From 1st April 2023, CITB is doubling grant rates for short courses. Grants up to £240 will be made available to support employers with their training needs, including leadership and management courses.
Last year, CITB distributed more than £15m in grants for short courses to employers, with mental health and asbestos awareness courses being the most popular.
In addition, CITB is also increasing the grant rates for specific supervision and management qualifications in a bid to lessen the fallout of changes in construction industry card schemes.
Those seeking to renew their Construction Skills Certificate Scheme (CSCS) cards from next year will have to have an NVQ (SNVQ in Scotland) or other recognised qualification. To help meet expected demand for courses to meet this requirement – assuming the industry chooses to enforce the new regime – grants for supervision and management qualifications will be increased from £600 to £1,250 and £1,500 respectively.
The new rates follow last year's increases, where an additional £2,000 was made available for each dry lining apprentice, and rain screen cladding qualification grants were increased from £600 to £1,000.
CITB chief executive Tim Balcon said: “During this challenging time for the economy, the finances of businesses and workers are under pressure. Our increased grant rates address rising costs and support employers to secure high quality training to upskill their workforce.
“This uplift in grants is our response to feedback from employers, who told us increased costs are making it more challenging to invest in the training they need. We know investing in training can bring competitive advantage helping businesses to retain and attract more workers and to ensure they have an upskilled workforce to win new work.
“We’ve listened to their concerns and responded by doubling our grant rates for short courses and increasing our grant rates for specific short qualifications.”
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