CIJC pay rates 2026: what scaffolding managers need to know today

From today, Monday 20 July 2026, scaffolding contractors covered by the Construction Industry Joint Council (CIJC) Working Rule Agreement must apply a new set of minimum pay rates, updated travel and subsistence allowances, and a confirmed timetable for increased annual leave ^[1][2]. The changes are effective immediately and are enforceable across all employers and operatives covered by the agreement ^[2]. For contracts managers, estimators and anyone pricing or managing labour costs in scaffolding, the figures are not advisory. They are the legal floor.

What changed: the new CIJC pay rates in full

The CIJC confirmed the new rates following agreement between employer organisations and trade unions ^[1]. The Craft Rate, the benchmark most relevant to experienced scaffolders, rises to £16.40 an hour, equivalent to £639.60 for a standard 39-hour week ^[1][2]. Below that, Skill Rate 1 moves to £15.61 per hour, Skill Rate 2 to £15.04, Skill Rate 3 to £14.07, and Skill Rate 4 to £13.30, with General Operatives receiving £13.18 an hour ^[2].

Apprentice rates also change. First-year apprentices will receive £8.29 an hour, rising to £8.80 in year two and £10.27 in year three, before they achieve NVQ Level 2 ^[1]. Apprentices who have achieved NVQ Level 2 move to £13.13 an hour ^[1]. Employers are separately reminded that statutory minimum wage legislation still applies: apprentices aged 19 to 20 in their second or final year must receive at least £10.85 an hour, and those aged 21 and over at least the National Living Wage of £12.71, both enforceable by HMRC since 1 April 2026 ^[1].

Travel and subsistence allowances are also updated from today. Taxed daily travel allowances now range from £1.44 for journeys of nine miles up to £12.42 for 50 miles ^[1]. Untaxed fare allowances run from £6.09 to £23.66 depending on distance ^[1]. The overnight subsistence allowance rises to £53.69 per night, and industry sick pay, which is paid on top of Statutory Sick Pay, increases to £174.66 per week ^[1][2].

On annual leave, the agreement introduces a phased improvement. From 1 January 2027, holiday entitlement will increase by four hours, taking the total to 23.5 days ^[2]. A further four hours will be added from 1 January 2028, reaching 24 days plus eight bank holidays ^[2]. Where managing an additional half-day proves operationally difficult, a payment in lieu is permitted in 2027 only, before the full entitlement becomes standard from 2028 ^[1][2].

Two readings: cost pressure versus workforce stability

For smaller scaffolding contractors already navigating reduced CITB grant support, the timing is significant. CITB's funding reforms, which took effect from January 2026, reduced or removed attendance grants for many long qualifications and shifted the majority of short-course support to 50 per cent match funding through Employer Networks ^[3][4]. Rising minimum labour costs arrive alongside a reduced training subsidy, creating a dual pressure on margins. NASC's Skills Gap Report 2026 found that 56 per cent of member firms already carry at least one vacancy, with an average of 4.4 open roles per organisation ^[5]. Recruitment competition may make paying above the new minimums a practical necessity rather than a choice.

The opposing view is that wage floor increases, delivered through a jointly agreed mechanism between employers and unions, contribute to sector-wide workforce stability. The CIJC Working Rule Agreement sets consistent baseline conditions across much of UK construction, reducing the risk that undercutting on labour becomes a competitive lever ^[1]. Proponents argue that predictable, incremental increases, phased over two years in the case of annual leave, allow businesses to plan and price accordingly. The agreement's enforceable nature also provides a degree of legal certainty that informal pay arrangements do not.

Why this is a contractual question, not just a payroll one

The commercial impact of a pay rate change lands first in a contract, not a pay packet. Fixed-price scaffolding contracts signed before today's uplift may now carry a labour cost assumption that is below the new legal minimum. Any contract that runs beyond 20 July without a price adjustment mechanism, a fluctuation clause, or a daywork provision tied to current CIJC rates will expose the contractor to the difference. This is precisely the kind of risk that a scaffolding contracts manager course addresses: understanding where and how labour indices are referenced in a contract, and what remedies exist when those indices move mid-project.

The same logic applies to tenders priced before today. If a quotation was submitted using pre-July CIJC rates and has not yet been accepted, the estimator should verify whether the offer remains commercially viable or whether it should be withdrawn and reissued. For guidance on how labour costs feed into a scaffolding price build-up, the ScaffSkills guide on how to estimate a scaffolding job covers the components that move when rates change.

A secondary contractual note, flagged by NASC in recent weeks, concerns the Building Safety Act. The Government has confirmed that temporary scaffolding is not covered by Building Regulations dutyholder rules unless it forms part of the completed building ^[6]. NASC said legal advice commissioned by Build UK from Wedlake Bell LLP supports this position, and that scaffold and temporary works contractors do not fall under the statutory Building Regulations dutyholder roles where their work is temporary ^[6]. NASC added that scaffold contractors should no longer be asked to complete the Building Safety section of the Common Assessment Standard where it relates to the Building Regulations dutyholder regime, though competence questions will remain ^[6]. This clarification does not alter existing work at height or temporary works obligations ^[6]. Managers reviewing prequalification submissions should cross-reference their documentation against this updated position.

What a scaffolding manager should check now: three actions

The following checks are relevant to contracts managers, estimators and commercial managers across the sector, not only to those directly on the tools.

In construction, a rate change is always a contract change. The gap between knowing and acting is where margin disappears.