Build UK has confirmed that Open Doors 2021 is back and will take place from Monday 4 ‐ Saturday 9 October. This year will see a combination of site visits and ‘live’ virtual experiences.

Open Doors provides an opportunity for young people and those looking for a change of career to find out what the industry has to offer by going behind the site hoardings and seeing the diverse range of opportunities available. This year, Build UK has partnered with he Careers and Enterprise Company, Considerate Constructors Scheme and New Futures Network, to inspire as many people as possible to choose a career in construction.

A virtual workshop will be held on Thursday 24 June from 9am ‐ 10am for Open Doors Coordinators, where they will discuss plans for this year’s event in more detail. Your nominated Open Doors Coordinator should have received an invite.

Additional Funding For Training And Qualifications Completed Between 1 August 2020 and 31 March 2021

The FIS Training Group has secured additional funding to support the cost of training and qualifications completed by FIS employer members in scope to CITB.

The additional funding, of up to £1,500 per company, covers a range of training from generic health and safety through to specialist courses such as spray plastering, deflection heads or fire door inspection and includes vocational qualification achievement.  This funding is in addition to the CITB grant eligible training (GET) code grant you already claim from CITB.

How to claim

Simply send the invoice for training completed since 1 August 2020 to info@thefis.org if it meets the criteria set out below, we will arrange a refund to the full 100% of the course cost (up to a maximum of £500 per delegate and £1,500 per company, less the grant already claimed from CITB).  The funding will be available on a first come, first served basis.

For a full list of eligible courses please see: CITB training standards

CITB GET Fund FIS Supplement Terms and Conditions

1. The supplement cannot be used for GET codes that are already included on an individual employer contracted CITB Skills and Training allocation.
2. An FIS supplement can only be paid to organisations ‘in scope’ to CITB and up to date with levy payments.
3. The supplement is primarily for micro and small organisations no more than 25% of the total fund can be paid to large organisations (100 or more employees).
4. Non grant eligible training is not covered by this supplement.
5. Training must have taken place between 01 August 2020 and 31 March 2021 and have been completed before applying.
6. Training must have been completed by delegates who are currently employed by or are NET (taxed) Construction Industry Scheme (CIS) sub-contractors of CITB registered employers.
7. Invoices supplied must show the full costs of the training completed including CITB registration number, Training Provider, course name, CITB GET code, Tier value, date of completion, number of delegates, course cost and VAT.
8. Successful applications will be notified within 25 working days.
9. Payments will be made in the first week of October 2020, first week of December 2020 and first week of March 2021.

Funding is limited so cannot be guaranteed.

FIS is happy to review and support all of your funding claims through our one to one Skills and Funding Clinics, remember at this time you can still claim CITB Grants for courses completed in 2019 up until end November 2020, our Skills and Funding Clinics will help you to identify and process these claims.