Blog; HAE Attends the CITB Skills and Training Conference

On Thursday 6th June Hire Association CEO Paul Gaze and Learning & Development Officer Nikki Wyllie, attended the CITB Skills and Training Conference 2024 at The Etihad Stadium in Manchester.

The day started with an opening speech from CITB’s Deborah Madden, Engagement Director and Tim Balcon, CEO, who welcomed attendees and gave an outline of the day.

Paul and Nikki then attended the ‘CITB Approved training provision: Shaping the future and why you should be involved’ workshop, which outlined a plan to create a network of training providers with a new and improved funding route.

This would give CITB members the opportunity to choose a quality assured training provider and which funding route they would like to use with new IT infrastructure promised for training providers by 2026.

Lunch time gave an opportunity for attendees to network, Paul and Nikki talked to attendees about training and The Employer Network while also meeting with key CITB connections involved in various projects. Nikki discussed neurodiversity with Danny Clarke, Head of Engagement (London, North West, North East, Southern England) with an opportunity arising to be involved in a neurodiversity training programme for line managers, workers and recruiters.

In the afternoon Paul and Nikki attended the ‘A how to guide for construction companies: Levy Grants / Employer Networks / Apprentices’ workshop which gave insight and understanding into the processes employers follow to complete levy returns, understanding the levy thresholds and the different funding models available to employers. This was followed by closing remarks delivered by Deborah Madden.

Nikki shared her thoughts on the day: “A key theme throughout the conference was giving employers a choice, this is a really positive move for CITB members accessing funded training, giving an opportunity to use whichever funding model is most suited to an individual business.”

Paul added: “This was a great opportunity to meet up with stakeholders, training providers, and policy makers. It offered us the opportunity to provide feedback and gain an insight into how CITB is developing their offer for employers within the skills arena. Through CITB’s support via the Employer Network, HAE members have significantly benefited from a wide range of training and development programmes. It was a very useful and productive event”.