Yes, if you’re eligible, and there’s no 31 December cliff edge.
Funding runs on the funding year, 1 August to 31 July, so nothing resets in January. What decides it isn’t the date, it’s your details. Where you live, what trade you’re in, and whether your employer is CITB-registered. Some routes want you earning under £26,800. Others don’t look at your wage at all.
What Christmas threatens isn’t the money. It’s your evidence. Sites shut, assessors can’t get on, and that’s what turns a December finish into a February one.
Right first off, there’s a lot of misinformation going around.
The deadline you’ve been reading about was, in fact, a cutoff for the enhanced £1,250 and £1,500 CITB grant rates, which applied to achieving their certifications up to the 31st December 2025.
Ever since then, it’s been £600 regardless of the level you’ve been trained at.
Whatever you read online is now a year out of date.
So, you’ve got three variables to ensure eligibility for these grants. None of these relates to the date, and there are several funding pots.
If you live in Greater Manchester, you have your own route spanning Level 2 and Level 3 NVQs, this is funded through the GM Single Pot, which treats the construction sector as its main priority. DMR Training has a contract to deliver funding to the public.
London also have their own route set up for insulation trades. Funding is allocated in cycles, so when a round is used up, it’s all gone until the next cycle.
There’s a lot of funding available depending on the course and location. Insulation and retrofit work still holds a lot of funding across the UK, which is being spearheaded by DESNZ (Department of Energy Security and Net Zero). These courses are co-funded.
Some courses offer full funding, which is entirely location-based, like the Greater Lincolnshire funding scheme.
You can receive NVQ funding for covering Level 2 Bricklaying, Site Carpentry and Groundworks NVQ, and Level 3 Occupational Work Supervision NVQ.
If your firm is currently registered with CITB, Retrofit NVQs are open to funding at Level 2 and Level 3.
We’ve seen a lot of people get confused by this, let’s break it down.
Government money pays the training cost directly, while the CITB grant is at least £600 per NVQ achieved, and it goes straight to your employer.
Basically, the CITB grant is an award given to your employer for getting your workers certified.
But this is only for the firms that are registered and levy compliant.
Your enrolment won’t be an issue.
As we’ve already stated, funding lasts the whole year.
It’s not the money. It’s your evidence.
An NVQ gets proved on site. Your assessor needs photos of you doing the job, a witness statement from your supervisor, and a visit to watch you work. None of that happens when the gates are chained up for a fortnight.
So if you start in December with half your evidence still to gather, you’re not finishing in December. You’re finishing in February, because that’s when the sites reopen and the assessor can get back on.
The fix is simple. Get the site work logged now while people are still on the tools. Once the portfolio’s built, the paperwork side carries on over the break without you.
Don’t wait for January to ask. Send us your postcode, your trade and who you work for. We’ll tell you straight which pot you fit and whether there’s a place left in it.
Takes five minutes. Costs nothing to find out.
