CIJC pay rates July 2026: what scaffolding managers must act on now

New minimum pay rates confirmed by the Construction Industry Joint Council (CIJC) will take effect on Monday 20 July 2026, affecting every scaffolding contractor that employs operatives under the CIJC Working Rule Agreement. ^[1] The agreement, reached between employer organisations and trade unions, sets the minimum rates of pay and employment conditions across much of the UK construction industry. ^[1] For scaffolding contractors operating under the agreement, the changes land mid-contract-year, raising an immediate question: do current tender prices and fixed-price contracts still stack up?

What the new CIJC rates mean for scaffolding contractors

From 20 July 2026, the CIJC Craft Rate rises to £16.40 an hour, the equivalent of £639.60 for a standard 39-hour week. ^[1] Scaffolding contractors are among the employers to whom the changes are particularly relevant. ^[1]

Apprentice rates also increase across all three years of training. First-year apprentices will receive £8.29 an hour, rising to £8.80 in year two and £10.27 in year three before achieving NVQ Level 2. ^[1] Apprentices holding NVQ Level 2 will earn £13.13 an hour, while those who have completed training at NVQ Level 3 receive the full Craft Rate of £16.40. ^[1]

Travel and subsistence allowances change alongside pay. Taxed daily travel allowances now range from £1.44 for nine miles up to £12.42 for 50 miles, while untaxed fare allowances increase from £6.09 to £23.66 depending on distance. ^[1] The overnight subsistence allowance will rise to £53.69 per night, and industry sick pay, payable on top of Statutory Sick Pay where applicable, increases to £174.66 per week. ^[1]

Employers are also reminded that statutory minimum wage legislation applies alongside the CIJC agreement. Apprentices aged 19 to 20 in their second or final year must receive at least the National Minimum Wage of £10.85 an hour, while those aged 21 and over must receive at least the National Living Wage of £12.71 an hour, both enforceable by HMRC since 1 April 2026. ^[1]

NASC has separately noted that new CIJC minimum pay rates are coming into effect and has flagged what member firms need to know. ^[2]

Two readings: welcome stability or a margin squeeze at the wrong moment?

Employer and trade-union bodies present the deal as a measured outcome. The CIJC Working Rule Agreement is a negotiated instrument designed to provide minimum floor rates that balance wage growth with the capacity of contractors to plan forward. Rising rates recognise the skill and risk attached to construction work at height, and a structured wage floor helps prevent a race to the bottom on labour costs across competing firms. ^[1]

A second reading focuses on timing and margin. The NASC Skills Gap Report 2026 found that 56 per cent of scaffolding member firms currently have at least one vacancy, with an average of 4.4 open roles per organisation. ^[3] Across the wider sector, NASC estimates approximately 40,000 roles could need filling, even before major new construction projects come fully online. ^[3] In a market where recruitment pressure is high and many tenders were priced months ago, a mid-year uplift to the Craft Rate can erode margin on contracts where labour costs were calculated at the previous rate. For smaller firms especially, the gap between a tendered all-in labour rate and the new Craft Rate may not be recoverable within a fixed-price or lump-sum contract.

The CITB funding landscape compounds the picture. From 8 January 2026, CITB withdrew short-course training grants for most categories, retaining them only for a limited set of specialist courses including scaffolding. ^[4] From 1 April 2026, large employers moved to a new Large Employer Fund, while SMEs access training support through Employer Networks at 50 per cent match funding. ^[5] The combined effect of rising wage floors and reduced grant support means that the cost of maintaining a skilled, certificated workforce is shifting further on to the employer's own books. Scaffolding managers considering the commercial case for structured CPD will find a detailed breakdown of available routes in this guide to CITB funding changes for scaffolding contractors. ^[6]

Why the CIJC rate change is a contractual question, not just a payroll one

The CIJC Working Rule Agreement sets minimum rates, not fixed all-in labour costs. The Craft Rate of £16.40 per hour is the base from which on-costs, employer National Insurance contributions, holiday pay, tool allowances and, where applicable, CIJC travel and subsistence must be calculated to arrive at a true cost per operative hour. Any scaffold estimate or schedule of rates built on the previous Craft Rate is now understated.

Contracts let before 20 July 2026 that run beyond that date, particularly lump-sum or remeasured contracts with no labour-escalation mechanism, carry the cost differential without recourse unless the contract expressly provides for it. Standard-form construction contracts vary in how they address wage-award increases mid-contract. Contracts managers and QS professionals working on scaffolding packages should check whether their specific contract conditions include a fluctuations or cost-escalation clause that covers CIJC rate awards.

Daywork schedules are a separate exposure. Where a contract prices additional or varied work by reference to a daywork rate, and that daywork rate was fixed at tender stage without indexation, the contractor absorbs any increase in the CIJC Craft Rate for all daywork hours instructed after 20 July. Understanding how to build labour cost correctly into estimates and daywork schedules, and how to identify and price this risk at tender stage, is precisely what a scaffolding estimator course should address. ^[7]

The parallel Building Safety Act clarification issued by the Government and welcomed by NASC on 2 July 2026 is also commercially relevant here. NASC confirmed 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, following Government confirmation that temporary scaffolding is not classed as building work unless it forms part of the permanent structure. ^[8] Build UK has said this will affect the Common Assessment Standard used in prequalification. ^[8] While this reduces a compliance burden, it does not remove the competence-assessment requirements, and procurement teams should note that those competence questions remain in place with revised arrangements to follow. ^[8]

What a scaffolding manager should know: three checks before 20 July

The CIJC rate change takes effect in one week. The three checks below apply to scaffolding managers, contracts managers, estimators and QS professionals working on scaffold packages.

A wage floor is only a problem on a contract where you forgot to price one.