AUDIO NEWS: CITB stops training funding applications and older tradespeople are key to solving skills crisis

CITB stops training fund applications as it runs out of funds, report suggests transitioning older tradespeople into teaching and assessor roles and plumbing memoir published

The Construction Industry Training Body (CITB) has shut down training fund applications made under its Employer Networks initiative until April, leaving firms in limbo for more than a month.

One contractor told Construction Enquirer that it had “received no warning from CITB… just hit with an email saying they had run out of funds.”

CITB said it can review requests for funding from 1^st April but will be prioritising essential training.

Funding availability after April remains subject to confirmation of CITB’s budget for the next financial year.

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Aging tradespeople have a vital role to play in solving the ongoing construction skills crisis, claims a report out this week.

Research by Age Irrelevance suggests that enabling older tradies to transition into teaching, mentoring and assessor roles, would strengthen apprenticeships, stabilise training quality and protect decades of institutional knowledge.

The report proposes setting up funded pathways that allow experienced tradespeople to gain teaching qualifications, while still working.

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A Kettering-based plumbing firm has marked 80 years in the business by publishing the memoirs of its founder.

Fred Blount wrote the book two years before he died, but it has remained unpublished until now.

The book chronicles his experience from starting at aged 14 as a plumber’s mate to establishing his own business, RF Blout Plumbing and Heating

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