The Enquirer understands that 82 members of the trade body voted to keep the CITB’s levy paying powers compared to 81 who voted against.

The total of 163 votes was cast from a potential pool of more than 5,000 levy paying member companies at the FMB.

FMB members were only given two weeks over the summer holidays to vote on an issue which sees thousands of pounds deducted from them annually to pay for CITB training.

The vote was enough for the FMB managing board to give its unanimous backing to another three-years of levy raising powers for the CITB.

Furious companies have contacted the Enquirer to express their outrage at the way the voting has been handled.

Jon Thompson of Living Design and Build West Midlands  said: “I fail to accept that the FMB should be allowed to give consent when they only managed to get 163 out of a possible 5,000 members to complete their survey.

“My company was not given the chance to vote and I feel like I have been robbed of my voice.

“We have paid a lot of money over the years to FMB, along with hundreds of other companies who feel the same way about the levy.

“It is unacceptable that they have made decisions on our behalf without giving us a chance to have our say”.

Perring Proerties Ltd based in Cornwall said: “When you think that the FMB deliberately chose to conduct their survey over the summer it’s no wonder that they only managed 163 responses.

“It’s lazy and it makes a mockery of the people who they purport to represent”.

Another family roofing contractor from Buckinghamshire added: “The FMB has let its members down in the most appalling way.

“If they had conducted a proper survey and got a decisive outcome, Id accept it.

“But they haven’t. They will let the CITB continue to drain the industry based on a survey with 163 respondents and a majority of 1 in favour of the CITB.

“I hope the secretary of state sees through this sham”.

Brian Berry, Chief Executive of the FMB, said: “FMB members are divided regarding the future of CITB – some want to see it continue and others want to see it abolished but all agree that it is not currently working for the industry’s smaller firms.

“Yes, the FMB has decided to give its support for the continuation of the levy but we do not want this support to be interpreted as support for the status quo.

“The CITB is broken and we must all pitch in to ensure we fix it.

“The stakes couldn’t be higher because unless we get this right, the construction skills crisis will continue to worsen and the Government will be unable to meet its ambitious house building and infrastructure objectives.”