Almost 100 specialist contractors have reached the halfway point of a sector specific pilot training project delivered by the National Specialist Contractors Council (NSCC).
The concept was launched in 2012 after it was found that the Construction Industry Training Board (CITB) Grant Scheme was not meeting the needs of the specialist sector. According to the NSCC, specialist contractors in some sectors were claiming as little as 8% of their CITB Levy back in grants.
Under a Sector Specific Training Plan, the NSCC is able to select up to 20 relevant training courses that receive an increased CITB grant of œ150 per day (three times the usual rate). The result has been an increase in both the amount of training being undertaken – up 60% in some sectors – and the level of CITB grants being claimed by specialist contractors, which has reached more than œ420,000
Since the pilot scheme was extended by two years in August 2014, the specialist contractors involved have delivered nearly 7,000 days of training across a wide range of areas, including health and safety, management development and other sector specific training.
The pilot project for Sector Specific Training Plans will finish in July 2016 and will be used to inform a wider review of the CITB Grants Scheme.
