CITB–ECITB merger consultation: levy and skills implications for UK engineers
Reviewed by Tom Sullivan
First reported on The Construction Index
30 Second Briefing
Government has launched a 12-week consultation on merging the Construction Industry Training Board (CITB) and Engineering Construction Industry Training Board (ECITB) into a single Industry Training Board covering construction and engineering construction across England, Scotland and Wales. The consultation, open until 23:59 on Sunday 14 June 2026, seeks views on governance, levy arrangements (including extending levy orders beyond the current three-year maximum), and the scope of employers covered. The move follows Mark Farmer’s 2023 ITB review, which called for a merged, employer-led body focused on attraction, training, retraining and retention to address structural workforce shortages.
Technical Brief
- Consultation explicitly examines technical implications for governance structures, levy mechanisms and future skills products of a unified ITB.
- Government is also testing whether to widen or narrow employer activities in scope of a single ITB.
- Extending levy orders beyond the current three‑year maximum is a specific reform option under consideration.
- Construction and engineering construction employers already registered for CITB or ECITB levies are primary consultees.
- Employer and workforce representative bodies, including ITB prescribed organisations and trade unions, are formally invited to respond.
- Consultation window is fixed at 12 weeks, closing 11:59pm Sunday 14 June 2026.
- Mark Farmer’s 2023 ITB review criticised current boards for insufficient strategic influence and measurable bottom‑line impact.
Our Take
CITB’s recent moves to tighten grant support and ring‑fence an £11.5m employer networks budget for 2026–27 suggest that any merger with ECITB will likely be framed around levy efficiency and targeting, rather than expanding overall funding for UK construction and engineering skills.
With Wales’ new roofing, slating and tiling apprenticeship already being delivered through CITB and partners, a unified Industry Training Board structure would give devolved administrations in England, Scotland and Wales a single interface for niche trade standards, which could simplify but also centralise curriculum decisions.
In our database of 144 Policy stories, CITB appears frequently in connection with capacity constraints and rising training demand, so the 12‑week consultation and 3‑year levy order horizon are likely to be watched closely by large contractors that rely on predictable grant flows for multi‑year workforce planning.
Prepared by collating external sources, AI-assisted tools, and Geomechanics.io’s proprietary mining database, then reviewed for technical accuracy & edited by our geotechnical team.
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