Construction Industry Training Board (CITB) - Supplementary written evidence (UKH0103)

Following the Lords Built Environment Committee oral evidence session with Steve Radley, Strategy and Policy Director at CITB on 7 September, please find below the supplement information requested.

Building trades earnings by age

We have been unable to find the specific data the Committee requested in terms of what a bricklayer or joiner would expect to be earning at the ages of 25 and 60+. The only data we have been able to source is from the Office for National Statistics. These do back up Lord Grocott’s point that earnings tend to plateau after the first twenty years and highlights the importance of addressing the issue of career progression in construction. 

Hourly salary rates for skilled construction & building trades

This is not straightforward to do in a fragmented industry, with a very large number of roles and high levels of self-employment. However, it is important to address this if the industry is to retain and get the best from its workforce. We are taking two steps. First Go Construct, the levy-funded industry website on careers in construction will increasingly feature information on progression routes and the training people need to do to follow them. On average Go Construct appears in 2 million search results every month (one million in 2019) and last year over 600,000 students, teachers and those who want to re-skill visited the site.

We have also agreed with the industry and will shortly introduce a programme of leadership and management training, aimed particularly at site-based management roles such as supervisors based on common training standards. This will be supported both by grant and by procuring the courses for small firms and will support progression from trade roles to the first level of management.             

CITB support for SMEs

CITB's Strategic Plan 2021-25, published in September 2020, sets out the key skills challenges for construction and what CITB will do to address them.

Our three strategic priorities for 2021-25 are:

• Careers – attracting people to join and retaining those within the sector
• Training and Development – ensuring access to high quality training provision
• Standards and Qualifications – making sure standards are in place to work safely and effectively

Amid an unpredictable landscape, we have focused on a smaller number of priorities to help modernise construction and increase productivity, collaborating with industry, government and further education (FE). As well as providing direct support to employers, CITB will use this period to help fix the system, making it easier to recruit workers into the industry and to access training.

The Strategic Plan supports employers of all sizes to bring people into work and provide the training they need. The Plan includes expanding work experiences, creating a new pathway from FE into apprenticeships and jobs, and boosting the numbers of apprentices completing their programmes.

Creating better apprenticeships

Apprenticeships are the main source of industry recruitment at entry level. However, Covid-19 has made it harder for employers to take on new apprentices. During the 2020/21 academic year there were 6,000 fewer construction apprenticeship starts, representing a reduction of 30% compared to the previous year.

The table below shows apprenticeship starts and achievements in construction since 2014/15. With lower start numbers in recent years. the number who complete in 2020/21 is expected to be lower. However, we will not know that for sure until the data is published in November.

SME firms make up 98% of the industry and support 72% of the industry’s apprenticeships. However, SMEs need the greatest support in recruiting and retaining new talent into the industry through apprenticeships, as many do not have the capacity to take on the development of an apprentice alone.

We are working with government, industry, training providers and other key stakeholders on initiatives that will help construction employers, particularly SMEs, take on new apprentices and respond to increased demand in Britain’s recovery from the pandemic. CITB is working to make apprenticeships more flexible, so they work better for SMEs.

• Apprenticeship Levy ‘pledge’ reforms – from August 2021, employers who pay the Apprenticeship Levy can pledge funds for transfer to other employers, including SMEs, supported by a new online service to match levy payers with SMEs. We have been working with government and employers to ensure the design of the new pledge function works well for the construction industry and pledged funds can be targeted where they are most needed.

• Front-loaded and accelerated apprenticeships – will make apprenticeships more flexible by enabling off-the-job training to be front loaded at the start of an apprenticeship and for those apprentices with substantial prior learning, to complete an apprenticeship more quickly. We are working with the Department for Education to design and link accelerated construction apprenticeships to new sector-based occupational Traineeships. This work will mean that Further Education learners who undertake a Traineeship will be able to progress more quickly into apprenticeships and jobs as a result.
   
• Flexi-job apprenticeships – in July 2021 government introduced a £7 million fund to help employers in England set up and expand flexi-job apprenticeship schemes. This will allow apprentices to work across multiple contracts with different employers and enable small construction employers to share apprentices. We are helping employers who provide existing shared apprenticeship schemes to understand the new flexi-job apprenticeship regime. We are also using our research on construction skills needs to support employers applying for inclusion in the new flexi-job register and a share of government funding. The new flexi-job model is expected to start in January 2022.

• Apprenticeship standards – in collaboration with the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education we are helping to review English apprenticeship standards to ensure they meet the changing skills construction SMEs will need for the future.

CITB is also directly supporting SMEs to take on more apprentices through the construction levy by:

• Investing £110m to support apprentices and employers to increase overall numbers and completion rates by providing targeted travel and subsistence to those who really need it. This is on top of providing up to £14,500 in grants for every apprentice a construction employer takes on. We believe that this support will enable us to improve completion rates to our target of 70% by 2025.  Over the last five years, CITB has invested over £249m in levy to support nearly 62,000 construction apprentices through their training.
   
• Our Skills and Training Fund provides up to £10,000 for small businesses and up to £25,000 for medium-sized firms to support leadership, management, and development training.
   
• Working with employers to support 28,000 taster and onsite training opportunities so people can experience working in construction and gain the employability skills needed to start an apprenticeship or job in the sector.
   
• Working with all organisations putting forward Local Skills Improvement Plans to ensure they effectively align local training provision with employment opportunities in our industry, to give more young people a job or apprenticeship in construction.

CITB Small Business Levy Exemption

This is a crucial time for the construction industry. Covid-19 has forced a significant reappraisal of the way CITB provides its services. Improved communication with the industry, and the SME sector in particular, to ensure employers understand the benefit of the CITB levy and the help and support that can be provided as a result, is at the heart of this.

CITB’s Small Business Levy Exemption threshold for employers with wage bills of less than £80,000 is set to be raised to £120,000 for 2021-22, removing 5,000 smaller businesses from paying the levy in 2021-22. They can continue to claim CITB grants and support for their training and skills development. Approximately 35,000 employers are already exempt from paying Levy under the current system, with the proposed threshold increase taking this up to 40,000. CITB is also confirming its proposals to halve Levy rates in 2021-22, cutting next year’s Levy bills by 50%. Taking 5,000 smaller employers out of Levy payment is a measure that will help deliver on our priority to help employers stabilise and then return to growth.

September 2021

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