Mission and plans
CITB is dedicated to ensuring the construction workforce has the right skills for now and the future based on our three strategic priorities – Careers, Standards and Qualifications, and Training and Development.
We are the Industry Training Board and a partner in the Sector Skills Council for the construction industry in England, Scotland and Wales.
Our mission: To attract and support the development of people to construct a better Britain.
Our vision: For British construction to have a recognised, world-class, innovative approach to developing its workforce to deliver quality in the built environment.
CITB Strategic Plan 2021-25
CITB published its Strategic Plan 2021-25 in September 2020, which sets out the key skills challenges for construction and what CITB will do to address them:
Strategic Plan 2021-25 (PDF, 482KB)
Amid an unpredictable landscape, CITB have focused on a smaller number of priorities to help modernise construction and increase productivity, collaborating with industry, governments and further education (FE). As well as providing direct support to employers, CITB will use this period to help fix the system, making it easier to recruit workers into the industry and to access training.
The Strategic Plan supports employers to bring people into work and provide the training they need. The Plan includes expanding work experiences, creating a new pathway from FE into apprenticeships and jobs, and boosting the numbers of apprentices completing their programmes.
Highlights from the Strategic Plan include:
- Investing £110m to support apprentices and employers, on top of grant support, to increase overall numbers and completion rates
- Support for 28,000 taster experiences and investment in Go-Construct to give people the chance to see the wide range of opportunities construction offers and how to access them
- Using the Grants Scheme and other funding to help employers invest in training to first rebuild after the pandemic and then to modernise and raise productivity.
The Strategic Plan was developed during discussions with employers, employer bodies and CITB Board and Nation Council members.
2021-22 Business Plan
This one-year Business Plan builds upon two documents from 2020 which signalled our intent to focus on fewer priorities and maximise their impact.
2019-21 Business Plan
2018-2021 Business Plan
In June 2020, CITB published its Skills Stability Plan (PDF, 163KB), which sets out how CITB is supporting employers’ skills and training needs as the industry restarts following the impact of COVID-19.
The Skills Stability Plan describes the prioritisation and skills investments in the April 2020-March 2021 financial year. The priorities are to protect apprenticeships and provide direct funding to employers to adopt new ways of working needed in the wake of COVID-19 and retain skills.
CITB will work with other industry partners to match displaced workers with new opportunities, including through exploring a talent retention scheme. This will build on the support already provided to help apprentices complete their programmes including through up-front grant payments to current year 2 and year 3 apprentices, assistance to match displaced or at-risk apprentices to new employers and developing more alternative options such as Shared Apprenticeship Schemes.
The Plan has also prioritised the Grant Scheme and direct funding for employers through the Skills and Training Funds, with £8m earmarked for small and micro businesses, £3.5m for medium-sized businesses, with a £3m Leadership and Management Fund for large firms. This will help employers train to adapt to the new working environment and update the skills needed by their business to help recover.
CITB welcomes the publication of proposals set out on 1 June 2020 by the Construction Leadership Council's Covid-19 Task Force. The CLC's Roadmap to Recovery plan is a strategy to drive the recovery of the construction and built environment sectors, and through them the wider UK economy, following the COVID-19 pandemic and economic downturn.
CITB has a plan for each nation where we are working with national government and supporting the construction industry in that country.
Nation plans 2021-22
Major players in the UK construction industry have published a plan to help brace the sector for tighter migration controls after Brexit.
Building After Brexit: An Action Plan for Industry identifies the need for construction to adopt a twin-track strategy: growing investment in the domestic workforce and driving up productivity, while working with Government to agree how to maintain access to migrant workers to give it the breathing space to adapt.
Published by a pan-industry group the action plan details specific steps the construction industry, government and CITB must take to lessen the impact of Brexit, based on extensive research undertaken since the EU referendum.
Recommendations include:
- Attract talent by raising apprenticeship starts and completions, creating pathways into construction for under-represented groups and providing better work experience opportunities.
- Retain the workforce by supporting older workers to stay in the industry, upskilling the existing workforce and offering improved mental health support.
- Be productive by developing a Future Skills Strategy to identify the skills required to modernise the industry, drive digitalisation forward and boost investment in modern methods of construction.
Building After Brexit: An Action Plan For Industry is a product of work from the Construction Industry Training Board (CITB), Construction Leadership Council (CLC, the Civil Engineering Contractors Association (CECA), Construction Products Association (CPA, Federation of Master Builders (FMB) and the Home Builders Federation (HBF).
Download Building After Brexit: An Action Plan for Industry report (PDF 1.05MB)
Since 1997 CITB has actively asked employers for their thoughts on the skills issues facing construction. We use the responses to inform decisions about what the industry values and needs, as well as evaluating CITB’s performance to support employers and the industry. The Employer Tracker has evolved over time to reflect changes to the industry and services that CITB provide and is now run twice a year.