The windfall will go into providing extra training cash for contractors as the industry plans for growth in 2012.

The CITB made more money than expected last year after demand for training grants crashed as industry workloads fell.

The CITB board agreed the extra cash after hearing the good news about the 2010 accounts.

Proposed investment over the next three years includes:

·         A cash injection of £2m in 2011/12 to the oversubscribed Management and Supervisory Development Programme

·         Funds £2m in 2011-13 to support specific training programmes for the specialist sectors not currently supported through the mainstream grant scheme

·         A further £11m of funds for the grant scheme in 2011-13 – details to be ratified by the Board in April

·         £10m in 2011-12 to support business growth and prepare the industry for the upturn. This will be aimed at supporting activities such as collaborative working through supply chains, upskilling the workforce to take advantage of the low carbon economy and pump priming investment in emerging technologies and new work practices.

The extra funding follows two difficult years at CITB-ConstructionSkills, where unprecedented demand for grants and falling levy income resulted in the organisation recording a £24.7m deficit over 24 months.

The shortfall sparked a successful cost-cutting and revenue generating plan which wiped out the deficit.

James Wates, Chairman CITB-ConstructionSkills said: “We had planned for a £5.5m surplus, in the event, better than expected commercial income, a large fall in grant claims as the industry scaled back its training activity and internal cost efficiencies, including a 20% reduction in headcount, has resulted in a £9m surplus in working capital in 2010 and a deficit recovery at the beginning of 2011 rather than the end.

“Whilst the last two years have been particularly tough for industry and CITB-ConstructionSkills, we are now in a better position to add value to industry by reinvesting this surplus.

“We know levy income will drop between 2011 and 2013 – just as the demand for grant will increase as the industry moves out of recession.

“Our projections, based on current analysis, show that demand for Employer Funds will outstrip levy in both 2012 and 2013 so we need to start taking a longer term view and ensure that some of the 2010 surplus can be made available further down the line to support employers when they will really need it.

“The good news is that we are now in a strong position to help employers at a time when they will need our support the most.”