Construction employers have just under two weeks to engage with the Construction Industry Training Board (CITB) during its consultation period for the 2026-29 Levy Proposals.
Ending on 24 October, this period of engagement with the industry is an opportunity for employers across England, Scotland and Wales, who are registered with CITB, to provide feedback on the Levy Proposals, including on important components such as the Levy thresholds.
CITB’s Levy Strategy Committee (LSC) has recommended two sets of Draft Levy Proposals for wider industry consultation:
Option 1
To retain Levy rates at:
- PAYE: 0.35%
- Net paid (Taxable) CIS Sub-contractors: 1.25%.
To retain the Levy Exemption and Reduction Thresholds included in the Proposals for the 2026 Levy Order:
- Levy Exemption for employers with a wage bill below £135,000
- A 50% Reduction in Levy for employers with a wage bill of £135,000 or more, but below £450,000.
Option 2
To retain Levy rates at:
- PAYE: 0.35%
- Net paid (Taxable) CIS Sub-contractors: 1.25%.
To increase the Levy Exemption and Reduction Thresholds included in the Proposals for the 2026 Levy Order:
- Levy Exemption for employers with a wage bill below £150,000
- A 50% Reduction in Levy for employers with a wage bill of £150,000 or more, but below £500,000
CITB’s Strategy Committee will meet to review the feedback and use it in their guidance to the CITB board, prior to the proposal being submitted to the Secretary of State for Education. The Consensus process usually occurs every three years and is crucial in ensuring that CITB is listening to its employers’ views on the levy system. A sample-based approach is taken to measure the Consensus results.
Tim Balcon, chief executive of CITB, explained: “The Prescribed Organisations will gather views from their members and an independent market research company will conduct a sample survey of 4,000 employers who are not part of a Prescribed Organisation. The combined results are designed to be representative of the Levy paying population and of a large enough size to report reliable results.”
