A government-sponsored construction giant is facing a potential clawback of almost £17 million after an apprenticeships data blunder.
The Construction Industry Training Board’s (CITB) accounts for last year revealed it had set aside £10.9 million due to “non-compliance” with the Education and Skills Funding Agency’s funding rules for the academic years 2018-19, 2019-20 and 2020-21.
But, its newly published financial statements for 2022-23 reveal this liability has ballooned by over 50 per cent to potentially £15.2 million between 2018 and 2020, while a further £1.6 million is being paid back for 2020-21.
The executive non-departmental public body, which has been chaired by former ESFA chief executive Peter Lauener since 2018, was found to have “issues with records management” and couldn’t evidence various funding claims.
