The ECITB Levy in England, Wales and Scotland

Who this guide is for

Employers in England, Wales and Scotland whose business may be in engineering construction, and anyone doing their payroll or books, who want to know whether they must register with the Engineering Construction Industry Training Board (ECITB), make the yearly Statutory Levy Declaration, pay the ECITB levy or appeal an assessment. It covers:

• What counts as engineering construction, and when an establishment is in scope.
• The yearly Statutory Levy Declaration, who to declare and the deadline.
• The 1.2% and 0.33% rates and the two exemption levels.
• Paying, and what happens if you do not make a declaration.
• Asking for a review, and the time limit for an appeal.

What this guide does not cover

• Northern Ireland. The ECITB levy is raised under the Industrial Training Act 1982, which apart from a few provisions does not extend to Northern Ireland, and the ECITB levies work done in Great Britain or its offshore waters.
• General building and construction work, which has its own board (CITB) and its own levy: see the CITB levy guide.
• Which ECITB training grants you can claim and how much they pay: ask the ECITB.
• ECITB courses, tests and site safety cards such as the CCNSG Safety Passport: ask the ECITB.
• The Apprenticeship Levy, which is separate from the ECITB levy: see GOV.UK.
• Your other duties as an employer, such as pay, contracts and dismissal: see our employer obligations guide.
• What will happen after the 2026 consultation on merging CITB and the ECITB.

⚖ At a glance

• An establishment doing mostly engineering construction work in Great Britain or its offshore waters goes on the ECITB register, even if it never owes any levy.
• Registered employers declare their workers and pay to the ECITB every year, and a missed declaration can lead to an estimated bill.
• Pay to site-based workers is levied at 1.2% and pay to everyone else at 0.33%.
• Site pay below £275,000 and other pay below £1,000,000 are each exempt, and the two are looked at separately.
• A tribunal appeal against an assessment has a one-month time limit.

What the rules depend on

1. Does your establishment do engineering construction work? The main activities are building, installing, maintaining, repairing, testing or taking down the plant and machinery of process sites such as chemical works, power stations, oil refineries and oil and gas installations; designing, planning or supervising that work; putting up or taking down the steel or metal framework of a building or structure; and hiring out your staff to do that work. No: the ECITB levy does not apply (see "Am I in scope?").
2. Is it wholly or mainly engaged in that work? The ECITB looks at the balance of the workforce's activities, counting full-time equivalents. Yes: every worker in the establishment is declared. No: it is not a leviable establishment.
3. Where is the work done? Only work in England, Scotland, Wales or the offshore waters of Great Britain counts. This guide does not cover Northern Ireland.
4. How much did you pay site-based workers, and how much did you pay everyone else, in the base period from 6 April to 5 April? Count employees and labour-only contractors. These two totals decide the levy and whether either exemption applies.

"Am I in scope?"

The ECITB levy is imposed under the Industrial Training Act 1982 by a Levy Order. The current one is the Industrial Training Levy (Engineering Construction Industry Training Board) Order 2026, which covers the levies for 2026, 2027 and 2028.

The activities that count are defined in the Industrial Training (Engineering Construction Board) Order 1991. The ECITB summarises them in its Statutory Levy Declaration Guidance Notes.

Principal activities include assembling, constructing, dismantling, erecting, fabricating, fitting, inspecting, installing, maintaining, repairing, replacing or testing on site the chemical, electrical or mechanical apparatus, machinery or plant of places such as chemical works, gas works, nuclear and thermal power stations, nuclear waste reprocessing sites, hydro-electric stations, oil refineries and oil terminals, oil and gas exploration and production, metal smelters, steel mills, paper mills, breweries and distilleries, food and pharmaceutical plants, cement works, glassworks, sewerage works and any other installation that processes a product.

Planning, designing, commissioning or procuring that plant in connection with that work, and supervising that work on site, are also principal activities.

Erecting or dismantling the main framework of a building or structure made of steel or other metal counts on any site, for example a supermarket, warehouse, stadium, farm building or office block.

Hiring out your employees to employers doing these activities, to do that work, also counts.

Related activities, such as design and drawing, testing, buying and transport, office, laboratory and warehouse work and training, count when they are incidental or ancillary to the principal activities.

An establishment can be the whole business or a separate, identifiable part of it, such as a division, a subsidiary or a project group. The ECITB looks at how the business is organised.

If 50% or more of an establishment's total workforce is engaged in principal and related engineering construction activities, it is mainly engaged in engineering construction and all its workers must be declared.

An establishment is assessed for a base period if it operated for at least 27 weeks in that period, which need not be continuous.

If the ECITB thinks your business may be in scope, it will contact you and ask for a Business and Activity Return. An ECITB director then decides whether the establishment goes on its Register of Leviable Establishments, and you are told in writing.

"Do I have to make a Levy Declaration?"

Every establishment on the ECITB's Register of Leviable Establishments must by law make a Statutory Levy Declaration each year, usually through the ECITB Connect online portal. If you cannot use the portal, ask the Levy Team about a printed declaration.

The declaration covers the base period from 6 April to 5 April that has just ended. The ECITB emails a request from April, and the completed declaration is due by 30 June.

An employer below the exemption levels must still complete the declaration.

If you miss the deadline, the ECITB estimates your pay figures and sends an estimated demand for payment, which may be more than the correct amount. It may also withhold grants and services until the declaration is in.

The ECITB's guidance says that failing to provide the information it asks for is a criminal offence, and a director or other officer responsible for the failure may be personally liable.

"Who and what do I declare?"

Site-based workers and all other workers are declared separately. A site-based worker is one who works 50% or more of the time on engineering construction sites in Great Britain or its offshore waters: any site where a product is processed, or where the main framework of a metal building or structure is put up or taken down. Someone who works on such a site counts as a site worker whatever job they do there.

Employees: declare all full-time and part-time employees working in Great Britain and their total gross emoluments, meaning pay before deductions, including overtime, notice pay, bonuses, statutory sick pay, statutory family pay and allowances paid as wages, but not employer pension contributions.

Labour-only contractors: declare agency staff, labour-only subcontractors, self-employed workers and people working through their own companies, where the work is done at your request and the agreement is wholly or mainly for labour, which the ECITB takes to mean more than 50% of the cost. Declare the gross payment for the labour, leaving out VAT, materials, plant and travel costs.

A contract where the contractor manages its own people to deliver a project, or where materials or plant make up most of the cost, is usually not labour-only. The ECITB's guidance gives examples, and its Levy Team can advise on a particular contract.

If you hired out workers to other engineering construction establishments in Great Britain, what you were paid for them (labour-only receipts) is taken into account so that the levy is not paid twice.

Workers who mainly worked overseas are counted in the declaration, but their pay is not declared and no levy is due on them.

"How much will I pay?"

Site-based workers: the levy is 1.2% of the total gross emoluments paid to site-based employees plus the total gross payments to site-based labour-only contractors in the base period.

If the total for site-based workers is less than £275,000 no levy is payable for site-based workers.

All other workers: the levy is 0.33% of the total gross emoluments and labour-only payments for all other workers mainly working in Great Britain.

If the total for all other workers is less than £1,000,000 no levy is payable for those workers.

The 2026 Levy Order keeps these rates and exemption levels for the levies for 2026, 2027 and 2028, payable in 2027, 2028 and 2029. The levy for the base period 6 April 2025 to 5 April 2026 is demanded in January 2027.

"How do I pay?"

If you owe levy, the ECITB sends a demand for payment (the assessment notice) in the January after the base period.

The levy is due on the last day of the one-month period that starts on the day the assessment notice is served on you. The ECITB cannot recover it while you have an appeal, or a request for more time to appeal, pending.

ECITB grants and services may be withheld while levy is overdue.

"Can I claim grants?"

All employers with establishments on the ECITB's register can use ECITB services and claim grants, even if they pay no levy.

Grants or services may be withheld if your declaration is late or your levy is overdue. This guide does not cover which grants are available or how much they pay: ask the ECITB.

"I disagree with my assessment"

A formal appeal is not always needed. The ECITB will review whether an establishment should be registered, or the levy assessed, if there are grounds, as long as you raise it before the levy becomes due.

You can appeal against the assessment to an employment tribunal, for example because the establishment was not wholly or mainly engaged in engineering construction during the base period, or because the levy was worked out wrongly.

You must appeal within one month beginning with the date the ECITB served the assessment notice on you. If the ECITB serves an amended assessment notice, the month runs from the date the amended notice was served.

The ECITB can allow more time. If it does not, an employment tribunal can allow it instead.

"How is the levy set?"

A levy order can cover up to three levy periods, all within three years of the order being made. It can be made if the ECITB has taken reasonable steps to find out the views of employers likely to pay, and more than half of them, who would pay more than half of the levy, think it is needed; the law also allows other grounds. In the October 2025 consultation, 85% of levy-paying employers, paying 98% of the levy, voted in favour, and Parliament approved the 2026 Levy Order in July 2026.

In March 2026 the government consulted on bringing CITB and the ECITB together into a single Industry Training Board for England, Scotland and Wales. This guide does not cover the outcome: check GOV.UK or ask the ECITB.

Deadlines you must meet

• Statutory Levy Declaration: by 30 June each year, for the base period that ended on 5 April.
• Asking the ECITB for a review: before the levy becomes due.
• Paying: by the end of one month starting on the day the assessment notice is served, unless you appeal or ask for more time to appeal.
• Appealing: one month, counted from the day the assessment notice (or an amended notice) was served, unless more time is allowed.

Money figures

• Levy rates under the 2026 Levy Order: 1.2% for site-based workers and 0.33% for all other workers.
• Exemption levels: no levy on site-based workers below £275,000 and none on other workers below £1,000,000.

Where to go for help

ECITB: 01923 260000, info@ecitb.org.uk. The Levy Team (Levy_Scope@ecitb.org.uk) deals with scope, registration, declarations, assessments and reviews. Help with the ECITB Connect portal is through the ECITB's Freshdesk support site.

Citizens Advice (England): 0800 144 8848

Citizens Advice (Wales): 0800 702 2020

Citizens Advice Scotland: 0800 028 1456

An accountant or payroll adviser: working out gross emoluments and labour-only payments for the declaration.

A solicitor: the ECITB says it cannot give legal advice, so if you are in doubt about scope or an appeal, get independent legal advice.

Traps

• The levy is charged to the employer, not to its workers or contractors.
• Being exempt does not mean you can skip the declaration.
• Once an establishment is mainly engaged, office, workshop and support staff are declared too, not only site workers.
• Agency staff and self-employed labour-only contractors count, so leaving them out gives the wrong figures.
• Anyone working mainly on an engineering construction site is a site worker, whatever their job.
• The ECITB and CITB are different boards with different levies. General building work is for CITB.
• The ECITB levy does not reach work in Northern Ireland. Do not use this guide there.
• An appeal goes to an employment tribunal, and the one-month limit is short.
• Do not treat the 2026 merger proposal as law.