Pay the CITB or ECITB training levy

These rules apply in England, Scotland and Wales.

Find out which board assesses you

Two industry training boards raise a statutory levy under the Industrial Training Act 1982. The Construction Industry Training Board (CITB) assesses construction. The Engineering Construction Industry Training Board (ECITB) assesses engineering construction. Each assesses an establishment that is wholly or mainly engaged in its own industry, so one establishment is never assessed by both.

You are mainly engaged in construction when construction activities take up more than half of your workforce's time, counting subcontractors. CITB's scope covers activities such as site preparation and groundworks, house building, civil engineering, demolition, roofing, plastering, scaffolding, piling and plant hire. Its own lists treat plumbing, heating and ventilating, air conditioning, electrical contracting in or around buildings, fencing, quarrying, skip hire, haulage and installing solar panels or wind turbines as outside its scope.

Engineering construction means fabricating, assembling, erecting, installing, testing, maintaining or dismantling plant, machinery or apparatus on site at places such as chemical works, power stations, oil refineries and terminals, steel mills, paper mills and food, pharmaceutical and petrochemical plants. If an establishment does both kinds of work, the one it does more of decides which board assesses it.

If you cannot tell which board applies, ask both. CITB lets you request a review of your registration, and ECITB has a scope team.

Register

You must register with CITB if you employ one or more people, counting payroll staff and subcontractors, and construction is your main work. You register online, and CITB contacts you within 10 days if it needs more information. After that you complete a Levy Return every year until you stop being a construction employer. ECITB registers in-scope establishments and takes an annual Statutory Levy Declaration through its online portal.

Work out your CITB levy

CITB assesses the levy on what you paid in a 12-month base period starting on 6 April.

You do not pay levy on subcontractors paid gross or on payments to labour agencies. Even if you owe nothing, you must send a Levy Return every year so that CITB can apply the exemption or reduction.

Send your CITB Levy Return and pay

CITB sends you a Levy Return every May. Send it back by 30 June to keep receiving grants. If you have not sent it by 30 November, you may lose access to withheld and future grant claims. If you do not send one, CITB issues an estimated assessment that can be higher than one based on your figures.

CITB serves an assessment notice in spring. You pay within one month, or by Direct Debit in up to 10 instalments if the assessment is not an estimate. CITB withholds grants while levy is overdue and can take you to court for unpaid levy.

Work out your ECITB levy

ECITB also assesses on a 12-month base period starting on 6 April. Its Order for 2026 to 2028 was made on 21 July 2026. It charges:

• 1.2% of payments to site employees and labour-only contractors who mainly work on sites
• 0.33% of payments to all other employees and labour-only contractors

You pay no site levy if your site payments for the base period are under £275,000, and no levy on other workers if those payments are under £1,000,000. Where you hire out workers to other registered establishments, you can offset the payments you receive from them so that the same workers are not levied twice. Charities are exempt.

You submit your Statutory Levy Declaration through the ECITB portal by the date ECITB gives you. ECITB sends a demand, normally in January, and you pay in one instalment within one month. ECITB may withhold grants and services while levy is overdue.

The Apprenticeship Levy is a separate charge on employers with a pay bill over £3 million, and neither training levy is part of it.

Claim training grants

Every employer registered with CITB can apply for grants, whether or not it pays levy, provided its Levy Returns are up to date. Grants cover short courses, qualifications and apprenticeships. For an approved apprenticeship you can claim £2,500 a year for attendance, paid every 13 weeks, and £3,500 when a full apprenticeship of at least 12 months is completed. You apply through CITB Online Services, and payment usually arrives 4 to 6 weeks after approval.

Every employer with an in-scope establishment can also claim ECITB grants for training its workers, whatever its size.

Appeal an assessment

You can appeal to an employment tribunal within one month of the date the assessment notice was served. There is no fee. You can ask the board for more time, and you can challenge only the calculation or whether your main activity is in scope. CITB cannot recover levy while an appeal or a request for more time is pending. You can also ask CITB to review an assessment informally before you appeal.