Digging into the detail of plant training and testing

They also worked to identify some wider skills challenges within the plant sector. The organisations which have joined our Industry Standards Development and Strategic Grants teams for wide ranging discussions are numerous and much-welcomed.

Collaboration is key

As of April 2018, the CITB Grants Scheme has supported short-duration training for all plant card schemes. Plant testing is currently only supported for the Construction Plant Certification Scheme (CPCS) until industry-agreed testing standards are established. Eventually we will support all plant training and testing which meets the agreed standards.

The challenge with this work is to design a Grant structure that’s inclusive to all card schemes, supports training and testing in an equitable and proportionate way, and is sustainable in terms of affordability. This Grant structure also needs to align to industry-agreed training and testing standards.

However, the dedication and appetite for collaboration amongst the federation and card scheme stakeholders we are working with is a huge advantage and good progress is being made.

For example, through discussions, a number of persistent challenges such as new entrant recruitment and a lack of formal routes for supervisory training have been identified. Members of the working group are currently collaborating to explore a potential CITB Flexible Fund bid to address these wider challenges.

Share your views

We are now seeking the views of employers on the options being considered for structuring plant Grants. An online survey (External link is available for you to complete, so you can let us know which of the Grant options you think is best for industry.

And we don’t just want the views of employers who access plant Grants – we want to capture the views of any Levy-paying employers. So even if you don’t undertake any plant training, we still want to know what you think about the potential Grant options.

What will we do with your feedback?

My colleagues in the CITB Funding Team and I will feed employer views into the ongoing work in this area of Grant reform, and the preferred options will then be developed further to understand how they can be structured with costs budgeted.   

With this in mind I would urge you to participate in the survey – it only takes 10 minutes – so that your views can be considered as part of the decision-making process. If you have any questions related to this process, please email grant.modernisation@citb.co.uk using the subject ‘Plant Employer Survey.’