Covid-19: CITB chief exec update - 16 September 2020

Good afternoon,   

I hope you’re having a good week. Today’s email announces the publication of our Annual Review showing how we supported the construction industry over 2019-20. There is a reminder about claiming for training against updated Standards, an update on the Degree Placement Work Experience Grant, and invitations to support the Construction Talent Retention Scheme and to join the Levy Strategy Committee.  

Annual Review  

Our Annual Review sets out what we did to support industry in 2019-20, before COVID-19 arrived. It also outlines how work has continued during this year as part of the Skills Stability Plan launched in June.   

You can read the Annual Review (PDF, 106KB).

Key highlights include; the Construction Skills Fund (CSF) hubs delivered more than 13,000 employment- and site-ready individuals in 2019-20. While CSF is being extended to 2021, we will set up new construction hubs for the next four years across the country to train thousands more people. 

Similarly, in the past year a total of 26,662 individual training courses have been added to the Construction Training Directory and 337,592 short duration training achievements have been added to 263,309 learner records on the Construction Training Register, with an average of 31,000 grants processed per month.   

Updating Standards   

CITB regularly updates Standards, releasing new ones, deactivating others and creating new grant eligible training (GET) codes for those that have moved from development to full Standards. When making a grant claim it is important to use the correct code and Standard name to help get the payments to you as quickly as possible.    

The Grant Codes for Short Duration standards list has the most up to date information, and all upcoming changes can be found in the Construction Training Directory section here.    

Degree Placement Work Experience Grant update  

Following the recent announcement on Degree Placement Work Experience grant, we have made some further updates regarding eligibility dates.   

We are now applying the £10,000 cap to claims from 1 October 2020 to 30 September 2021. All claims relating to the period before this will be paid as normal and not included in the cap. Find out more. 

Levy Strategy Committee recruitment 

We’re recruiting members for the CITB Levy Strategy Committee which represent the views of industry across England, Scotland and Wales on the development of the 2022 Levy Proposals and the longer term strategy for the Levy. You can find out more here - the deadline for applications is 25 September.  

Construction Talent Retention Scheme – follow and support   

The Construction Talent Retention Scheme (TRS) is growing from strength to strength with more employers and candidates signing up to the portal on a daily basis. To continue to show your support for the platform, please follow the Construction TRS on LinkedIn.    

A reminder…   

CITB’s COVID-19 Urgent Messages page is refreshed daily and includes updates on the full range of our work. You can also read the range of support measures made available to UK businesses and employees by the UK Government.    

I would like to wish you, your colleagues and family a safe and pleasant week ahead.  

Kind wishes,    

Sarah Beale  
Chief Executive