Hi all

I wanted to let you all know that our Grant Scheme Feedback form is now live. The link to the form features on the Grants Scheme pages of the website Here, and there is more detail at the bottom of this email.

I would be grateful if you could send this on to your employer members – we welcome all feedback on this matter.

Many thanks

Julia

Your views on the CITB Grants Scheme matter

We have asked for your feedback throughout the COVID -19 pandemic, to enable us to support the construction industry where it matters most and to help shape the work we do. Now more than ever your views are helping us shape our thinking, ensure funds are correctly prioritised and directed to where they can make the most difference.

As part of our review of the support we offer, we will be inviting organisations and their employees to share their views on training and the Grants Scheme. Your feedback matters and this is your opportunity to help us develop what we offer in the future.

If you’d like to take part you can complete the Grants Scheme feedback form today, just click here

Deadline:  The link closes at 5pm, on Monday 2^nd November.

Julia Stevens

Partnership Manager (Training Groups)

M: +44 (0)7342 061 705

E:  julia.stevens@citb.co.uk

W: www.citb.co.uk

Good afternoon,

 Today’s email reflects on the importance of looking after our mental health and highlights the new features added to The Lighthouse Club’s free app, as well as a link to share your views on the CITB Grants Scheme.

It continues to be an unsettling time with the increasing COVID-19 infection rates resulting in the new three-tier lockdown system in England, introduced by the UK Government earlier this week. It’s evident that we need to do all we can to minimise the risk of infection, not only in our home lives but also at work and within our industry. I would like to remind you of our COVID-19 site safety checklists and forms, which we are continually reviewing to ensure they reflect the current requirements for Site Operating Procedures.

New app features to support industry wellbeing

Last Saturday was World Mental Health Day, and with such major challenges and uncertainty impacting everyone’s way of life to some extent this year, the focus was on ‘mental health for all’. This reinforces the importance of looking out for loved ones, but also acts as a reminder to take time out to consider your own mental wellbeing.

The Lighthouse Construction Industry Charity recently launched a free helpline app, which encourages people to seek guidance and information, while providing a discreet platform for them to do so. Following employers’ feedback, the app has since been upgraded with new features and tools to support financial wellbeing. Working in partnership with ‘nudge’, a financial wellbeing platform, the app reminds users when to take financial action, helps with budgeting, and provides content to boost financial knowledge. You can download the app here.

Your views on the CITB Grants Scheme matter

We have asked for your feedback throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, to enable us to support the construction industry where it matters most and to shape the work we do. Now more than ever your views are helping us ensure limited funds are directed to where they can make the most difference for you.

As part of our review of the support we offer, we will be inviting organisations and their employees to share their views on training and the Grants Scheme. Your feedback matters and this is your opportunity to help us develop what we offer in the future. Please complete the feedback form, which should take no longer than 10 minutes, by 5pm on 2 November 2020.

A reminder…

CITB’s COVID-19 Urgent Messages page is refreshed regularly and includes updates on the full range of our work. You can also read the range of support measures made available to UK businesses and employees by the UK Government.

Finally, I would like to wish you all a safe week ahead.

Kind wishes,

Sarah Beale

Chief Executive

Are you missing a grant payment from CITB?

Please authorise your grant claims for payment

Our records show you have grant claims waiting for authorisation on your CITB Online account, once you have approved them you will receive payment into your bank account.

How to authorise your grant payment

All your outstanding grant claims need to be authorised via the CITB Online portal.

1. Download the step by step guide to help authorise your claims, click here
2. Login and access your online account and authorise payment

If you have any difficulties, please contact our Customer Operations Team on
0344 994 4455 or email levygrant.online@citb.co.uk

FIR Programme-general flyer-2pg-Aug20-rev6

FIR Ambassadors flyer-2pg-rev6

FIR Toolkit flyer-Aug2020-rev5

As you may be aware CECA and the Supply Chain School have been leading a steering group of industry leaders to develop The Fairness Inclusion and Respect Programme part-funded by the CITB and now endorsed by the Construction Leadership Council.

The FIR Programme, developed by the construction industry for the construction industry, helps businesses drive positive change and create better workplaces by embracing a culture of Fairness, Inclusion and Respect.  Inclusive workplaces are more productive, innovative, profitable  and safer.  The resources are aimed at all levels from apprentices to leaders and are freely available to companies large and small operating in construction and the built environment.

To mark National Inclusion Week a suite of new learning materials have been launched and added to the core programme. The resources include three new workshops on:

• ‘Inspiring and Coaching New Employees’
• ‘Setting up an Inclusive Site’
• ‘Leading People Inclusively’

These workshops are accompanied by newly developed E-Learning modules, on:

• Understanding Invisible Disabilities
• Managing Challenging Conversations
• Race and Intercultural Competence Parts 1&2.

Sarah Beale, CITB Chief Executive, said: “Even before the pandemic, construction recruitment faced the challenges of an ageing workforce with a real lack of diversity and the pending implications of Brexit, so it is more important than ever to build inclusive cultures across all parts of our industry. “These resources will help drive the positive change we need to attract new entrants from a wide range of backgrounds to our sector, and ensure construction is the rewarding career we know it to be for everyone.”

 Andy Mitchell CBE, co-chair of the Construction Leadership Council, said: “National Inclusion Week is an opportune moment to remind everyone that not only is there a moral case for driving inclusive cultures in the construction industry, but that there is a business case for it as well. “Inclusive workplace cultures are more productive, innovative, and profitable. Promoting a culture of Fairness, Inclusion

and Respect can bring benefits to businesses of all sizes and helps attract and retain people from the full pool of talent in the UK workforce. “There has been positive cultural change across our sector in recent years, but it is beholden to us all to remember that we always have more to learn and things we can improve. These new resources are a welcome addition to the already extensive range of FIR materials that are available, and we hope their uptake will be as wide as possible by businesses at all levels of the UK supply chain.”

Stephen Cole, CITB Head of Careers Strategy, said: “These resources will benefit UK construction and demonstrate why CITB has been proud to fund the Fairness, Inclusion & Respect programme since 2015.

“Cultural change also aids both in the attraction of new skills and retention of existing ones, which is of particular importance at this time.”

 Full details of the FIR Programme are attached or you can access the FIR Programme on the Supply Chain School’s website here

Good evening,

Supporting training through the recovery, retaining skilled workers and attracting new recruits is CITB’s focus in the coming months.

This week is UK Construction Week (5-9 October) and you can find out more below about how to get involved with this year’s online-only events. There are also updates on CITB’s Go Construct and Future Made initiatives to attract and inform more people about the industry, helping them join. There is also an invitation to become a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) Construction Ambassador.

UK Construction Week

It’s UK Construction Week and an important time to promote construction careers. There’s lots of new information and content available on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter as well as the Go Construct blog.

As you can imagine, creativity has had to come into play and many events usually planned for this time of year and around UK Construction Week have been cancelled or taken online. We’re supporting virtual careers fairs, such as Scotland’s Biggest Parents’ Events, with the latest information and virtual work experience opportunities across the three nations.

Careers remain one of our three priorities – this includes attracting people to join our industry now and in the future as well as retaining skills and talent.

Pre-Covid, we were going to launch significant campaigns to attract people to our great industry. The impact of the pandemic changed this focus to:

• An immediate need to retain the skills we have and then to help with upskilling
• Make sure people are aware of the range of career opportunities on offer
• Promote the value of a diverse workforce, both for businesses and for people already in the sector, as well as to those that might be thinking of joining
• Attract people who want to be part of our sector, and have the skills and behaviours we need, providing easy routes for them to join

In addition to the Talent Retention Scheme, we’re enabling site and work experience opportunities to help people secure the right employment, and along with creating routes into work from Further Education, we continue to develop services to inform, change perceptions and help people access training and jobs.

Go Construct: improved info and more visitors

We’re currently working with construction employers and the Department for Work and Pensions to develop a range of site tour videos to be added to Go Construct, helping showcase the industry to a wider range of potential recruits.

The Go Construct website has recently been improved, resulting in double the number of visitors coming via Google. In the past year there have been more than 545,000 visitors, with 24% of these in the 18-24 age group. More than half of these are then clicking onto national apprenticeships websites and related job boards afterwards. We will continue to build on these links to help people join the industry.

There’s also been a 208% increase in visits to the pages which explain what’s involved in different construction jobs.

The transfer of our Go Construct Ambassadors to the STEM Ambassadors scheme is also under way. This provides schools and colleges with a simple way to request a Construction Ambassador engagement and for us as a sector to provide a consistent and positive image to the recruits of the future. To date we have 1,193 Construction Ambassadors, from 523 employers. We are providing classroom activities as well as training materials for Ambassadors to share their knowledge and experience with different audiences.

If you want to become a registered employer, or know of any great role models, why not encourage them to sign up to become a STEM Construction Ambassador?

Move for Future Made role models

At the beginning of the year we promoted Future Made, a campaign to change perceptions and attract more young people into construction. The  construction professionals who became our Future Made role models will come together with Go Construct and the new STEM Construction Ambassador scheme.

While we won’t be running the campaign as previously planned, we will be using the material we have created so far, which has been seen by more than 2.1million 14-18 year-olds on social media. This shows the impact role models can have on educating those outside the industry as well as showcasing career opportunities for those already working in it.

A reminder…

CITB’s COVID-19 Urgent Messages page is refreshed daily and includes updates on the full range of our work.

You can also read the range of support measures made available to UK businesses and employees by the UK Government.

Finally, I would like to wish you, your colleagues and families a safe and pleasant week ahead.

Kind wishes,

Sarah Beale

Chief Executive

The UK Governments Kickstart scheme to help 18-24 year olds get back into work is now accepting applications and we’d like to let you know that if you want to offer a fully funded job placement for a young person, we can apply on your behalf for the scheme. (otherwise you need to be able to offer at least 30 job placements yourselves). The scheme will pay the wages (National Minimum Wage), employer National Insurance and pension contributions for 6 months. The posts need be new and must include employability and employment support (which is where we can help you).

I’ve attached a link for you to find out some general information about the scheme.

https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/kickstart-scheme

We are registered as an intermediary representative (someone who can apply for the Kickstart grant on your behalf) but we’re not showing up on the Government website yet as there is a backlog of entries awaiting an update.

This link gives you a better outline of what the 6 month job placements should offer:

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/check-if-you-can-apply-for-a-grant-through-the-kickstart-scheme

As an intermediary representative, we’ll help you with the employability support aspect. There is a £1500 grant attached to each placement for this compulsory support which has to be evidenced. We will help you to deliver this and we’ll negotiate what portion of the grant is needed to cover this. Some representatives are keeping all of the grant to provide the employability support which means none of it goes to the employer, which we think is unfair. So we’ll work with you to find the best solution for any job placements you can offer.

Job placements can start from 1 November 2020 to 1 July 2021 and must be completed by 31 December 2021.

The details I need from you at this stage, if you’d like to offer Kickstart placements are:

• Employer name, address, email, website and telephone number
• Companies House Number
• Number of job placements offered
• Titles of roles for job placements offered

I’m submitting our bid by 12noon Friday 9 October, so would really appreciate if you could get back to me as soon as possible.

Many thanks

Libby

Liberty Bligh

Chief Executive

01463 417240  07923 934247

www.libertie.co.uk

Good afternoon,

I hope you are having a good week. This week’s topics include changes to the Skills and Training Fund; an extension of the grace period for SMSTS and SSSTS achievements; and the launch of new Fairness, Inclusion & Respect Resources ahead of National Inclusion Week. There’s also a note about the CLC’s update to Site Operating Procedures.

Skills and Training Fund reverts to original purpose

In spring this year the eligibility criteria for the Skills & Training Fund for SME & micro-sized constructions companies (less than 100 employees), as well as the new fund for medium sized companies (100 – 250 employees), were adapted to recognise the immediate challenges being faced by industry as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The fund adaptions enabled hundreds of businesses to gain funding for urgent training needs, either for construction specific activity or for Leadership & Management training during this crisis.

As the industry begins to reset, we feel it is the appropriate time for the fund to revert back to its original purpose, to support productivity and innovation – a cornerstone of our recently released Strategic Plan, but with the ability to be flexible should requirements change. From the 30 November 2020, the interim COVID-19 rules will be suspended. Any applications from 1 December 2020 will be reviewed under the original fund rules that can be found here.

Site Safety Plus (SSP) Lapsed Certificates Extension

As part of CITB’s COVID-19 support to industry we agreed a period of time to extend the expiry date of certificates (grace period) for those employees whose Site Management Safety Training Scheme (SMSTS) or Site Supervision Safety Training Scheme (SSSTS) achievements expired after 15 March 2020.

As part of our promise of flexibility due to the current high demand for courses, this grace period has been extended until 30 November 2020 to support those delegates who are unable to access the relevant refresher course due to the current situation.

If you have any queries please contact sitesafetyplus@citb.co.uk

Fairness, Inclusion & Respect: CITB backs new CECA learning resource

Even before the pandemic, construction recruitment faced the challenges of an ageing workforce, a lack of diversity and the pending implications of Brexit, so it is more important than ever to build inclusive cultures across all parts of our industry.

As part of National Inclusion Week (28 September-4 October 2020), we see a launch of a suite of new learning materials that will help drive positive change in the sector. The new resources, were part funded by CITB Levy, developed by CECA and the Supply Chain Sustainability School with a steering group of leading industry stakeholders and endorsed by the Construction Leadership Council

These resources will help drive the positive change we need to attract new entrants from a wider range of backgrounds to our sector, to retain them to work with us and demonstrate construction is the rewarding career we know it to be for everyone.

More details can be found here.

CITB Site Safety Checklists Update – Face Coverings

Following government updates last week on further Covid-19 safety measures, the CLC have released separate guidance on face coverings. Our Covid-19 Site safety checklists and forms have now been updated on our website  to ensure that those who are permitted and able to return to work have a clear understanding of how they can apply the CLC’s Covid-19 guidance in practice.

A reminder…

CITB’s COVID-19 Urgent Messages page is refreshed daily and includes updates on the full range of our work.

You can also read the range of support measures made available to UK businesses and employees by the UK Government.

Finally I would like to wish you, your colleagues and families a safe and pleasant week ahead.

Kind wishes,

Sarah Beale

Chief Executive

2020 Levy Return
Your Levy Return is available to complete online. Please log into your account at my.citb.co.uk to complete and submit your Levy Return.

Need help ?
Our Guidance Notes will help you and can be found online on our website. If you need any additional help completing your Levy Return, please do not hesitate to contact us:

1. Webchat via the Levy pages on our website
2. Call 0344 994 4455
3. Email levy.grant@citb.co.uk

Statutory requirement
You must complete an annual Levy Return even if you don’t need to pay the Levy, as it is a statutory requirement. There are exemptions and reductions for small businesses, for full details click here.

Benefits to your business
By completing your annual Levy Return you are entitled to claim in the 2020/21 Grants Scheme. Grants are available for apprenticeships, qualifications and short duration training courses.

For more information, click here.

However, if you do not submit your Levy Return by 30 November 2020, all outstanding grant payments will be withheld until we receive your Levy Return.

Kind regards

Customer Operations

As you will be aware the HSE allowed an extension to first aid certificates that needed to be refreshed after 16/03/2020. This was set to 30/09/2020 in the assumption that those needing training would be able to access that training. With additional disruption the HSE have extended this timeline.

Here is what they have posted:

FAW or EFAW certificates that expired after 16 March 2020 can remain valid until 31 October 2020 or 6 months from date of expiry, whichever is later. All requalification training for these certificates should be completed by 31 March 2021.

To qualify for the extension, employers must be able to demonstrate that:

they have made every effort to arrange requalification training as soon as possible and can explain in detail why they have not been able to do so. For example, they must show evidence that staff with expired certificates are booked on to EFAW or FAW requalification courses, if requested by an inspector
they have adequate and appropriate equipment and facilities to give first aid to any employee who is injured or becomes ill at work
the level of first aid cover provided remains appropriate for their particular work environment
the level of first aid provision necessary in high risk settings is fully maintained, eg in construction, agriculture, engineering and chemicals

This guidance now applies to employers in England, Scotland and Wales.
(Full details here: https://tinyurl.com/y59c539t)

So if a learners certificate expired on 05/07/2020 they will need to requalify by 05/01/2021.
If someone’s certificate expired on 20/03/2020 they will need to requalify by 31/10/2020.
If someone’s certificate is dues to expire on 20/11/2020 they have until 31/03/2021.

Here is the link to this years Skill & Training Funding information – Skills-and-training-fund for SME’s

Please note: in order to manage a significant reduction in the budget available to support these funds in 2020/21, it will only be possible to support the top scoring applications each month.  In order to maximise your chance of success please read the guidance notes carefully, fully answer all questions and do not exceed your funding allowance.