CITB entrant scheme supports 13,500 apprenticeship starts

The Construction Industry Training Board (CITB) says its New Entrant Support Team has helped more than 13,500 construction apprenticeship starts since the service launched in September 2022. The latest update also records support for 7,230 employers and 3,925 existing apprentices. The figures concern assistance delivered through the team, rather than a count of apprentices who have necessarily completed their training or remained in the industry after qualifying.

Known as NEST, the team is intended to reduce the practical barriers that deter smaller construction employers from recruiting apprentices. Its work covers finding candidates, navigating the relevant training routes, applying for financial support and keeping apprentices engaged once employment has begun. The model addresses recruitment as an employer process involving contracts, training providers and on-site supervision, not simply as a vacancy advertised to young people. CITB describes the service as free to eligible businesses, with particular attention to smaller employers that may have limited human resources capacity.

CITB cites around 33,000 construction apprenticeship starts across Britain in the 2024–25 financial year. NEST supported more than 4,100 during that same period, or more than 12% of the national total. The comparison indicates the programme’s reach; it does not establish how many of those apprenticeships would have proceeded without assistance. The cumulative figure of more than 13,500 runs from September 2022, so annual results cannot be added to it as if they represented additional, previously uncounted starts.

NEST advisers also help employers access apprenticeship grants, understand administrative requirements and work with training providers. Current CITB guidance lists an attendance grant of £2,500 per apprentice per year and an achievement grant of £3,500 on successful completion, subject to the scheme’s eligibility rules. Such funding can offset training costs but does not replace a suitable training placement, competent supervision and time for workplace learning. Nor does the availability of a grant mean that it was claimed for every start recorded by NEST.

Another 5,000 supported apprenticeship starts are expected by the end of the 2026–27 financial year, according to CITB. Its earlier annual update recorded 5,913 starts facilitated during 2025–26, 43% more than in 2024–25. That annual result is already part of the longer cumulative history where reporting periods overlap. The new forecast will need to be judged against completed recruitment and training records rather than counted as an achieved addition to today’s milestone.

Taking on an apprentice entails an ongoing workplace commitment. Construction tasks must be matched to a learner’s competence and supervised appropriately as experience develops, whether the placement is in a building trade, engineering discipline or site operation. Providers and employers also have to coordinate off-site learning with project workloads and assessment requirements. A recorded start is therefore an entry into structured training; successful qualification, retention and progression require further steps after recruitment.

CITB’s Construction Workforce Outlook indicates demand for more than 41,000 additional construction workers each year under the forecast cited in its October update. That estimate includes wider recruitment needs beyond first-time apprentices and should not be treated as a direct target for NEST alone. Apprenticeships are one route into the sector, alongside other training, career changes and movement between employers. Even with more supported starts, employers still need to match skills to the location and timing of projects, which can vary substantially between infrastructure, housebuilding, building services and maintenance.

The 3,925 existing apprentices who received assistance indicate that NEST’s involvement can continue after recruitment. Changes of employer, training interruptions or difficulties with programme administration can all require additional advice, although CITB has not published a breakdown of those cases in this update. Nor has it provided a completion rate for the entire cohort of apprentices supported since 2022. The outcome of these placements will become clearer through later qualification and retention data, which measure different results from apprenticeship starts.

With 7,230 employers supported to date, NEST has established a substantial channel for assistance with construction recruitment. Its next reported results will show how far it progresses towards the further 5,000 starts expected by the end of 2026–27. The industry’s capacity to benefit from those recruits will depend on completion of training, competence developed on site and retention after qualification, alongside the numbers entering apprenticeships.