FUND YOUR TRAINING
FIND OUT ABOUT:
- CITB funding
- The Flexible Workforce Development Fund (FWDF)
- The GRANT BACK project
CITB Skills and Training Fund
The CITB Skills and Training Fund can be used to cover 100% of the costs of any of our CITB Assured courses. If you’d like any help with identifying the training which best suits your company’s needs, or help with completing the application form, please get in touch. We can also put you in touch with CITB Training Group Officers or CITB Engagement Advisors who will be able to help you.
CITB Skills and Training Fund: Small and micro-sized businesses
CITB-registered businesses with up to 99 directly employed staff on the payroll can claim from the CITB Skills and Training Fund once every 12 months. The amount you can claim depends on the number of employees you have:
- Employers with CIS only (no PAYE) can receive up to £2,500.
- Employers with 1 to 49 directly employed staff can receive up to £5,000.
- Employers with 50 to 74 directly employed staff can receive up to £7,500.
- Employers with 75 to 99 directly employed staff can receive up to £10,000.
CITB Skills and Training Fund: Medium-sized businesses
CITB-registered businesses with between 100 and 250 directly employed staff on the payroll can apply for the CITB Skills and Training Fund once every 12 months. The amount you can claim depends on the number of employees you have:
- Employers with between 100 and 149 directly-employed staff can receive up to £15,000.
- Employers with between 150 and 199 directly-employed staff can receive up to £20,000.
- Employers with between 200 and 250 directly-employed staff can receive up to £25,000.
CITB Levy Grants – Short Courses
CITB-registered employers with up to date levy returns can apply for this grant for all directly-employed staff on the payroll and subcontractors.
This grant is available for all courses listed on the Setting Out For Construction website as all our courses are CITB approved. You can claim £140 per delegate for each of our courses. If you are interested in the 5-day Setting out course, you can claim £280 per delegate as this is actually two courses combined into one.
The Flexible Workforce Development Fund
This fantastic fund is available to any business in Scotland including sole traders. Small and medium sized businesses (including sole traders) can easily access £5,000 for training, and large businesses can access £15,000.
The fund is administered through local Further Education colleges. If you speak to the right person in the right college, you’ll find it’s:
- extremely flexible,
- the application process is very quick and easy and
- you can use the funding for any training you wish (with one or two minor exceptions).
However, different colleges interpret the requirements in different ways and have different processes for allocating and awarding the funding. Certain colleges may tell you they have allocated all their funding for the year, or that you can only use the funding for a set list of courses that they offer. If this happens to you, do not give up. The funding is available, and you can use it for training offered by private training providers; you simply need to know who to speak to. At SOFC, we have been working closely with several colleges over the last few years and can introduce you to the ones we know will be able to fund your training.
Key points about the funding
- The FWDF can be used for any training or coaching that can add value to your business, but does not include mandatory certification to carry out your job.
- It can be used for open courses, one-to-one training, in-house training, standard courses or bespoke training, eLearning and remote training and support.
- It can be used for any of the training offered by Setting Out for Construction including levelling, laser level, total station, robotic total station, GNSS, drones, laser scanner, AutoCAD, 3D mapping and modelling, 3D machine content and thermal imaging as well as any other kind of training from any college or training provider.
- You need one of the following to show you are eligible:
- A business bank account,
- VAT registration,
- PAYE registration,
- Companies House information (latest accounts, etc.), or
- Registration for self-assessment tax return (HMRC).
- Scottish Apprentice Levy payers can access training up to a maximum of £15,000. NB: Scottish Apprentice Levy is separate from CITB levy and is paid by businesses who have a wage bill of over £3M.
- Businesses who do not pay the Scottish Apprenticeship Levy are eligible for £5,000.
- If you apply through the colleges, the funding includes VAT and is subject to an administration fee charged by the college.
- The fund is administered through local colleges. Some colleges will allow your funding to be used with private training providers like ourselves and some will not. If you are told by your local college they can only fund the college courses they offer, get in touch with us and we will introduce you to a college that can help.
- If you are told by your local college that they don’t have any funding left for this year, get in touch with us and we will direct you to a college that does have funding left.
- The funding is awarded on a first come first served basis. You are not competing against other businesses. If you meet the eligibility criteria, you will get the funding.
- If you have not claimed the FWDF before, SOFC can introduce you to a college who will arrange a telephone call with you to explain the fund in more detail and register you for the fund.
Employer Network GRANT BACK Project
CITB are running an exciting new pilot in five areas of the UK to explore how CITB can distribute funding to CITB-registered companies as fairly and frictionlessly as possible.
- South-West Wales
- Lincolnshire
- Norfolk
- Inverness (Highlands & Islands), plus civil engineering employers across Scotland
- Midlands (for civil engineering employers only).
If you are operating in any of these areas, we strongly recommend you contact the pilot organisers to find out the details of their project: Employer network pilot – CITB
How can companies in Scotland receive 50-75% funding for any training?
We work closely with the Scottish Civils Training Group (SCTG) who are a CITB approved training group who are taking part in the pilot. The pilot is called the Grant Back scheme and means funding will be paid directly to your business on successful completion of training instead of you having to claim grant through the usual routes.
If you are a CITB Registered civils company anywhere in Scotland, or any type of construction company in the Highlands and Islands, you will receive 50-75% refund for any kind of training.
How does it work?
It’s easy peasy! The SCTG will book the courses, charge you a discounted rate for the training and then pay 50% of the costs back. For companies with less than 25 employees, they’ll offer 75%.
Who is eligible for this funding?
SCTG are looking for companies to help trial this payment method, especially those who have not claimed funding from CITB in the last year, or companies who have claimed, but are willing to raise awareness of this pilot with their supply chain companies.
The funding is currently aimed at civils sector companies throughout Scotland and all construction companies based in the Highland & Islands.
What type of training is eligible?
The funding can be used for any type of training that supports construction employers. These could be the trade skills you need right now or something you’ll need in the future – such as net zero, digital skills or mentoring. The training does not need to be on the CITB Grant Eligible Training (GET) list.
How do I claim this funding?
You can get in touch with us at SOFC and we will help you identify the training you need from us. Alternatively, if you wish to use the funding for other types of training, you can get directly in touch with The SCTG at info@scottishcivilstraining.co.uk.
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