The Construction Industry Training Board (CITB) will no longer deliver the administration of Construction Skills Certification Scheme (CSCS) cards.
The decision was taken as part of CITB’s Vision 2020, under which it will reduce its activities to focus on core priorities of careers, training and development and standards and qualifications.
The CSCS card is used by the majority of contactors and clients to provide proof that individuals working on construction sites have the required training and qualifications for the type of work they carry out.
For more than 20 years the CSCS’s application processing and contact centre has been provided under contract by the CITB. Each year the CITB processes more than 400,000 card applications and a million contact centre enquiries on behalf of CSCS.
“CITB and CSCS agree that the administration of the scheme must not be interrupted. Our priority is to secure a new service provision to deliver a first-class service to our 1.6 million cardholders.”
Graham Wren, CSCS chief executive
CITB’s notice period is three and a half years and CSCS will now begin looking for a new service provider. In the meantime, the CITB will continue to deliver the card application and contact centre service and is committed to an orderly transition to a new supplier.
Graham Wren, CSCS chief executive, said: “I can confirm that CSCS recently received notice from the CITB that they wish to terminate the card administration and contact centre contract. CSCS has relied on the CITB to deliver the administration of the scheme for more than 20 years and we are grateful for the contribution they have made to the success of the scheme.
“CITB and CSCS agree that the administration of the scheme must not be interrupted and our priority is to secure a new service provision to deliver a first-class service to our 1.6 million cardholders.”
CSCS has appointed a management consultancy to assist with the process of identifying a new service provider.
Wren added: “The three-and-a-half-year notice period provides an opportunity to identify new and smarter ways of working, such as online applications, that could benefit not just individual card holders, but their employers too. We would like to reassure card holders that the scheme will operate as normal while the process to identify a new service provision takes place.”
Braden Connolly, director of products and services at CITB, said: “The future CITB will see us becoming a more strategic organisation, clearly focused on delivering on industry’s key skills priorities.
“This means focusing on fewer things and doing them better. In the last 20 years, the UK has established itself as a world leader in services and there are potential providers who can offer a more efficient, modern service than CITB can provide in the administration of the CSCS card scheme.”
