The Skills & Training fund grants up to 拢5,000 for levy payers with fewer than 50 employees, to provide skills and training to their workforce. The 442 successful applicants from around Great Britain in 2016 shared a total pot of 拢1.9m.
The CITB was pleased with the reach, describing 442 as a 'whopping' number, but would like it to be higher. , there are 956,000 SMEs operating in the construction sector in the UK. Even allowing for the fact that a small proportion of these are in Northern Ireland, which is outside the remit of the CITB, that still suggests approximately 0.05% of eligible firms getting anything from the Skills & Training fund.
The CITB said that the Skills & Training fund was just one of its funding pots and other construction companies benefited from other schemes. In 2014/15, for example,14,959 SMEs received a total of 拢84.3m in CITB funding. This is 1.6% of the total UK SME population of the construction industry but 21% of the 71,735 employers registered with CITB.
CITB is keen for more small firms to apply for funding for training. Geeta Nathan, head of economic analysis at CITB, said: 鈥楽mall, medium and micro-sized businesses make up a huge proportion of the construction industry and it鈥檚 vital that we support their training and skills needs. It鈥檚 so great to see so many firms successfully applying for the Skills & Training fund 鈥� 拢1m is a milestone we should all be proud of 鈥� and I鈥檇 encourage every levy-paying SME to do the same.鈥�
A recent YouGov survey commissioned by payroll services firm Hudson Contract found that 60% of levy payers provide training without CITB grant funding. Ian Anfield, managing director of Hudson Contract, said: 鈥淒espite spending millions on websites, roadshows and PR, the CITB鈥檚 influence on training provision is negligible. In reality, the CITB is a hapless bystander while SMEs get on with the day job. More and more stakeholders are questioning whether there is a need for a levy and grant system at all. This needs an answer.鈥澛犅�
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