To celebrate National Apprenticeship Week, lasting from 9–15 February 2026, TTA is reflecting on its commitment to supporting tile apprenticeships, from lobbying for grant funding to promoting the SkillBuild competition for trainees and apprentices. TTA continues to offer its support for training and development with industry-leading learning materials and advice.
TTA lobbies to increase apprenticeship grant funding
The government’s Plan for Change aims to rebuild the apprenticeship system to deliver more opportunities for young people and support employers. The Autumn Budget announced £725m in additional investment to advance the Growth and Skills Levy.
Skills England says that this funding will fully cover apprenticeship training costs for SMEs hiring 16–24-year-olds and support a £140m pilot to better connect young people – especially NEETs (‘Not in Education, Employment or Training’) – to local apprenticeship opportunities.
These measures contribute to the government’s ambition of getting 50,000 more young people into apprenticeships. Other changes announced by the Chancellor to make funding more effective and better aligned to skills priorities include:
- Removing the 10% levy account top-up
- Reducing levy fund expiry to 12 months
- Increasing employer co-investment to 75% once levy funds are used
While these reforms look good on paper, TTA recognises that there is much more work to be done to support tile apprenticeships. According to recorded data, TTA members in the tiling sector have experienced a 72% increase in the cost to their business for employing an under-18 apprentice since 2019, yet in this time the grant contribution for employers has remained static. While TTA encourages its members to take on apprentices where possible, it also believes that the basic support through grant funding currently falls short as an incentive for businesses in the tile sector.
Concerns have been raised in the construction industry about the role and activity of the Construction Industry Training Board (CITB) as the statutory body responsible for training, skills and workforce development. In December 2025, CITB announced the removal of the short course training grant, a reduction of the Employer Networks funding scope, an end to funding for level 7 qualification and attendance grants from long qualifications, and the reduction of all non-apprentice achievements grants to £600. One member of the CITB Funding Committee, Mike Wharton, resigned from his role in protest to the latest funding cuts, Roofing Today reported.
As the voice of the industry, TTA is committed to lobbying for better tile apprenticeship opportunities to support training providers and SMEs as they empower the next generation of tilers. TTA continues to raise the matter with Skills England.
Anthony Parrott, TTA Board Director, says: ‘There are excellent benefits to taking on a tile apprentice for everyone involved, but year-on-year this has gotten harder to achieve for tiling contractors as business costs increase but grant support does not. In recent years, we have also seen fewer wall and floor tile training courses offered by colleges and training providers.
‘This means we need to see a change to the way we approach grant funding as an industry. To secure the future workforce that will be necessary and protect the interests of tilers, we need to be growing the routes for tile apprenticeships today. Grant funding must increase now if we hope to deliver the change that is urgently needed.’
Register for SkillBuild 2026
Registration for 2026 is now open and closes at 13:00 on Friday 20 February. SkillBuild is the largest competition in the UK for tile trainees and apprentices, offering an outstanding opportunity for learners and apprentices to gain technical skills while strengthening their CVs.
Participation builds confidence and resilience, helping to broaden career options and support long-term professional progression.
For employers, this is a chance to boost your long-term business performance by teaching your apprentice to work efficiently under pressure and transforming their skillset. At the same time, competition activity is a fantastic way for colleges and training providers to deliver high quality training, assessing your apprentices’ functional skills against real life work scenarios, with a chance to showcase the quality of your training programmes through competition success.
TTA is proud to congratulate Sam Durham of ABD Ceramics as the 2025 SkillBuild winner for the Wall and Floor Tiling category. TTA sponsors this competition alongside its members Building Adhesives Ltd (BAL), N&C Nicobond and Schlüter-Systems.
To register for SkillBuild 2026, visit: www.goconstruct.org/skillbuild.
TTA offers training support and learning materials
TTA has a number of resources providing tiling information and advice which can be used as learning materials for apprentices, as well as anyone wishing to sharpen their knowledge and enhance their installation skills. Resources can be found on TTA’s Training pages: www.tiles.org.uk/tiling-training/.
Free tiling tips can be found in The Tiling Guide, a handbook with practical information on key installation issues available at www.tiles.org.uk/tiling-guide/ as well as on TTA’s YouTube channel at www.youtube.com/@TheTileAssociation_. Further information is available for purchase in TTA’s Technical Publications.
Adding to this, TTA has made a series of webinars available for members which can be watched online anytime from the Members’ Area on the website. The topics include the latest updates to the British Standards and NHBC requirements, plus further advice such as on handling failures and complaints.
TTA continues to support tile fixers throughout their career, from offering guidance and £100 discounts on assessments to gain a Level 2 or Level 3 NVQ, to supporting highly skilled professionals to stand out from the crowd and multi-skilled professions with the Master Tile Fixer certification scheme.
For more training information, TTA members benefit from unlimited training advice and support using the email address training@tile.org.uk or the phone number 0300 365 8453. If you would like to know more about signing up as a TTA member, visit: www.tiles.org.uk/join-us/.
