Colleges Have Just Three Weeks to Apply To Be A Construction Technical Excellence College (CTEC)

DfE have now released the selection criteria and application form for the 10 Technical Excellence Colleges. The 10 Technical Excellence Colleges were originally announced back in March 2025 with the £600M construction skills training packages. These are the 10 Technical Excellence Colleges for Construction (or Construction Technical Execllence Colleges) that have a £100M funding allocation.

You waited three months for more info on the CTECs, but now Colleges have just a three week window to apply! This is only open to Colleges, but the model of the CTEC (and maybe future TECs) is a hub and spoke model working with other colleges and Independent Training Providers. There is also going to be a Co Design process for the Construction Technical Excellence Colleges.

However, Colleges have just Three Weeks to Apply To Be A CTEC

Colleges that meet the criteria need to apply using the DfE online application form by 11:59pm on Friday 4 July 2025. This application process is for Construction Technical Excellence Colleges only. DfE intend to roll-out additional technical excellence colleges (TECs) specialising in other sectors identified by the industrial strategy as having high growth potential in future years

Background to the CTECs

The Department for Education (DfE) is establishing 10 technical excellence colleges specialising in construction in the 2025 to 2026 academic year. This is one of the measures announced in Spring Statement 2025 to boost skills in construction, crucial for delivering the government’s plans to build 1.5 million homes and progress vital infrastructure projects.

These 10 colleges will be the first to achieve technical excellence college status and will play an active and pivotal role, both in shaping the wider technical excellence colleges programme and in supporting other providers in their region.

There will be 1 construction technical excellence college (CTEC) in each of the following regions:

• East of England
• East Midlands
• Greater London
• North East
• North West
• South East
• South West
• West Midlands
• Yorkshire and the Humber

One region will have 2 CTECs.

Colleges appointed as CTECs are expected to have the capacity and capability to support providers across their region, so that the opportunities and benefits CTECs create are available to all learners without the need for extensive travel, and so that differing skills needs within each region are met.

Hub and Spoke Delivery Model. CTECs to Partner with Colleges and Independent Training Providers!

Through this ‘hub and spoke’ delivery model, CTECs will partner with colleges and independent training providers across their region to share and embed the resources they develop – for example providing access to excellent professional development for teachers and cutting-edge specialist curricula.

CTECs may also broker partnerships between employers and partner providers. Such partnerships could spread opportunities for learners to complete industry placements and facilitate the participation of construction experts in training the sector’s future workforce.            

At the Spring Statement 2025, the government committed £100 million over the course of this Parliament to establish the 10 CTECs and to expand construction skills provision.

Breakdown of the £100M CTEC Funding: £80M in capital funding and £20M in revenue funding over the next 4 years

This includes £80 million in capital funding and £20 million in revenue funding over the next 4 years.

While the revenue funding may be made available to CTECs, the specific terms, conditions, and allocation of grant funding will be determined following collaboration with participating organisations to ensure the programme delivers maximum impact and value for money for the UK taxpayer.

DfE do not guarantee that capital funding will be made available to CTECs. Further details on the separate process for how the capital funding may be accessed and distributed will be provided in due course.

DfE will work with CTECs, mayoral strategic authorities, and other partners in the skills system to co-design and implement solutions to increase delivery against these 5 objectives:

• boosting construction skills provision in direct response to local and national employer needs
• delivering high-quality teaching practice and curricula in construction courses, including continuous professional development for staff, with an emphasis on site integration and employer input
• leveraging employer engagement and investment in construction skills provision
• collaboration with other further education (FE) providers to boost construction provision and quality both locally and nationally
• clear pathways for learners to progress into work in the construction industry or into higher level education construction courses

CTEC Co-design exercise will run from September 2025 to April 2026

The co-design exercise will run from September 2025 to April 2026, but DfE expect participants to retain their CTEC status and to continue to deliver against the programme’s objectives in future years. Participants’ eligibility and performance will be monitored and reviewed. If a college with CTEC status no longer meets the criteria or its performance is below the required standard, this status and any associated funding could be withdrawn with other providers being invited to apply.

DfE reserve the right to alter the eligibility criteria for CTEC status in future years following the co-design exercise.

This application process is for construction technical excellence colleges only. DfE intend to roll-out additional technical excellence colleges (TECs) specialising in other sectors identified by the industrial strategy as having high growth potential in future years. The number and design of other TECs will need to reflect the needs and landscape of the individual sector. More information on other TECs will be published in due course.

CTEC Eligibility Criteria

To be eligible to apply for construction technical excellence college status, FE providers must:

1. Be a general FE college that is part of the statutory FE sector in England
2. Based on the finance record, have (or expect to have) a finalised financial health grade of ‘good’ or ‘outstanding’ for the year 2023 to 2024 as assessed by DfE or the Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA), including:
   • no active ‘notice to improve’ issued
   • no significant concerns raised in any recent DfE or ESFA audits
   • no current, or recent investigations underway
3. Be Ofsted rated ‘good’ or ‘outstanding’ in overall effectiveness – colleges who have an Ofsted rating of ‘requires improvement’ may apply if they can demonstrate through a recent monitoring visit report that they have made significant progress against all areas requiring improvement
4. Offer qualifications in construction at level 2 and above
5. Support either an above average proportion (5.8% or more) of construction learners at all levels compared to the rest of their overall cohort or at least 525 construction learners. Providers who support fewer than 300 learners will not be eligible. This minimum threshold is based on the number of leavers in academic year 2023 to 2024 from published FE and skills data
6. Have either an above average (84% or more) achievement rate for learners at all levels in construction or at least 440 achieving learners. This minimum threshold is based on published FE and Skills data for academic year 2023 to 2024 ^{[footnote 1]}
7. Have experience of one or more of the following:
   • delivering in the construction sector as a partner of a local Institute of Technology
   • being the project lead provider of a Local Skills Improvement Fund project focused on the construction sector
   • being a member of the WorldSkills UK Centre of Excellence
   • registering learners at your institution participate in a WorldSkills or Construction Industry Training Board (CITB) Skills competition in a construction-related field in 2025
   • (Greater London region only) involvement in the Mayor’s Skills Academies Green (including Construction) Hubs or hold the Mayor’s Quality Mark for Green or Construction

The department reserves the right to adjust one or more competitive criteria to ensure that regional circumstances are appropriately reflected. Accordingly, we have applied an additional relevant criterion for London colleges.

How to apply

Colleges that meet the above criteria need to apply using our online application form by 11:59pm on Friday 4 July 2025.

Sector Reaction:

Association of Colleges, (AoC) Chief Executive David Hughes said:

“We are very pleased to see applications for the first 10 TECs go live. The £100m investment in construction TECs is recognition that the college sector is absolutely central to delivering on the government’s ambition to grow skills capacity in this key sector, supporting the construction of 1.5 million homes and vital infrastructure projects. With other TECs to follow, in line with the industrial strategy, we can see that more investment in colleges will follow in due course.

“The government is understandably working at pace to establish the Construction TEC (CTEC) network to meet the urgent and high profile skills needs to build 1.5 million homes, move to clean energy and deliver on a range of important infrastructure projects. Given that need for speed, I’m pleased that a co-design approach is being taken, with colleges and employers as well as elected mayors. The only path to success is for those local partnerships to thrive, and for the 10 CTECs to work with other colleges and training organisations in their areas.

“The revenue funding available if critical in helping colleges to engage even more employers as partners, develop curriculum,  support qualification and apprenticeship content and design, stimulate demand and support staff CPD. All of that is vital in developing good, accessible pathways into construction jobs, with more employers stepping up to be partners with colleges.

“The hub and spoke model of TECs can build on and enhance existing regional collaboration models, enabling a greater number of learners to benefit in a locality, all while providing opportunities for colleges to develop and share specialist resources and professional development opportunities. The first TECs can be a blueprint for future skills projects in other priority sectors.”