Thanks to the input of the WITForum, CITB-ConstructionSkills has reversed its decision to remove grants joinery companies receive for On-Site Assessment and Training (OSAT). At a meeting held in July, the WITForum discovered that ConstructionSkills had plans to remove the OSAT grant completely should a company be in receipt of Train to Gain (T2G) funding for the same activity. Following pressure from us and a number of other federations and associations in the industry, ConstructionSkills have reinstated the grant for 2009/10 grant pot. In a letter to Robert Dale, the CITB-ConstructionSkills Board Secretary, the WITForum expressed its concern that a company’s funding from a government source should cause them to loose out from a ConstructionSkills grant – the scheme that is funded by the levy payments of the companies themselves.
Dave Campbell, the WITForum Training Manager said, ‘it was absolute nonsense that ConstructionSkills would even consider making grants dependant on what other sources of funding a company was claiming, when all the money in the grant was funded by them and their fellow colleagues in the industry in the first place. However, despite the lack of consultation on this matter, ConstructionSkills have now listened and ensured that companies are not penalised for utilising government funding for training’. Over the past 6 months, ConstructionSkills have been in consultation with federations and associations within the construction industry regarding the reduction or removal of all other grants which they pay employers toward training. This is due to the larger than expected increase in employers claiming the range of grants offered and the fall in levy income – the statutory charge on all companies engaged in construction activity. In light of the recession, companies’ wage bills have inevitably reduced as redundancy takes hold, reducing ConstructionSkills’ levy income which funds the training grant schemes. The WITForum now has a place on the consultation group that will assess the grants ConstructionSkills offers to ensure that all are effective and are what the industry is demanding. Dave added, ‘It is regrettable that we are seeing grant reductions or removals at all, but we must be realistic; ConstructionSkills like any organisation within the industry is suffering through this recession. We must work with them to make savings in the right places and direct diminished levy income to the training projects that are right for employers.’ The latest consultation paper that outlines the changes to the grant funding for 2009/10 can be viewed by clicking here