Scottish employers are more in favour of the Construction Industry Training Board (CITB) reducing it's levy rate than firms in England, according to research.

The CITB has confirmed plans to cut its levy rate from 0.5% to 0.35% PAYE for 2018 – 2020.

Following approval from the CITB Board and the Levy Working Party, employers will now vote in a formal consensus process from early July to the end of September. Afterwards, the result will be ratified by Government.

Consultations on the levy cut were held across England, Wales and Scotland. During the events, it was revealed employers in Scotland and Wales responded more positively overall to the changes than those in England.

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Geographically, 66% of employers in Scotland rated the change as good or excellent, with 15% poor or very poor respondents. In England, only 42% of employers rated the reduction as good or excellent, with 31% stating it was either poor or very poor.

Sarah Beale, CITB Chief Executive, said: "We are pleased that this levy rate has been approved by the CITB Board and the industry-led Levy Working Party. We firmly believe this offers value to employers and will deliver great impact for our industry in generating the construction skills it requires.

"It was critical that we extensively consulted employers across England, Scotland and Wales on this and our future plans.

"We now move onto the next stage of the process – formally seeking the views of employers through the Consensus Federations and through a large independent survey of employers who are not in their membership. I look forward to sharing the results later in the year.

"Ahead of this, we will be sharing more details of how CITB will use funds raised by the levy to support construction to meet its skill needs."

(LM/MH)