Leadership and Management training gap filled with over £10M of free courses

CITB has awarded contracts worth £10.5m, to four UK-wide training organisations which will provide 10,500 free ILM leadership and management courses across industry.

Feedback from the construction industry and numerous pieces of research that CITB has either conducted or reviewed highlights that there is a lack of management and leadership skills within the construction industry.

Exacerbating the issue is the fact that management training and supervisory training has been in decline, having shown a decreasing trend of provision provided by employers since 2017.

The OM Group Corporation Ltd will provide training across Scotland, Wales and the South of England.

The South of England contract is shared with Danny Sullivan and Sons Ltd and MKC Training Services Ltd.

The North of England provision will also be shared by the National Construction College and The OM Group Corporation Ltd.

Tim Balcon, CITB Chief Executive, said: “Providing these free training opportunities is our response to feedback from industry that they are facing a lack of staff equipped with Leadership & Management skills as well as a lack of funding to pay for courses.

“This tender is regionally focussed as we look at localising support and solutions right across Britain. There is no one size fits all approach.

“We are also developing the capacity and capability of construction training provision by making it easier to access training which will support SME’s who may not have the resource to spend time researching a crowded training market for the right courses for their needs.”

The Leadership & Management Direct delivery commission will provide free of charge training to front-line managers, Site Supervisors and Site Managers. This will be in the form of 5 ILM modules leading to an ILM level 3 award or certificate in Leadership and Management Practice for the Construction and Built Environment Sector.

In accordance with UK government procurement regulations this commission will address social value. It will tackle workforce inequalities, increase supply chain resilience and capacity, and support educational attainments to address skills gaps and provide recognised qualifications.