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4 Skills, Labour, Recruitment and Support

As an organisation, the CFA (and its training arm
FITA) have always been active in supporting the
sector to create more skilled labour. We have
been running our dedicated training organisation
since the early 2000s, delivering short duration
flooring courses for timber, textile, and resilient
floor coverings as well as specialist areas such as WHAT IS FUTURE FITTERS?
subfloor preparation and moisture prevention. In
2021, FITA also began delivered the Floorlaying The Future Fitters Guide, produced by the
Apprenticeship Standard and now plays its part in Contract Flooring Association (CFA), is
training the floorlayers of the future. designed to address the shortage of skilled
floor fitters in the UK by:

• Attracting New Entrants: Encouraging
individuals of all ages to consider careers

in the commercial and domestic floor
laying industry.
• Providing Training Pathways: Offering
information on training and support to
help individuals become skilled, competent,
and qualified installers.

• Assisting Employers: Helping flooring
contractors identify and recruit suitable
candidates for their businesses.
The guide serves as a comprehensive resource,
offering insights into career opportunities,

This guide aims to keeps sector and members training options, and the benefits of working
up to date with all the opportunities that are in the flooring industry. It also addresses

available for training and quick guides for areas common questions, such as where to find
such as funding and qualifications, how to engage information about flooring careers, options

with CITB, manufacturer-based courses and for apprenticeship delivery, advertising floor
more but even with all of this information feely laying roles, and opportunities for experienced
available, skills and labour shortages have still professionals to mentor young people.
risen from 11% in 2019 to 20% in 2023. Several
factors that have led us here, including long term
underinvestment, changes to standards and
funding, and then more recently — depletion of the
workforce through Brexit and Coronavirus. There
seems to be broad agreement in the commercial
flooring sector that we need a better plan to recruit
more people into our sector and particularly into
the role of floorlayers and through the CFA initiative
Future Fitter this is what we have aimed to do. SCAN HERE
TO READ
FA
38 C C CFA Contract Flooring Industry Training Guide 2025 Visit: www.cfa.org.uk Tel: 0115 941 1126
raining Guide
Contract Flooring Industr
y T
FA