Roofing boss says group’s ‘decision will increase skills gap rather than decrease it’

A member of the CITB’s funding committee has resigned following this week’s decision by the group over training cuts.

Monday’s last-minute move, for which chief executive Tim Balcon apologised, has triggered a series of angry responses from firms with the changes beginning in the second week of January.

In his resignation letter, Mike Wharton, the chief executive of Warrington-based roofing firm CRS, said: “In light of recent announcements re training groups and today’s email regarding grant funding, in all good conscience I can’t remain on the funding committee.

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Mike Wharton said he could not remain on the funding committee in the wake of this week’s announcement

“Whilst I appreciate the need to save money and employ funds in the appropriate manner, both the defunding of the training groups and the latest announcement are undoubtedly going to increase the skills gap rather than decrease it.”

He added: “Given the climate in construction especially in the main contractor space with such low margin and the thousands of insolvencies in 2025 which are set to continue into next year, CITB income will only reduce and reduce in time unless income is generated rather that essential services to the industry being cut.

“Whilst I am a big believer in CITB and its role (and its people), this direction is not something I can support.”

On Monday, CITB said it was making a series of changes to the funding and grant system from next month – with the group saying it has been forced to act because of budget pressures.

Balcon said: “First and foremost, we want to apologise for the short notice for some of these changes. This was done to avoid surge claiming that will put our ability to support employers at risk. We had planned to transition our funding model gradually, giving employers time to adjust. The pace of demand growth means we need to act faster than we intended – and faster than we would have liked.”

And he admitted: “We appreciate this is a change for employers at a challenging time.”

The first changes come into force on 8 January with a further round taking effect on 1 April.

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