Levies, grants and government schemes: what they actually pay for, who qualifies and what changes this year.
Everybody in this trade quotes these schemes back at you, and almost nobody selling a course has read them. Apprenticeship funding rules, the CITB levy and its grants, the Boiler Upgrade Scheme and its £7,500 in England and Wales, and the training money that comes and goes with each spending review.
They also expire quietly. Apprentice pay changes every April, funding rules every August, and installer schemes get rewritten mid-year. So each one gets the same treatment here: what it pays, who actually qualifies, what you have to do to claim it, and the date it was last checked against the original.
The government has set loan ceilings by technology across the UK. Your customer pays the money back, and some lenders will only fund work done by their own partner installers.
The standard multiplier will be 49.7p and the small business multiplier 44.7p from 1 April 2027. The letter doesn't say who the small business multiplier covers, most of the extra relief goes to shops and pubs, and the detailed rules are still to come.
Help with tools, PPE and workwear for people starting out in the trade, Electrical Contracting News reports. Students at three colleges get it first. Amounts, eligibility rules and dates aren't out yet, and nothing says a business can apply for its apprentice.
NICEIC's £834 covers application and 12 months' certification. NAPIT's £786 covers application and initial assessment, with no published annual fee or confirmation that it is included. Both include VAT. The prices are not like for like.
You notify the boiler and its controls through Gas Safe. A new chimney liner or electrical circuit takes another route. An unvented cylinder depends on the scope of your registration.
DWP will pay non-levy employers £2,000 for each eligible apprentice aged 16 to 24, in two halves through your training provider. Staff you already employ only count if they joined you no more than 90 days before their training starts.
Construction Enquirer reports a 2.5% deposit and an equity loan of up to 20% for first-time buyers of new builds in England. Developers would be expected to pay towards it, with the detail due at the Budget.
CITB has picked one organisation per specialism, from roofing and dry lining to heritage and tunnelling, to support specialist training and NVQs. Courses, costs and start dates are still to be published.
PHPI reports that TrustMark wants to become the single point of contact when your customers complain, and is seeking views before it decides. It would also clarify what registered businesses are responsible for. These are proposals, not new obligations.
Registered installers can certify their own work. You still have an extension to manage, inspections to arrange and a declaration to sign. These are England's rules.
MHCLG has restated the exclusion three weeks before the levy starts. If you build new homes, a private street outside can already mean full plans instead of a notice, and the letter says nothing about who pays.
On 28 April 2026 the UK government scrapped the EPC requirement, extended the scheme to 2030, and made air-to-air heat pumps eligible at £2,500. Here is what every heating engineer needs to know.
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