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Construction skills body aims to support more than 15,000 new entrants into employment
The Construction Industry Training Board (CITB) has published its Strategic Plan 2025–29, which details its goal to establish a simpler, more responsive skills and training system.
Through the Strategic Plan, CITB aims to support the industry in developing a skilled, competent, and inclusive workforce, ultimately improving productivity and tackling the skills gap.
CITB’s priorities are to:
- Inspire and enable diverse and skilled people into construction by increasing new entrants into the industry through various routes. To help achieve this, CITB will promote construction careers to more than five million potential new entrants and develop new materials and campaigns showcasing construction as an exciting career option.
- Develop a skills and training system to meet current and future needs by simplifying it and making it more responsive. Additionally, CITB aims to increase capability and capacity in construction training provision and develop alternative routes to competence and ensure high-quality training is available.
- Support the industry to train, develop, and retain its workforce by leading the development of an industry-agreed definition of competence for every construction occupation. CITB will offer flexible and funded options for employers to upskill their workforce and enhance productivity through better practices in quality control, project management, leadership, and digital skills.
During the four-year period, CITB aims to support more than 15,000 new entrants into employment through additional routes.
The skills body has also committed to delivering a 5% increase in employer confidence around the availability and quality of training.
In addition, CITB intends to support more than 35,000 employers with upskilling training and engage more than 5,000 new employers in training.
Meeting current and future needs
“Everything we do at CITB is about meeting the skills and training needs of the industry, and this Strategic Plan provides the framework with which we aim to achieve this over the next four years,” Tim Balcon, CEO of CITB, said.
“Since our last Strategic Plan 2021-25, we’ve supported over 78,000 apprentices, by providing over £188 million in apprenticeship grants. We’ve also provided over £37 million in funding to support micro and SME employers, the lifeblood of our industry.”
Balcon added that CITB has consulted with more than 1,000 employers to develop the new Strategic Plan.
He said: “It’s vital that levy-registered employers can see this plan ahead of Consensus – the proposed levy rates are expected to generate an income of around £239 million per annum over the 2026-29 period. Supplemented by our commercial revenue streams, this will be used to continue supporting construction employers with their skills and training needs.
“We look forward to working with industry, training providers, and national governments to address their skills and training challenges and ensure the skills and training system is simple and accessible for everyone.”
To support the plan, CITB will review granting and funding incentives for employers in a bid to make recruitment more commercially attractive.
Additionally, CITB is currently working alongside the Construction Leadership Council to develop the industry-agreed definition of competence for construction occupations.
To achieve these objectives over the next four years, CITB is allocating investment into the following areas:
- £554 million to attract diverse and skilled people into construction.
- £315 million to support the industry to train, develop and retain its workforce.
- £137 million to develop the skills and training system to meet current and future needs.
- £143 million to run the business, including grant and levy administration.
Read the full Strategic Plan here.
