What happened

A set of changes to apprenticeship funding rules took effect from 1 August 2026, reshaping how construction employers pay for training. Non-levy paying employers, typically smaller contractors and subcontractors, now get 100% government funding for training and assessment costs for apprentices aged 16 to 24, an expansion on the previous 16-to-21 cut-off, removing the need for any employer co-investment on that age group.

The rules bite differently for larger, levy-paying firms. Where a levy payer has exhausted its funds, the co-investment rate they must find rises from 5% to 25%, and the automatic 10% top-up the government previously added to levy accounts has been removed. Levy funds will also now expire after 12 months rather than 24, for money entering accounts from August onward. Separately, CITB's New Entrant Support Team reported 5,913 apprenticeship starts in construction in 2025-26, a 43% rise on the year before, and the board has also launched an Accelerated Apprenticeships route aimed at getting people into bricklaying, carpentry and roofing in as little as 14 to 18 months. From October, eligible employers hiring a 16 to 24 year old apprentice will also get a £2,000 payment once the apprentice has been in post for 90 days.

Why it matters

This is a genuine change in the economics of training, not a tweak. For the small and mid-sized subcontractors that make up most of construction's supply chain, removing co-investment on under-25 apprentices takes out a real cost barrier at a time when many firms have been reluctant to commit to headcount. For the larger levy-paying contractors, the tougher co-investment rate and shorter fund expiry window push the other way, adding pressure to use levy pots faster and more deliberately rather than letting them sit unspent.

Set against a workforce gap the industry itself puts at tens of thousands of additional workers needed each year this decade, the funding shift is a direct policy lever on where and how fast new entrants come through.

What it means for careers and hiring

If you run or advise a small contracting business, this is the month to revisit your training plan. Fully funded training for under-25 apprentices removes the single biggest objection smaller firms raise when asked why they are not recruiting trainees, and combined with the £2,000 hiring incentive landing in October, the cost case for bringing on an apprentice this autumn is materially better than it was in the spring.

For commercial and operational leaders at larger, levy-paying contractors, the message cuts the other way: audit what is sitting in your apprenticeship levy account now, because a 12-month expiry on new funds and a 25% co-investment rate on exhausted accounts both punish firms that let training budgets drift. And for anyone mentoring early-career staff or building a graduate and apprentice pipeline, CITB's Accelerated Apprenticeships route is worth flagging directly to candidates: a 14 to 18 month path into bricklaying, carpentry or roofing is a faster route to a wage-earning trade than the standard programme, at a moment when demand for those trades is not going away.