The CITB wants to shed a further 110 roles, which will reduce headcount to 500, once the current divestment of training provision process is complete. Five years ago it had 1500 employees.
The cuts come on the back of a loss in levy income, which CITB stopped collecting during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The proposed job cuts would reduce the organisation鈥檚 payroll bill by 17%, saving 拢4.5m per year.
Back-office and management roles are expected to feel the brunt, rather than customer-facing services. However, CITB鈥檚 two field teams 鈥� partnerships and apprenticeships 鈥� are to be amalgamated.
The savings should be enhanced by changes that CITB is making to it redundancy policy, as announced at the start of August. This would make the restructuring cost neutral in 2020/21.
The proposed reduction of 110 roles and the saving of 拢4.5m per year are in addition to the continuing implementation of the changes in CITB鈥檚 Vision 2020 programme which included the divestment of industry card schemes and the National Construction College.
Due to the pandemic, CITB announced a suspension of levy collection and a halving of next year鈥檚 payment 鈥� a reduction of 拢242.1m in levy income over three years.
CITB chief executive Sarah Beale said:聽 鈥淐ITB started the year with an agreed business plan and budget, but the impact of Covid-19 has been severe. Our response 鈥� advancing apprenticeship grants and cutting Levy bills 鈥� was critical to support construction employers during the crisis. But the combination of less industry activity and lower Levy rates has reduced our forecast income over this three year period. We have to cut back our back-office and management costs to maintain a constant focus on giving construction employers the direct support that they need.
鈥淚t is deeply distressing to have to propose losing so many valued and committed colleagues. Everyone in the CITB team has really impressed me with their incredible efforts in helping the industry adapt to our changed situation and in delivering outstanding work to our customers. I would much rather not be in this position, but our duty is to support and be accountable to the construction industry and that is where we must focus.鈥�
CITB aims to implement the proposed changes by the end of 2020 and to continue to deliver it鈥檚 2020/21 business plan, the Skills Stability Plan. It will launch a four year strategic plan, covering 2021-25 in late September.
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