Why a Training Needs Assessment Is the First Step to a Retrofit-Ready Workforce
NetRet Group, in partnership with the Dry Lining & Plastering Training Forum (DLPTF), delivering a CITB-funded upskilling project for the RMI and retrofit sector.
The retrofit and repair, maintenance and improvement (RMI) sector is changing fast. Government policy to decarbonise the country's housing stock is creating a growing pipeline of work, but Tier 1 contractors, housing associations and local authorities are increasingly making PAS 2030 certification and proven workforce competence conditions of entry, not optional extras. For small and medium sized businesses working in insulation, property maintenance and fenestration, the question is no longer whether your business can do the work. It is whether you can prove your team is qualified to do it.
That is where a training needs assessment, or TNA, comes in. Rather than guessing which NVQ each member of staff needs, or working through the qualifications landscape from scratch, a TNA reviews your whole workforce against the specialist NVQs relevant to your trade and produces a single Action Plan for your business: the qualifications and levels your team needs, and the fastest available route to them.
A CITB-funded project, managed by DLPTF
This training needs assessment sits within a wider project funded by the CITB Specialist Upskilling Fund, for the RMI and retrofit sector across England, Scotland and Wales. The project is managed by the Dry Lining and Plastering Training Forum (DLPTF), which delivers the training needs assessment directly. The specialist NVQ training identified by that assessment is then delivered by consortium delivery partners, including NetRet Group.
NetRet Group: a proud delivery partner
NetRet Group is a UKAS-accredited certification body for PAS 2030 and a TrustMark Scheme Provider. Separately, through our training and assessment services, we also work with small and medium sized businesses, housing associations and local authorities to help them close workforce qualification gaps. In this project, NetRet delivers the specialist NVQ training identified by DLPTF's assessment, including through on-site assessment and training (OSAT) where operatives already do the relevant work. This training activity is kept operationally separate from our certification decision-making, in line with the impartiality requirements that govern our PAS 2030 accreditation.
Why the training needs assessment matters
- It confirms exactly which specialist NVQs, and at what level, each member of your team needs.
- It removes the guesswork and administrative burden of navigating the qualifications landscape alone.
- It produces a single Action Plan for your business, with clear next steps, at no cost and no obligation.
The specialist NVQs on offer
The training needs assessment can identify a route onto any of the following, prioritised by relevance to current retrofit demand:
- Level 3 - wall insulation, the highest-value retrofit work: External Wall Insulation, as Boarder, Finisher, or both; Internal Insulation (Walls); Hybrid Wall; Insulating Framed Sections of Buildings; Room in Roof; and Park Homes.
- Level 2 - wider insulation: Cavity Wall Insulation, Cold Roof Insulation, Solid Floor Insulation, Under Floor Insulation, Wall Tie Replacement, and Wood Preserving and Damp-proofing.
- Level 2 and 3 - property maintenance and fenestration: Property Maintenance Operations, Cavity Wall Extraction Occupations, and Fenestration.
- Also available: Level 3 Awards in energy efficiency for older and traditional buildings.
Funded, and cost-effective for every firm
- The training needs assessment and your Action Plan are free, for every business, whether or not you are CITB-registered.
- CITB-registered firms can claim the CITB completion grant towards the cost of the NVQs identified.
- For firms that are not CITB-registered, NetRet offers reduced rates on the training itself, so cost need not be a barrier to getting your team qualified.
- Where operatives are already carrying out the relevant work, qualification can often be delivered through on-site assessment and training (OSAT), in a matter of weeks, minimising time away from the job.
Completing training does not itself grant PAS 2030 certification or TrustMark registration: these remain independent assessments against the relevant standards, carried out separately from the training and assessment activity described here. Whether you are working towards certification and registration for the first time, or keeping an already-certified team compliant and audit-ready, the training needs assessment is a free, no-obligation way to find out exactly where you stand.
Complete your free training needs assessment today.
Workforce Training Needs Analysis (RMI and Retrofit)
Or contact NetRet by e mail: enquiry@netretgroup.co.uk
