Construction skills fund: CITB
In April 2020, a £7.5m, 12 month extension to Construction Skills fund was announced. Procure Plus is one of 14 existing hubs awarded an extension, building on the success of the initial project delivered across the northwest of England.
Having trained over 13,000 people across England to be ‘site ready’ in round 1 of CSF, the extension will see a further 6,000 people nationally gain the skills needed to start careers within construction, and a min of 3,000 move in to sustainable employment. Procure Plus will provide training for 1000 individuals to become site ready, supporting a minimum of 500 into employment. This is a key building block of CITB’s skills stability plan for the post covid-19 construction industry, and we are proud to offer the programme to support the industry in building back better.
Whilst seeking to support the construction industry to meet its labour and skills needs, Procure Plus is also using the CSF funded activity to help support local communities and individuals who may feel excluded from the labour market and the construction industry. So far, 53 community and voluntary groups across NW England are partnering with Procure Plus to ensure opportunities are made available to communities who may have been hardest hit by the Coronavirus pandemic.
The principles of all construction skills fund programmes, regardless of location and funder are the same – to work with employers to identify labour needs, and to work with communities to provide them with the skills to take advantage of the opportunities created with construction locally.
Activity offered is REALLY flexible. No ‘standard offer’, but rather training tailored to ensure candidates meet the needs of each employer, which is why we ALWAYS start with the job. Worked with employers in housing maintenance, offsite construction, heritage trades, scaffolding, civils, infrastructure (roads/rail) as well as traditional builders
Lots of best practice identified, including working to get women in to construction, supporting new entrants not just in to work, but long term, so they secure a career rather than a job, developing a Covid-19 awareness programme for new operatives and those returning from furlough/sick leave.
This is a free of charge service Procure Plus offer to help tackle the construction skills shortage identified in the construction sector.
- We can work with chosen or preferred labour agency
- All candidates will have a CSCS qualification or equivalent, plus we will make sure they have any other required tickets before they start working with you
- We can offer support to access funding for further training, even after the operative has started work
- No charge to you for the service
We’d love to talk to you about how we can support recruitment on your sites, whether your vacancies are immediate or planned for the future we’d love to catch up.
