Covid-19: CITB chief exec update - 3 February 2021

Good afternoon, 

I hope you are having a good week so far. Today’s email includes a reminder about National Apprenticeship Week; publication of the annual Migration Survey; and details of our Annual Report and Accounts.

National Apprenticeship Week is coming!

Taking place between 8-14 February across England and Wales, National Apprenticeship Week (NAW) will see a conversation about the benefits of becoming an apprentice play out across social media, supported by contributions and campaigns from government, industry bodies and employers.

Construction plays a central role in NAW, which means the week is one of the best opportunities for construction employers to recruit highly engaged young people to apprenticeships.

What are we doing?

CITB will be working in the build up to and during NAW to spread the word about construction and construction apprenticeships, highlighting real stories being shared by real apprentices.

Our main activity will take place across Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok and YouTube using #NAW2021 and #BuildTheFuture, and we will be directing people to find out more about apprenticeships on the GoConstruct.org website.

How you can get involved

1. Post your live apprenticeship opportunities on the National Apprenticeship Service websites England https://www.gov.uk/recruit-apprentice and Careers Wales
2. Repost Go Construct’s NAW content on your own social channels, using #NAW2021 and #BuildTheFuture in the accompanying post copy.
3. Share your own stories of apprentices achieving – please tag @GoConstruct so we can share your posts more widely.

NAW is a chance for the construction sector to talk to young people about fantastic learning opportunities and careers in the trade, and in the current situation offer young people facing a future with a disheartening lack of possibilities an rewarding career, with a great employer.  And for us, it gives us the chance to secure the home grown talent we absolutely need!

Scottish Apprenticeship Week takes place on 1-5 March – more detail soon.

CITB’s annual Migration Survey

The construction industry remains a dynamic sector and will need a quarter of a million new workers in the next four years. CITB’s latest annual Migration Survey finds that a third of construction companies expect to provide more jobs for British workers as the sector rises to challenges presented by Brexit and Covid-19.

Among the survey’s key findings were that 41% of employers will look to increase the skills of British workers, almost a third (30%) will provide more permanent jobs for them, a quarter (24%) will increase minimum salaries, and 16% will look to take on more local apprentices. CITB will do everything it can to ensure employers of all sizes are equipped with the skilled, motivated workforce they need to help rebuild the economy.

Annual review, report and accounts (2019-20)

The ongoing pandemic has affected everybody, so I hope you’ll understand why the publication of CITB’s Annual Review, Report and Accounts (2019-20) was delayed this year. However, the reports have now been laid before Parliament and show how we have invested your levy to support your business and help to provide the skills you need.

In 2019-20, CITB supported the training of nearly 250,000 construction workers. In addition, more than 15,000 construction employers and over 20,000 apprentices were supported by CITB and your Levy.

In the same period CITB provided direct funding for training of £105.1m to employers through the Grants Scheme, the Skills and Training Fund and Training Groups of which £76.9m was received by small, micro or medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). An additional £28.8m was invested in specific projects, benefiting firms of all sizes. 

Towards the end of the year, the impact of Covid-19 was beginning to be felt across the industry, but that cannot detract from the fact that our Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) fell short in some areas that focussed on how CITB is perceived.  Now we need to work even harder as an organisation to ensure the industry knows about all support that is on offer, the impact that it has and that our customers get the right support to rebuild the economy.  

Read the Annual Report and Accounts 2019-20 

A reminder…  

CITB’s  COVID-19 Urgent Messages page  is refreshed regularly 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.   

Best wishes and stay safe everyone, 

Sarah Beale 
Chief Executive