IN Brief:
- Parliament has approved the ECITB levy order without opposition.
- The levy is expected to raise £137.9m across the 2026–28 assessment period.
- Existing rates and small-employer exemptions have been retained.
The Engineering Construction Industry Training Board has secured parliamentary approval for a levy order expected to raise £137.9m for workforce training across the 2026–28 assessment period.
The Industrial Training Levy Order was approved by the House of Commons and House of Lords without opposition. Liabilities relating to 2026, 2027, and 2028 will become payable in 2027, 2028, and 2029 respectively.
Existing rates remain unchanged at 0.33% of earnings paid to off-site employees and 1.2% of earnings paid to on-site employees for businesses within the levy’s scope.
Current exemption thresholds have also been retained. Employers with an annual off-site wage bill below £1m will not pay that part of the levy, while businesses with an average on-site wage bill below £275,000 will be exempt from the on-site charge.
In-scope employers covered by those exemptions will remain eligible for training grants. The arrangement protects smaller businesses from direct levy costs while retaining access to qualifications, technical development, and industry training support.
The government estimates that the UK requires an additional 40,000 engineering construction workers to meet expected demand from major energy, industrial, and infrastructure projects.
Levy income will support apprenticeships, new entrants, occupational standards, technical qualifications, reskilling, and upskilling. The engineering construction sector includes work across power generation, nuclear, renewables, oil and gas, chemicals, industrial process facilities, and other major engineered assets.
Andrew Hockey, Chief Executive of the ECITB, said: “We will continue to support the industry priorities outlined in our new strategy and deliver against this industry-backed plan. Approval of the levy order gives us the financial underpinning to do this.”
Workforce pressure combines expansion with replacement. New energy and infrastructure programmes require additional labour, while experienced trades, supervisors, engineers, and technical specialists continue to leave the industry through retirement.
Demand extends across welders, pipefitters, riggers, platers, mechanical technicians, electrical workers, instrument technicians, designers, planners, project-controls specialists, commissioning personnel, and construction managers. Each discipline enters a major project at a different stage and requires a different mix of training and site experience.
Competence for high-risk industrial environments cannot be created through a short induction immediately before mobilisation. Workers need recognised standards, practical experience, assessment, safety knowledge, and continuing development before they can operate independently on complex installations.
The levy spreads part of that cost across the sector. Individual employers can be reluctant to make substantial investments when trained workers may move between projects or businesses, particularly during periods of uncertain workload.
Collective funding supports training capacity that would be difficult to maintain through voluntary expenditure alone. It also allows smaller employers to access programmes that would be costly to develop independently.
The higher on-site levy rate reflects the concentration of craft and technical training required for physical construction and maintenance. Labour-intensive contractors will consequently feel the charge more directly than businesses whose workforce is mainly office-based.
Retaining the thresholds provides continuity, although wage inflation can gradually bring more employers within scope even when headcount has not increased significantly. The grants system will therefore need to show that levy-paying businesses can access training aligned with their actual project requirements.
The ECITB’s 2026–30 strategy focuses on employer support, workforce growth, and changes to training delivery. Planned activity includes stronger regional provision, modular and blended learning, improved workforce data, and closer alignment between qualifications and emerging industrial technologies.
Regional availability remains particularly important because major projects generate concentrated demand around nuclear sites, industrial clusters, ports, fabrication centres, and energy corridors. Workers may move nationally, but local training capacity determines whether nearby businesses and communities can participate.
Digital systems, automation, modular construction, new welding methods, low-carbon fuels, carbon capture, hydrogen, and advanced inspection are also changing competence requirements. Traditional trades remain essential, but their work increasingly sits alongside digital quality records, automated production, remote monitoring, and more demanding assurance regimes.
The levy order has been approved while the government considers whether the ECITB and Construction Industry Training Board should be combined into one organisation. Consultation closed in June, and a decision on the proposed reform is expected in the autumn.
Although that review creates uncertainty over future governance, the approved order protects the current funding route for the next levy period. Employers can plan against known rates while the longer-term institutional structure is considered.
Raising £137.9m will not close a 40,000-worker gap by itself. Progress will depend on how many entrants complete training, whether experienced workers remain in the sector, how employers use available grants, and whether programmes are delivered before labour shortages begin delaying construction.
