Four key changes that will be of interest to members…
Rates for Apprenticeships remain unchanged for 2018 ?: ?The current rates that apply to apprenticeships will remain for the grant year starting on 1st April. ?More details here…?
Support for higher Level Apprenticeships commences in September 2017 ?: ?From September 2017, CITB will support higher level apprenticeships. These will be construction-related, in-scope, and relate to training above NVQ level 3.
Specific criteria to evaluate which apprenticeships are eligible will be released by the end of this August.
The grant rates for Higher Level Apprenticeships will be;
- ?1,125 pa (paid in quarterly instalments) for attendance (irrespective of actual number of days spent training off the job)
- achievement Grant of ?3,125
Claiming grant through training plans will stop on 31st March ?: ?From 1st April 2018 training grants will be paid only for apprenticeships, vocational qualifications and short duration courses that have defined training outcomes. ?This means;
- any training plans started since April 2017 will attract grant only for training carried out up to the 31st March 2018
- this applies to all training plans that have already started, and any that are still to start
- you can still submit a training plan grant claim up to 30th June 2018, but only for training completed by 31st March 2018
Many employers find the training plans useful and so may continue to use them, but CITB will not use them to assess grant. Details of how the new training grant scheme payments will work in practice will be communicated later this year.
Supplementary Grant payments will cease from April 2018 ?: ?Supplementary Grant payments have been paid to employers in the past for submitting their Levy return on time. CITB indicated in the consultation events and in a number of other forums their intention to cease paying Supplementary Grant.? This is because it is only supporting a minority of employers and our reforms are designed to reach as wide a pool of employers as possible.
CITB are confirming that they will cease paying Supplementary Grant from the new grant year starting from 1stApril 2018. This includes not paying grant on training that has commenced before this date and is continuing beyond it.
However, where employers have apprentices who have already started before 1st April 2018 and had submitted their Levy Returns on time, CITB will enhance the rates they are paid for those apprentices by 10% until they complete their training. There will be no enhancement for new apprentices who start from 1st April 2018.
Keeping? informed
For more information go to? http://www.citb.co.uk/grant/update-grant-reform/ .
This includes a number of FAQs on the changes and about Grant Reform.
CITB will be running a series of Employer Advisory Forums across Great Britain in the autumn when they will share more detail on the Grant reforms as well as other service improvements. These forums provide a great opportunity to hear about other developments, meet other employers and put your questions to CITB?s subject matter experts.