CITB Skills & Training Fund

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FACT
by Jeanette Graham

Training can be a costly investment, especially for smaller businesses.  The overwhelming need for compliance to meet even just the minimum recommended Health & Safety advice or mandatory requirements can be a daunting when we look at some of the costs involved. 

Businesses may be tempted to seek cheaper alternatives to train their workforce, but cheaper alternatives can result in a poorer standard of delivery or, in some cases, competences that are not accredited or not recognised by larger organisations.  The answer could be a training grant.  

The training team at FACT have over 20 years industry experience in facilitating, claiming and managing training grants and funding applications on behalf of our clients.

The CITB Skills and training fund

What this fund is for?

This fund provides assistance for micro and small construction companies to develop a stronger skills base. Specifically, it provides an extra incentive for you to access CITB grant eligible training.

Who can apply for funding?

CITB-registered employers with up to 99 directly employed staff on the payroll. Employers can apply for funding once every 12 months.

How much you can apply for…

CITB-registered employers can apply for funding related to how many direct employees they have:

  • Employers with 1 to 49 directly employed staff can receive up to £5,000.
  • Employers with 50 to 74 directly employed staff can receive up to £7,500.
  • Employers with 75 to 99 directly employed staff can receive up to £10,000.

How to apply

Before you apply, please read the Terms of funding for Skills and training fund and our Terms of bidding for the Skills and training fund.

To apply for funding, follow the guidance notes provided in the Skills and Training application form (PDF 271KB).

To complete and submit the form, you should:

  1. Download the application form and save it to your computer
  2. Complete all fields
  3. Ensure that you regularly save this application to your desktop to prevent loss of data
  4. Save and send the completed form to skills.training@citb.co.uk

You should receive a decision from us within 4 weeks of the score point following your application.

CITB will decide to either approve or decline an application.

Definitions are:

  • Approved: The application meets the assessment criteria and will be progressed subject to available funds.
  • Declined: Based on the information supplied your application does not meet the criteria for skills and training funding, you have not submitted a Levy Return, you are behind on levy payments, or you are asking for courses that are not aligned to construction.

You can submit an appeal on scoring or procedural grounds. You will need to notify us if you wish to make an appeal by emailing skills.training@citb.co.uk.

Please ensure that CITB receives any appeal request within 14 days of the email notifying you of our decision.

The CITB will inform you of our decision at the next assessment point.

The CITB will publish details of your project on our website once a funding agreement is in place.

The CITB may also wish to work with you to develop press releases, case studies or promotional videos relating to your project either during delivery, or upon completion.

You will need to complete a short evaluation form and return this to CITB within 28 days of your project end date. You receive this form with your award letter.

Once the payment has been made, you can start the training. You will need to retain evidence of invoices and certificates to demonstrate that the training has taken place.

Once all of the training has finished you will need to return a completion form along with the evidence to CITB fundingcontracts@citb.co.uk  within 28 days of your project end date.

We understand that business needs and circumstances can change and you might need to return the money please contact us at fundingcontracts@citb.co.uk  and we can discuss alternative arrangements with you. This could result in money being returned or agreeing to new training.

For an impartial discussion with advice and guidance on what training you may require and what grant funding might be available to you – call our experienced and friendly team today!

We can help you create and implement a robust training matrix to help you with health & safety compliance and to offer peace of mind that your team will receive the training they need to help your business grow. FACT!