
The Construction Industry Training Board (CITB) is the industry training board for the UK
construction industry
Construction are processes involved in delivering buildings, infrastructure, industrial facilities, and associated activities through to the end of their life. It typically starts with planning, financing, and design that continues until the ...
.
History
The CITB was established on 21 July 1964 by the (
SI 1964/1079),
[Explanatory Note to The Industrial Training (Construction Board) Order 1964 (Amendment) Order 1992] and was one of a number of training boards covering UK industries. It was a
non-departmental public body
In the United Kingdom, non-departmental public body (NDPB) is a classification applied by the Cabinet Office, Treasury, the Scottish Government, and the Northern Ireland Executive to public sector organisations that have a role in the process o ...
of the
Department for Business, Innovation and Skills
The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) was a ministerial department of the Government of the United Kingdom. It was created by the Gordon Brown premiership on 5 June 2009 by the merger of the Department for Innovation, Uni ...
until 2016 when it moved to the
Department for Education
The Department for Education (DfE) is a Departments of the Government of the United Kingdom, ministerial department of the Government of the United Kingdom. It is responsible for child protection, child services, education in England, educati ...
. The activities of the CITB have been redefined by
statutory instruments (including the (
SI 1991/28) and the (
SI 1992/3048)).
[
In October 2003 ]Charles Clarke
Charles Rodway Clarke (born 21 September 1950) is a British Labour Party politician who held various Cabinet positions under Prime Minister Tony Blair from 2001 to 2006, lastly as Home Secretary from December 2004 to May 2006. Clarke was th ...
, then Secretary of State for Education and Skills
The secretary of state for education, also referred to as the education secretary, is a secretary of state in the Government of the United Kingdom, responsible for the work of the Department for Education. The incumbent is a member of the Ca ...
, awarded the licence for the new construction industry sector skills council
Sector skills councils (SSCs) are employer-led organisations that cover specific industries in the United Kingdom. They were introduced by Adult Skills Minister, Rt Hon John Healey MP in 2002, while the architect of the policy was Tom Bewick, a ...
(SSC) to "ConstructionSkills", a partnership between the CITB and the Construction Industry Council (CIC). The CITB became known as CITB-ConstructionSkills, or simply ConstructionSkills, for most of the next 10 years.
In March 2013, it was announced that the organisation would drop brands such as CITB-ConstructionSkills, CSkills Awards and the National Construction College (the NCC operated from seven locations: Ashbourne, Erith
Erith () is an area in south-east London, England, east of Charing Cross. Before the creation of Greater London in 1965, it was in the historical county of Kent. Since 1965 it has formed part of the London Borough of Bexley. It lies north ...
, Inchinnan
Inchinnan (; ) is a small village in Renfrewshire, Scotland. The village is located on the main A8 road between Renfrew and Greenock, just south east of the town of Erskine.
History
The name of Inchinnan village is derived from the Gaelic ...
, Bircham Newton
Bircham Newton is a village in the civil parish of Bircham, in the King's Lynn and West Norfolk district, in the county of Norfolk, England.
Bircham Newton is located north of Great Bircham, north-east of King's Lynn and north-west of No ...
near King's Lynn
King's Lynn, known until 1537 as Bishop's Lynn and colloquially as Lynn, is a port and market town in the borough of King's Lynn and West Norfolk in the county of Norfolk, England. It is north-east of Peterborough, north-north-east of Cambridg ...
, King's Norton, Leytonstone
Leytonstone ( ) is an area in East London, England, within the London Borough of Waltham Forest. It adjoins Wanstead to the north-east, Forest Gate to the south-east, Stratford to the south-west, Leyton to the west, and Walthamstow to the nor ...
and Llangefni
; ) is the county town of Anglesey in Wales. At the 2011 census, Llangefni's population was 5,116, making it the second-largest town in the county and the largest on the island. The community includes the village of Rhosmeirch.
Location
The ...
), and revert to its original CITB name as a result of industry feedback suggesting that multiple brands were causing confusion.
2016 review
The October 2016 Farmer Review of the UK Construction Labour Model
A farmer is a person engaged in agriculture, raising living organisms for food or raw materials. The term usually applies to people who do some combination of raising field crops, orchards, vineyards, poultry, or other livestock. A farmer ...
made several key recommendations to reform training in the industry. One of these was for fundamental reform of the CITB and the levy. In May 2017, the awarding body Cskills Awards was sold to another industry awarding body NOCN.
In October 2016, the government's skills minister Robert Halfon
Robert Henry Halfon (; born 22 March 1969) is a British Conservative Party (UK), Conservative Party politician and was the Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament (MP) for Harlow (UK Parliament constituency), Harlow from 2010 ...
appointed Paul Morrell to lead a review of industrial training boards, in particular the future role of the CITB. Industry support for the CITB varied widely, with some sectors (notably housebuilding) voting against renewal of the CITB's levy, while others (Build UK
Build UK is a representative organisation in the Construction industry of the United Kingdom. It was formed by the 2015 merger of the UK Contractors Group (UKCG) and the National Specialist Contractors Council (NSCC). Combining clients, main contr ...
, for example) favoured its continuation so long as there were reforms. The report, ''Building Support: the review of the Industry Training Boards'', was published in November 2017.
Restructuring
In November 2017, the CITB unveiled a new strategy to become simpler and more streamlined, ending direct training via the National Construction College, and abandoning its facility at Bircham Newton
Bircham Newton is a village in the civil parish of Bircham, in the King's Lynn and West Norfolk district, in the county of Norfolk, England.
Bircham Newton is located north of Great Bircham, north-east of King's Lynn and north-west of No ...
in Norfolk moving to Peterborough
Peterborough ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city in the City of Peterborough district in the Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county of Cambridgeshire, England. The city is north of London, on the River Nene. A ...
, where it is now based. The changes were likely to include substantial job losses among the CITB's 1,400 staff, particularly in Norfolk, as it commissioned outside providers rather than providing training itself. In total, 750 staff, more than half the workforce, were said to be under threat of redundancy.
In April 2018, the CITB unveiled a three-year plan in which more than 800 staff would be axed in reforms designed to modernise its business. The CITB proposed to reduce from 1,370 UK staff in March 2018 to 358 by 2021. In November 2018, various back-office functions were outsourced, affecting 337 staff, with most transferring to the new provider, Shared Services Connected Ltd (SSCL). In December 2018, it was revealed that, to retain employment with SSCL, over 200 staff based in Norfolk, plus over 100 staff in London, Leicestershire, Scotland and Wales, would be forced to relocate and work from SSCL's offices in York and other locations - a move condemned by Unite the Union
Unite the Union, commonly known as Unite, is a trade union in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland, Ireland, formed on 1 May 2007 by the merger of Amicus (trade union), Amicus and the Transport and General Workers' Union. A general union ...
as effectively making the 300 staff redundant. In March 2019, the CITB's new head office was established in Peterborough.
In February 2020, the CITB announced it had sold the NCC's Bircham Newton site to West Suffolk College
West Suffolk College is a Further Education college in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk. The college delivers a range of courses, including vocational and technical courses, apprenticeships, and an array of higher-apprenticeships and bachelor's degree ...
, based in Bury St Edmunds
Bury St Edmunds (), commonly referred to locally as ''Bury,'' is a cathedral as well as market town and civil parish in the West Suffolk District, West Suffolk district, in the county of Suffolk, England.OS Explorer map 211: Bury St. Edmunds an ...
, aiming to continue construction industry training provision at the site. However, the sale later fell through and in March 2021 CITB said it had decided to retain its Bircham Newtwon site, plus its Scottish facility at Inchinnan. Industry publication ''The Construction Index'' said that retaining Bircham Newton and Inchinnan was "not just a temporary suspension of the sale process but an absolute volte face of policy and a return to its core purpose of providing training".
In November 2020, the CITB's training facility in King's Norton was sold to Walsall College
Walsall College is a further education college in Walsall, West Midlands, England.
The college is the largest provider of qualifications for 14- to 19-year-olds in the Borough of Walsall. In addition, Walsall College provides education and t ...
. Sale discussions with a training provider for CITB's Erith facility were continuing in March 2021.
In August 2020, it was reported that CITB staff were facing salary cuts and possible redundancies as the organisation managed a £160m decline in its income. CITB opened consultations with staff to make up to 110 redundancies, saving £4.5m annually, with levy income predicted to fall due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...
.
In November 2022, the CITB made a £5.9m provision in its accounts after over-claiming for government apprenticeship funding.
2023 review
In July 2023, the Department for Education
The Department for Education (DfE) is a Departments of the Government of the United Kingdom, ministerial department of the Government of the United Kingdom. It is responsible for child protection, child services, education in England, educati ...
launched a review of CITB and ECITB, to be led by Mark Farmer. The review was set to be published by the end of summer 2024, but was later delayed until early 2025, with a knock-on impact on the CITB's training levy review procedure (a process known as Consensus).
In July 2024, the new Labour Government announced proposals to overhaul skills provision in England by the formation of Skills England
Skills England is an executive agency of the Department for Education formally established on 2 June 2025. The agency has assumed the functions transferred to the Secretary of State from the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education ...
, but it was unclear how the CITB would fit into the new regime. A survey for Hudson Contract revealed 74% of construction business leaders wanted.to scrap the CITB and its levy; Hudson MD Ian Anfield called for it be merged into the new Skills England (Hudson, also known as Knot Builders, was engaged in what an appeal judge later described as an "opportunistic" and "cynical" legal challenge regarding CITB grant payments).
The Farmer-led review, published on 30 January 2025, said the CITB needed a "fundamental reset" and should merge with the Engineering Construction Industry Training Board (ECITB). While there could be significant benefits from greater alignment and collaboration between the two ITBs, the Government was not planning to legislate to create a single body.
Criticism
With construction employers paying a statutory levy to the CITB, it has been subject to industry criticism over its funding of training. In June 2016, for example, the CITB was criticised for not supporting an industry charity, Building Lives, while providing grants to organisations to train sales and marketing staff.
Despite the CITB's review and restructuring, criticisms of the body continued. In October 2021, the National Federation of Builders
National may refer to:
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** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen
Places in the United States
* National, Maryland, ...
called for a fundamental CITB restructure to ensure greater efficiency, accountability, and a more focused and successful delivery of skills and training outcomes. In January 2022, the House of Lords
The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the lower house, the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. One of the oldest ext ...
Built Environment Committee published a report, ''Meeting housing demand,'' which was critical of the CITB's training provision to small house-builders amid an ongoing skills shortage. It said:
:"The Construction Industry Training Board has not addressed construction skills shortages in an effective manner over many years. Reform is needed to address this issue. The government should consider how the Construction Industry Training Board can upgrade its training offer for construction professionals. Failure to recruit and train the skills required to build new homes should cause the government to consider potential alternative models for a national construction careers body."
In May 2023, CITB was given a "requires improvement" rating following an Ofsted
The Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills (Ofsted) is a non-ministerial department of His Majesty's government, reporting to Parliament. Ofsted's role is to make sure that organisations providing education, training ...
inspection, which criticised CITB's quality of education, leadership and management, and apprenticeships.
References
External links
CITB website
Catalogue of the CITB archives in Richard Wood's papers
held at the Modern Records Centre, University of Warwick
The Modern Records Centre (MRC) is the specialist archive service of the University of Warwick in Coventry, England, located adjacent to the Central Campus Library. It was established in October 1973 and holds the world's largest archive collect ...
{{Authority control
1964 establishments in the United Kingdom
Sector Skills Councils
Further education colleges in the United Kingdom
Government agencies established in 1964
Department for Education
Non-departmental public bodies of the United Kingdom government
Organisations based in Peterborough