{"id":887484,"date":"2026-01-24T22:11:51","date_gmt":"2026-01-25T04:11:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2026\/01\/24\/shed-firm-loses-citb-levy-case\/"},"modified":"2026-01-24T22:11:51","modified_gmt":"2026-01-25T04:11:51","slug":"shed-firm-loses-citb-levy-case","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2026\/01\/24\/shed-firm-loses-citb-levy-case\/","title":{"rendered":"Shed firm loses CITB levy case"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"wrapper_sleeve\">\n<p><img width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.ca.emap.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2020\/06\/legal_uk_generic.jpg\"  decoding=\"async\" fetchpriority=\"high\"  alt=\"legal_uk_generic.jpg\"><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>A shed firm which claimed it is not liable to pay the industry levy has lost its case.<\/p>\n<p>Perth-based Gillies and Mackay Ltd took the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/skills\/citb-cuts-threaten-vital-management-training-09-12-2025\/\">Construction Industry Training Board<\/a> (CITB) to an employment tribunal in Dundee arguing levy assessments for 2022 and 2023 were invalid.<\/p>\n<p>Its director Cara-Anne Mackay claimed 76 per cent of the firm\u2019s work was \u201cbrand-led\u201d in marketing sheds and summer houses, not constructing them.<\/p>\n<p>Mackay claimed that the CITB\u2019s contention that her firm was a construction business was \u201cnot supported by law or reality\u201d and that only four of her 22 employees were based in production.<\/p>\n<p>She said the \u201cvalue of the company is based on the brand\u201d and accused the CITB of \u201cimproper reliance on outdated information\u201d based on the firm\u2019s previous products.<\/p>\n<p>In 2021, the firm also manufactured window frames and doors. However, Mackay told the tribunal a decision was made in late 2022 to discontinue these items, and they were withdrawn from the market in 2023.<\/p>\n<p>The tribunal, which was held on 22 October 2025, heard that in October 2022, the firm successfully applied to the CITB for a \u00a32,400 grant to train joiners.<\/p>\n<p>The CITB then imposed the 2022 levy on the firm in 2023 and argued at the tribunal that its levy assessment was correct.<\/p>\n<p>In a judgment published this week, Employment Judge Murdo Macleod dismissed the firm\u2019s appeal.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is a business which exists in order to manufacture and erect buildings in gardens of customers who purchase them from them. That is a construction industry activity, and it is the primary function of the business,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>The judge said that the firm\u2019s marketing activites only happen \u201cbecause the company sells customers garden sheds and similar products\u201d.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/legal\/shed-firm-loses-citb-levy-case-23-01-2026\/\" class=\"button purchase\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Read More<\/a><br \/>\n Nicola Harley<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A shed firm which claimed it is not liable to pay the industry levy has lost its case. Perth-based Gillies and Mackay Ltd took the Construction Industry Training Board (CITB) to an employment tribunal in Dundee arguing levy assessments for 2022 and 2023 were invalid. Its director Cara-Anne Mackay claimed 76 per cent of the<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":887485,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1090],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-887484","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-loses"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/887484","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=887484"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/887484\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/887485"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=887484"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=887484"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=887484"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}