黑洞社区

Members of the Home Builders Federation (HBF) have delivered an crushing vote of no-confidence in the CITB, with nearly two thirds of member firms polled voting against the board continuing as the lead body for construction training.

Breaking with a number of other organisations including Build UK and the Federation of Master Builders which have voted in favour of the CITB, the HBF reported that in terms of levy paid, 89% of its members had voted against it.

The HBF said that while many expected the CITB to secure enough support in the industry-wide vote 鈥� formally held on the CITB鈥檚 proposals for its levy for the next three years 鈥� to continue, its own message was 鈥渧ery clearly a vote of 鈥榥o confidence鈥� in the current operation鈥�.

The outcome of the triennial consensus will be revealed next month.

Frustration with CITB had been increasing within the house building industry 鈥渇or some years鈥�, the HBF said. 鈥淐ritics have questioned its effectiveness and ability to deliver the training requirements of an industry with different skills needs to the wider construction sector,鈥� it added, while the introduction of the Apprenticeship Levy meant many home builders were effectively being taxed twice for skills provision.

The HBF said the 鈥渃omplex, overly bureaucratic nature of the process builders have to go through to access training funding鈥� had been 鈥減articularly frustrating鈥�.

It said its larger members reported having to employ specific members of staff 鈥渋n order to claw back just a fraction of the money paid through their own levy payments, from CITB for training, something many of HBF鈥檚 hundreds of smaller members don鈥檛 have the capacity to do, meaning they miss out鈥�.

And what it called the CITB鈥檚 proposals to focus more narrowly on core construction skills meant that home builders would pay a levy in respect of their whole workforce, but risk being able to obtain support for a smaller proportion of their workers than they do now.

Stewart Baseley (pictured), the HBF鈥檚 executive chairman, said the vote demonstrated the frustrations house builders felt with CITB and the existing training regime. 鈥淭he industry simply does not feel that CITB is providing the support and framework it needs to train its staff despite the huge amounts being paid in levy by home builders.鈥�

He said housebuilders were 鈥渒een to work with CITB to drive the truly radical change needed within the organisation to address the concerns the vote has exposed鈥�, but warned that his members 鈥渄esperately need a training body focussed on its requirements with which it can work closely to develop training regimes that are easily accessible to companies large and small鈥�.

He added: 鈥淲e hope this will be the wake-up call CITB needs to drive root and branch change through its entire organisation.

鈥淚f we are to develop the capacity to build the high quality homes the country desperately needs, the industry must recruit and train more people. The launch of our Home 黑洞社区 Skills Pledge is a clear demonstration of the industry鈥檚 commitment to investing in its training needs now and in the future.

The result of HBF members鈥� vote comes ahead of the industry launching its own 鈥楬ome 黑洞社区 Skills Pledge鈥� later this week.

The Skills Pledge commits companies to working together and with subcontractors to recruit and train more people to the highest industry-agreed standards.