The Government has announced it will launch a 12-week consultation on whether the Engineering Construction Industry Training Board (ECITB) and the Construction Industry Training Board (CITB) should merge to form a single statutory training body for the construction and engineering construction sectors.
The consultation, expected to begin in March, follows an independent review published in January 2025 which examined the effectiveness and future role of the two Industry Training Boards (ITBs). While the review reaffirmed the importance of both organisations in addressing chronic skills shortages, it recommended strengthening their role and increasing collaboration, including the option of operating as a unified body.
The proposal comes at a pivotal moment for the sector, with the Government placing construction and engineering construction at the heart of its economic growth agenda and its ambition to become a clean energy superpower by 2030.
Andrew Hockey, chief executive of the ECITB, said the industries are central to delivering the Government’s missions around growth, good jobs and decarbonisation.
“Construction and engineering construction are critical to meet the Government’s missions for growth, good jobs and for the UK to become a clean energy superpower by 2030,” he said.
Hockey emphasised that while closer collaboration between the boards is already under way, any structural change must safeguard the specific workforce needs of the engineering construction industry (ECI), which spans heavy industrial sectors including oil and gas, nuclear, renewables, chemicals, hydrogen, pharmaceuticals and water treatment.
Research commissioned by the ECITB forecasts that the ECI alone will require an additional 40,000 workers by 2030 to meet project demand across energy transition and infrastructure programmes.
“Whatever the outcome of this consultation, it is important the distinct skills and workforce needs of the engineering construction industry continue to be supported,” Hockey said. “Any changes to how the ITBs are structured should not detract from the urgent need to attract, develop, qualify and retain skilled workers now.”
He added that while preliminary transition planning has begun with the Department for Work and Pensions and the CITB, no final decision has been made. The existing ECITB levy order for 2026–28 is expected to proceed as planned following its recent consensus vote.
Tim Balcon, chief executive of the CITB, said the consultation reflects the Government’s wider construction skills strategy, including a £600 million package announced last year to address workforce shortages.
“The Government is committed to getting Britain building again,” he said. “This is recognition of how vital the construction industry is, not just to the Government’s own homebuilding and infrastructure development ambitions, but as a crucial cog in the wider economy.”
Balcon stressed that, regardless of the consultation’s outcome, collaboration between the boards is essential to deliver standardised competence frameworks, alternative entry routes and improved access to high-quality training.
He pointed to ongoing joint work on major infrastructure projects such as Sizewell C, where both civil construction and engineering construction skillsets are required at different stages of delivery.
“Nuclear new build is a clear example where both the civil construction workforce and the ECI workforce work alongside each other,” he said.
The January 2025 independent review concluded that the ITBs play an important role in tackling skills shortages but argued that stronger alignment and governance reform would enhance impact. It suggested that operating as a single body could improve strategic workforce planning and reduce duplication, while retaining sector-specific expertise.
Over the past year, the ECITB and CITB have already expanded cooperation across infrastructure planning, trainer and assessor recruitment, clean energy job pathways and skills passporting initiatives designed to improve labour mobility between projects and sectors.
The engineering construction industry, in particular, faces mounting demand as the UK scales up offshore wind, carbon capture and storage, hydrogen production and nuclear capacity — all sectors requiring highly specialised technical skills and safety standards.
The consultation is likely to attract close scrutiny from employers, trade unions and training providers concerned about ensuring that any merger preserves industry focus while delivering efficiency gains.
Ministers have said that no final decision will be taken until the consultation responses are fully analysed.
The outcome could reshape how workforce development is structured across two of the UK’s most strategically important sectors at a time when labour shortages remain one of the biggest constraints on growth.
