Unfortunately, it transpires that we cannot claim any grant support because he is not going through the CITB scheme. The reason we did not put the trainee through the CITB scheme was the Board’s insistence that the trainee do block release.
This policy did not suit our business needs, and considering the range of on-site experience needed by the youngster to achieve the NVQ, it was felt that block release would be restrictive when certain areas of work (which would provide the essential experience) came up.
After a bit more digging around for an explanation it appears that the pot of money for apprentices is running dry.
Hang on a bit! Are we not in the midst of a skills shortage? Are we not supposed to be encouraging more youngsters to enter the industry? Do we not pay our levy to ensure that the UK industry has enough trained operatives to survive? If so, why is the CITB limiting the funding available for new entrants to the industry. Could it be that mismanagement of money has occurred, or even a lack of foresight from the body that actually issued the skills foresight report?
Surely if the CITB, as it has been preaching to us for the last few years, is aware of the number of trainees required then it should have budgeted for the support for those trainees?
On the up side, I can claim for site inductions and foreign language courses. This is apt. In five years’ time the only skilled labour I will be inducting will have to be imported.
Source
Construction Manager
Postscript
Sean Simmons
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