CSCS card shake-up could hit new entrants

Concern is being raised that the proposed shake-up of the CSCS Green card scheme could make it difficult for new entrants to become qualified because of the potential extra costs involved in training.

The CSCS scheme’s chief executive, Graham Wren, revealed in CM earlier this week details of a shake-up that seeks to set a higher competence standard for holders of the Green card by linking it to a new Level 1 vocational qualification from next July. 

The Green card will in future be known as a Labourer’s card and will be linked to a forthcoming Level 1 qualification in Health and Safety for Construction Labourers, to be offered by Edexcel, City & Guilds or CSkills Awards. In addition, applicants for both cards will have to sit the CITB online HS&E test.

The new vocational qualification would involve workplace assessment – but that implies the applicant already has a job, raising issues with qualifying new entrants. 

Holly Price, training and development director at demolition contractor Keltbray, said: “If it’s labelled as a vocational qualification, but it’s also a prerequisite to working in the industry, then that could create problems, as a voocational qualification can only be accessed when you’re in work. It may turn out to be something that can be delivered with a week in the classroom, but then that’s quite a cost to the employer.”

She added: “This needs to be well thought out, and it’s absolutely crucial that they engage with employers – a lot of the UKCG members don’t directly employ many Green card holders, so it needs to be the people in the businesses that are directly employing people at that level that need to be considered throughout that process.”

“No one will say the extra training isn’t a good idea, but CSCS needs to make it as simple a process as possible.”  

Keltbray currently employes around 200 CSCS Green card holders, mainly in groundworks, but Price says the company tries to upskill Green card holders as quickly as possible.

She added that the new scheme could help construction workers who had held Green cards for several years but never gained additional training or qualifications. “People can get stuck on the green card and aren’t given an opportunity to progress, so this could mean they get a bit of investment from employers and the employer is encouraged to do more training.”

Christine Townley, executive director of the Construction Youth Trust, said the new rules could impact on its work quite significantly. The CYT provides pre-apprenticeship taster and training courses and supports candidates through the CITB online health and safety test to qualify for a green card under today’s rules.

Townley said: “It looks as if it could make it harder for young people to get jobs, and we will have to think carefully about how we train them in the future. We do already offer a Level 1 qualification in hand-skills, and we will probably have to see if we can ‘map’ this across to the new qualification.

“But will there be funding for this? There will definitely be implications for us, and young people. How it can be delivered needs to be thought about.”

Another option suggested by Townley is that new entrants could gain the new Level 1 qualification during new pre-apprenticeship traineeships, which are currently being launched. These are unpaid extended work experience placements that can last six months.

AS part of the shake-up CSCS also signified a move to recognise a wider range of qualifications beyond NVQs with the introduction of a new Academically Qualified Person’s card, for holders of HNCs, HNDs and degrees. 

The new AQP card is available from 30th September and will be valid for five years. It is non-renewable, so that any holder will then be required to pass an NVQ to acquire an occupation-based card. Alternatively, anyone holding a CIOBSite Management Qualification will be able to apply for a Black manager’s CSCS card.