News Item: HAE Adds its Backing to the CITB Levy Proposals
HAE is pleased to see that over 67% of overall construction industry responses have been in support of the CITB Levy proposals for 2026-29. A majority of eligible HAE members completing our survey also voted to back the proposals.
The Hire Association HAE is one of the Prescribed Organisations asked to gauge support from members who pay the Levy or are likely to do so. The triennial Consensus exercise is an important opportunity for the industry to have its say about the Levy proposals and the CITB Strategic Plan priorities.
This comes after improved CITB communication and focus on the construction supply chain and specialist trades essential to enabling much activity. However, HAE has suggested how the Consensus exercise might be improved in time for the next one in 2028.
To date, association members have been able to benefit from an extensive skills and training offer providing real opportunities for member employees to upskill and attain new qualifications. Similarly, for those entering the hire and rental sector, the baseline training available has become more extensive. Not all members are fully convinced and CITB will need to do more to communicate what is being offered and to listen to trade bodies as requirements change.
We look forward to continuing to work with CITB to progress shared goals around upskilling and attracting new, motivated people into the workforce. This comes at a time when demands on the construction industry (and hire, as a key enabler) are growing in support of national missions to build new homes and to modernise infrastructure and energy networks. We also face an urgent challenge to fill gaps in the workforce.
The CITB announcement and breakdown of the Consensus results can be found below.
CITB Achieves Consensus for its 2026-2029 Levy Proposals
67% of construction employers are in support of CITB’s Levy plans
The Construction Industry Training Board (CITB) has today announced it has achieved Consensus in support for its Levy Proposals that will help provide training for the construction industry across the next three years. The results show that 67% of construction employers are in support of CITB’s Levy plans, improving on the 2021 Consensus results. Additionally, 12 out of the 14 Prescribed Organisations are in agreement with the Levy Proposals.
Usually undertaken every three years, Consensus is the process through which CITB seeks Levy-paying employers’ views and agreement on its plans for generating the Levy, which in turn supports the skills and training CITB will deliver to the industry.
The result means that Levy rates are proposed to remain the same for 2026-29. The proposed Levy arrangements are:
If the employee payroll and Net paid (taxable) CIS subcontractors combined is less than £150,000, employers will not pay a Levy. If it is between £150,000 and £499,999, they will receive an automatic reduction of 50%. This approach was supported by a majority of employers at a recent consultation and means CITB will continue to support its smallest employers, so the Levy delivers for all.
These results have now been submitted to the Department for Education to ratify. Once ratified a new Levy Order can be raised.
Since the last set of Consensus results, CITB has launched incredibly successful initiatives; Employer Networks and the New Entrant Support Team (NEST). Employer Networks offer bespoke, easy-to-access training and financial support for employers and last year, CITB quadrupled the number of learners it supported from 11,000 to over 50,000 learners.
Similarly, CITB’s NEST team, which helps make finding, recruiting and retaining an apprentice or new entrant easier for employers, nearly doubled the number of apprenticeship starts supported from 2,000 to over 4,000 in the 2024-25 financial year.
Tim Balcon, CEO at CITB, said: “Thank you to all employers who took part in the Consensus process. The Levy is designed to ensure that construction employers of all sizes feel supported with their skills and training needs. It plays a vital role in investing in the British construction industry, ensuring the development of a skilled workforce to meet the sector’s current and future demands.
“We are really pleased that Levy payers continue to be supportive of the Levy Proposals. We will now focus on delivering our Strategic Plan through which we aim to support at least 35,000 employers over the next four years and establish a simpler, more responsive skills and training system better aligned with industry needs.”
You can read the Consensus 2025 results in full on the CITB website.
Find out more about how your Levy will be invested in construction skills by exploring CITB’s Strategic Plan.
Source: Randall’s Monitoring