The Court of Appeal ruled in the CITB’s favour this week stating that Hudson was within scope of it’s levy raising powers and owed the training body £7.9m.

Now Hudson has hit back with a £10.5m grant claim and dismissed the latest ruling as “ridiculous.”

The long-running dispute between both sides started in 2014 and the current judgement focuses on levy-money owed in 2016.

Ian Anfield, Hudson managing director, said: “The latest judgment opens up the prospect of Hudson Contract Services Ltd, which had a staff of 30 payroll and auditing employees, becoming the largest levy payer since CITB was set up in the early 1960s.

“The levy at the centre of this dispute is for 2016 and amounts to £7.9m. This would be double the levy typically paid by a major contractor if it ever falls due.”

Hudson has consistently insisted that it is not a construction company because it did not enter into contracts to carry out construction work and simply provided business services to small and medium-sized construction firms.

It has now issued a protective grant claim of £10.5m to the CITB for 2016 containing a mountain of supporting evidence which was delivered on two pallet trucks in February.

CITB spokesman Mike Hobday said: “The Levy due from Hudson in this case will enable CITB to invest in skills for the future of the construction industry.

“We have for some time invited Hudson to submit a grant claim for any construction-related training that they identify, organise and fund.

“CITB will of course consider the new claim in accordance with the scheme rules.”

Anfield added: “We don’t know exactly how or when this dispute will end. We will either be found to be out of scope at the next round of appeal, or there will be an offset of grant against levy which could itself involve the courts.

“While we have far more important issues to deal with for clients of our other businesses – such as IR35 and reverse charge VAT – the CITB dispute will rumble on in the background for as long as it takes to achieve the correct result.”