Industry trade body the Federation of Plastering and Drywall Contractors has attacked the CITB for drinking-in more levy cash from its members than it pays out in training grants.
Figures obtained by the federation under a Freedom of Information request show that interiors contractors paid £14.5m in levy in 2009 but only received £6.2m in grants.
The attack on the industry’s training structure comes as it emerged that the government is considering plans to privatise the CITB.
A federation statement said: “The FPDC believes that the state controlled levy system is inefficient and a disincentive to training.
“We intend to find out how much real support the levy has. We will launch a construction wide campaign to get the levy scrapped.”
The federation pointed to the M&E sector which withdrew from the levy system but has still maintained high training levels.
It said: “Given that almost every M&E operative is qualified and certificated the argument could be made that their training is much better than ours.”