Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • Brightmine
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Free trial
    • Request a quote
  • Webinars
  • Advertise
  • OHW+

Personnel Today

Register
Log in
Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • Brightmine
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Free trial
    • Request a quote
  • Webinars
  • Advertise
  • OHW+

Latest NewsEconomics, government & businessLearning & developmentSector Skills CouncilsSkills shortages

ConstructionSkills levy threshold rise will give more small firms access to training funds

by John Charlton 6 Dec 2007
by John Charlton 6 Dec 2007

More small construction companies should be able to offer free training to staff next year if Parliament agrees to raise the training levy paid by building firms.

A Bill to raise the threshold at which construction firms pay a training levy will go before Parliament in February. If enacted it means that small building companies with an annual wage bill of less than £76,000 won’t have to pay the levy.

This year the levy was payable by firms whose annual wage bill was up to £73,000.

Sector skills council ConstructionSkills – formerly the Construction Industry Training Board – collects the levy annually from eligible firms and uses it to fund grants to small companies who train staff. The council said small firms tended to train most new entrants to the construction industry and this benefited larger companies when they hired them.

The levy is calculated at 0.5% of the direct labour force wage bill and 1.5% of the value of payments for labour made to subcontractors. Some £152.3m was raised in 2006, £16.3m up on 2005, and helped fund training for 10,800 new entrants to the construction industry workforce who worked for firms who did not pay the levy.

According to ConstructionSkills the Bill to raise the levy usually goes through “on the nod” – unopposed and unamended – as long as it provides Parliament with evidence that the industry supports the charge. “We do this,” said a spokeswoman, “by asking the 11 construction employers’ federations if they support the levy. But in recent years membership of these bodies has fallen so we also consult employers who aren’t federation members.”

This research is carried out independently and it is said to have enough support this year to be passed unopposed.

Sign up to our weekly round-up of HR news and guidance

Receive the Personnel Today Direct e-newsletter every Wednesday

OptOut
This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

ConstructionSkills said 75% of construction sector employers supported the levy and 63% believed training in the industry would worsen without it.

Currently, two-thirds of 48,000 construction employers registered as companies are exempt from paying the levy.




John Charlton

previous post
Spouse language skills to form key plank of revised migrant scheme
next post
High commissioner plans to offer UK vocational training to help India develop skills

You may also like

Personnel Today Awards 2025: Final deadline on Monday

20 Jun 2025

Seven ways to prepare now for the Employment...

20 Jun 2025

Sniff a lemon on World Productivity Day and...

20 Jun 2025

Employees want more upskilling and apprenticeships to narrow...

20 Jun 2025

NHS pay disputes: Who could strike again?

20 Jun 2025

BBC Breakfast bullying and misconduct allegations under investigation

20 Jun 2025

AI company did not racially discriminate against Chinese...

20 Jun 2025

Financial analyst guilty of insider dealing while WFH

20 Jun 2025

Only a third of recruiters receive high-quality job...

20 Jun 2025

UK job market shows signs of resilience

20 Jun 2025

  • AI is here. Your workforce should be ready. SPONSORED | From content creation...Read more
  • Preparing for a new era of workforce planning (webinar) WEBINAR | Employers now face...Read more
  • 2025 Employee Communications Report PROMOTED | HR and leadership...Read more
  • Prioritising performance management: Strategies for success (webinar) WEBINAR | In today’s fast-paced...Read more
  • Retaining Female Talent: Four Ways to Reduce Workplace Drop Out PROMOTED | International Women’s Day...Read more

Personnel Today Jobs
 

Search Jobs

PERSONNEL TODAY

About us
Contact us
Browse all HR topics
Email newsletters
Content feeds
Cookies policy
Privacy policy
Terms and conditions

JOBS

Personnel Today Jobs
Post a job
Why advertise with us?

EVENTS & PRODUCTS

The Personnel Today Awards
The RAD Awards
Employee Benefits
Forum for Expatriate Management
OHW+
Whatmedia

ADVERTISING & PR

Advertising opportunities
Features list 2025

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Linkedin


© 2011 - 2025 DVV Media International Ltd

Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • Brightmine
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Free trial
    • Request a quote
  • Webinars
  • Advertise
  • OHW+