Supermarket shelve installer should have been out of scope of the levy, CITB admits

A supermarket shelve installer has reached an out-of-court settlement with the CITB, after the industry’s training body admitted it was out of scope of the levy.

The lawyer who acted on behalf of the firm confirmed his client’s sites had been “misclassified as construction sites”.

Stuart Thwaites, senior associate at Wright Hassal, advised other firms to follow suit and challenge the CITB levy.

“My view is that if people challenged it they’d find they might be exempt,” Thwaites said.

But a senior CITB source dismissed the case as “routine”.

The source said: “In my view this is just a law firm trying to drum up business. This firm provides shelving for supermarkets so that is definitely peripheral to construction. Once this was drawn to our attention we agreed the firm was out of scope.”

Out of 80,000 levy-paying companies in 2010, 152 appeals were lodged against paying it, of which 113 were resolved between the CITB and the companies.

39 cases went to tribunal, of which 28 were dismissed and three were successful.

Topics