The deficit was due to an unexpectedly high level of demand for grants during the year, with payouts rising by nearly 30%.
The training board is also axing its ВЈ1,000 commitment and ВЈ4,000 achievement grants for the Investors in People programme. Other grants to be withdrawn are the ВЈ100 for on-site OSAT profiling and the ВЈ250 CIoB attendance module. Some other grants are being reduced.
The board’s strategy is to give priority to preserving apprenticeship grants.
In the medium term, ConstructionSkills expects the cuts to achieve savings of around ВЈ48m. However, it acknowledges that the current economic climate is making financial forecasting particularly difficulty.
Overall training board income rose by 11% last year to ВЈ324 million. But spending was up by 16% to ВЈ334 million. Levy income was up some 10% to ВЈ182 million.
The rise in demand for grants last year is attributed to the first effects of the recession. The cuts are being implemented from this summer.
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