Blog 041 - CITB Skills & Training Fund

The CITB are back at it… specialist contractors are being hit with an abrupt shift in the CITB’s Skills & Training Fund. What once was a dependable stream of upfront grants for up-skilling the workforce has quietly evaporated, with help being pushed through “employer networks” and funded only upon completion. If you're already tight on cash flow and operating lean, this isn't merely inconvenient—it’s a barrier to investing in training!

And guess whose voice was lowest in the approval ratings? The SMEs. The very people delivering training, innovation, and apprenticeships have been ignored and disadvantaged. Without support for the trades that invest in skills and quality on the ground, how will this industry plug looming labour gaps?

Why This Matters to Specialist Contractors

Keeping it simple: your business runs on predictability and precise planning. Suddenly, training funding has a payment-upon-completion tick box, and the old structure—the safety net—is gone. It throws timelines out of sync, risks pushing training to the back burner, and puts small outfits at a disadvantage.

Yet while the system has changed, your approach to training doesn’t have to. You’re specialists, adaptability is part of the trade.

Three Tactical Moves to Stay Ahead

1. Engage with Employer Networks, Fast

These are now your single path to funding. Don’t wait—get involved early, learn their criteria, and influence from within. You’ll shape access better than staying on the outside looking in.

2. Reverse-Engineer Training Around Deliverables

With funding tied to completion, plan backwards: schedule training around project milestones you can deliver. That way, you’re not chasing funds.

3. Forge Peer Alliances

Small doesn’t have to mean isolated. Share resources, training frameworks, even co-ordinate submissions through the network. Can a group of Trade Contractors pool together to book similar courses such as first aid at work etc.

The CITB might have streamlined the system (for them!), but that clarity—however narrow—is something to work with. Specialist contractors are problem-solvers, adaptors and craftsmen. This will encourage specialist contractors to take training to the forefront and plan ahead your annual training requirements so that they can be added to your cash flow.

If you’re trying to make sense of the new funding mechanics—how to plug training schedules into payment triggers, or how to find the right network to join—drop me an email and let’s have a chat.