CITB HAS unveiled its Business Plan for 2024-25, announcing it will invest £267m in the construction skills system aiming to help support employers to attract and retain new talent.

The plan outlines three priorities:

Getting more trained people into industry
The provision of high-quality training
Supporting the ongoing skills development of the existing workforce

Nurturing New Talent

To help recruitment in the industry, CITB will expand on its current initiatives. These include the New Entrant Support Team (NEST) and the Industry Impact Fund.

Aiming to help employers better navigate the recruitment process and access grants and training, NEST will be further expanding. It will help contribute to the 15% increase in the number of new entrants joining the industry.

In addition, CITB’s new Industry Impact Fund is expanding. The fund makes direct funding available to employers to design and test new solutions for talent recruitment and retention.

As part of the industry recruitment drive, CITB’s Go Construct platform will also continue. The service provides free to access self-service digital careers information.

Skills System

CITB will develop the new Competence Frameworks and their alignment with qualifications to ensure people have the right knowledge, skills, and behaviours to demonstrate safety and expertise in their chosen occupation.

Access to Training

Ensuring training is affordable, high-quality, and accessible to all, is a cornerstone of the CITB Business Plan, it says.

To achieve this, CITB is expanding its Employer Network nationwide to enable local employers to set their own funding priorities and meet area-specific skills needs.

CITB says it will also address the trainer and assessor shortage. It aims to create additional capacity to deliver more of the training industry demands. It will also continue to offer direct employer support through its existing funding and Grants Scheme.

By 2025, CITB aims to increase the number of employers supported to train and upskill their workforce by 14% and increase the number of individuals supported by 13%.

Funding for NCC 

Additionally, CITB will invest £30m in the National Construction College (NCC). CITB plans for the money to be spent improving the three NCC sites’ buildings, infrastructure, and plant, with sustainability a priority of these changes.

Tim Balcon, CITB CEO

‘Paradigm Shift’

Tim Balcon, CITB Chief Executive, said: “This year we have built on our previous plans to embark on a paradigm shift in thinking around construction skills and this Business Plan will help us achieve this.

“Our new plan sets out how we will invest in the skills system to ensure it is fit for purpose and fit for the future. We will work in partnership with employers, from the smallest to the largest, so that the training demands of the construction industry can be met with high-quality training provision. Changing the skills landscape is not an easy task and not one that can be achieved overnight, but this year’s plan is a significant step forward.”

Read Business Plan (What We Do) – CITB.

>> Read more about CITB in the news

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