For a free training consultation get in touch with our training team.
The levy applies to ALL employers ‘engaged wholly or mainly in construction industry activities’. In other words, when construction activities take up more than half of your total employees’ time (including subcontractors).
How much levy you pay is based on your total wage bill (the amount you pay your employees in a year).
Here the word ‘employees’ specifically means individuals on the payroll and Construction Industry Scheme (CIS) subcontractors who you make a CIS deduction from. This is defined by Industrial Training legislation.
Levy rates for the 2021 Levy Assessment are now confirmed as 0.35% for PAYE and 1.25% for Net CIS.
There are some exemptions and reductions in the levy for small employers. Find out more about levy rates and how they are assessed
The CITB Levy is used to support construction employers to make sure the industry has the skilled workforce it needs.
It is dedicated to ensuring the construction workforce has the right skills for now and the future, based around our three strategic priorities:
- Careers
- Standards and qualifications
- Training and development
The CITB offer grants and project funding for employers in the construction industry who are registered with the CITB to pay the levy.
You do not necessarily need to be paying the levy but you MUST be registered – NO LEVY NO GRANT
CITB Registered companies can receive funding AND grants to provide learning and development experiences to employees and sub-contractors.
The awarded funding / grants can be used for all directly employed staff on the payroll AND your sub-contractors
Smaller companies may be exempt from paying the levy or receive a 50% reduction if your total wage bill (payroll and Net CIS) is between £120,000 and £399,999.