Protecting core training, tackling key skills challenges – CITB’s Business Plan 2021/22
Supporting employers’ core skills and training needs and tackling long-term people and skills challenges underpin CITB’s 2021/22 Business Plan.
Some £140 million of industry Levy will be invested in 2021/22 in funding for employers to train and in employer support and services. This investment of 94p out of every pound of Levy CITB receives will be targeted at industry’s priorities to ensure Levy in means skills out.
The targeted investments in Careers, Training and Development, and Standards and Qualifications reflect input from employers on their priorities, including CITB’s Nations Councils for England, Scotland and Wales.
There will be significant Levy investment in crucial areas like apprenticeship support, work placements, building bridges from Further Education into construction and direct funding to employers for training. Enhanced funding support will increasingly focus on the most in-demand skill areas required to deliver accelerated homebuilding and infrastructure and wider challenges such as boosting productivity, building safely post-Grenfell and Net Zero carbon emissions. This will include key trades and wider challenges such as leadership and management, digital skills and retrofitting.
The Business Plan also closely aligns with the joint recovery plans with governments in all three nations, including the Construction Leadership Council’s recently published Industry Skills Plan. Next week, CITB will also publish Nations Plans for England, Scotland and Wales, agreed with Nations Councils.
CITB chief executive Sarah Beale said:
“This Business Plan is based on listening to the industry and investing in what it has told us is important to it. As promised, we’re targeting Levy at fewer initiatives to ensure industry funds work hard and tackle priority issues. The plan strikes the right balance between employers’ current needs and future skills challenges.
“We will continue to work in partnership with industry to help attract talent and make it easier for new entrants to join, while giving employers the right support and access to training to upskill their people and retain vital skills. This work will put construction in a strong position to grow, improve productivity and become an inclusive, even-more-rewarding sector in which to develop a career.”
