CITB grant funding is available to CITB Registered employers who are up to date with their Levy Returns.

Employers can apply for this grant for all directly employed staff on the payroll, business owners and partners, and all subcontractors. Those self-employed or sub-contracted on projects should speak to the primary contractor in the first instance regarding grant funding.

For further information, please visit our IA Grant Information page.

A full list of CSCS-approved professional bodies is available via the CSCS website: www.cscs.uk.com/professional-bodies/

Further information on how to apply for a Professionally Qualified Persons card is available at: www.cscs.uk.com/pqp 

The AQP card is available to people who have completed certain construction related degrees, HNDs, HNCs, CIOB Certificates as well as certain NEBOSH diplomas and certificates.

Visit the Card Finder tool and search by Qualification to find out if your academic qualification is accepted for the AQP card.

For roofing occupations, there is the NVQ and SVQ route available and also the NFRC Experienced Roofer RoofCert Accreditation. Further information is available via the RoofCERT website.

Cards issued under Industry Accreditation (IA) are being withdrawn and cannot be renewed via this method.

No, N/SVQ’s generally are lifelong qualifications so once they are completed, they do not need to be completed again.

No, SVQ/NVQs are completed in the workplace, however, you will need some time to spend with your assessor, planning the assessment and feeding back their assessment of your evidence and/or work.

S/NVQs can be achieved in a minimum of 14 weeks, but usually takes between 6-12 months from registration though to receiving your certificate. The time taken will depend on the availability of evidence, for example an experienced manager with numerous years’ experience could complete it in a shorter period of time, whereas an inexperienced candidate will take more time – no two cases are the same. As this is an assessment rather than a training course, you will work with your assessor to collate evidence of your skills via a range of assessment methods.

No, this assessment is completed in the workplace and in many cases remotely.  As you are likely to be a highly experienced worker, the process should be relatively simple and there are many ways to show evidence of your competence, including:

• • A Professional Discussion
  • Knowledge Evidence Questions.
  • Reflective accounts
  • Witness Testimonies (confirming previous workplace activities undertaken),
  • Product Evidence, e.g. minutes of meetings, RAMS, products of work
  • Observations

These courses are three and five-day CITB courses that are predominantly focused on health and safety and are not occupational or competence based. As a result, they are not accepted as part of CSCS card applications.

If you have an Industry Accreditation card, the rear of your physical CSCS card will state ‘Industry Accreditation’. This will also be stated on your virtual card should you use My CSCS.

Individuals can also use one of the other card checking options listed here.

The cost is set by individual providers, but as experienced workers are unlikely to need any upskilling or training, the assessment-only route provides a quicker and simpler way to achievement.

CITB grants are available to support CITB registered employers achieve recognised qualifications.

To further support CITB registered employers during the Industry Accreditation card transition period, a number of CITB grants will receive enhanced funding.

To find out about the CITB grants available and enhanced funding please visit the CITB website.

Yes, these are acceptable to apply for a CSCS card.

CSCS is aware of this problem and would urge all employers to ensure that thorough card checks are carried out at site gates to ensure individuals hold the correct card for the role they carry out on site.

Those impacted by IA who require a qualification to renew their card are advised that they will not be required to attend college as flexible assessment routes are available, while CITB grants are also available to employers.

Your assessor will be able to review any previously achieved qualifications and advise whether this can be carried across to the new qualification.

HNCs, HNDs and Degrees are Academic qualifications and not competence assessed within the workplace. With these qualifications, applicants can apply for the Academically Qualified Persons card.

CSCS has in place an appeals process, which covers those applicants who no longer have documentation to prove their qualifications and allows them to outline their circumstances. The situation will then be assessed by the CSCS Appeals panel.

In this situation, the card they should apply for will depend on the role they do on site and which qualification best reflects this role.

Construction site supervisors are advised to complete the NVQ Diploma Level 4 in Construction Site Supervision in order to retain their Gold Supervisory card. The AQP and PQP routes available to those on IA would be more applicable to technical occupations within the Supervisor card such as Surveying, Buying, Site Technical Assistant, etc.

Industry Accreditation cards can still be renewed, if their expiry date is prior 30^th June 2024. However, the renewed card will expire on 31^st December 2024. Any Industry Accreditation CSCS card with an expiry date of 1^st July 2024 onwards cannot be renewed.

Yes – the CLC Statement requires all cards that bear the CSCS Logo to phase out IA by 31 December 2024. These guidance pages relate to the main CSCS Scheme, although the processes will be very similar for the CSCS Alliance Partner Schemes. Individuals with IA cards issued by a partner scheme should contact them directly for specific guidance on how to renew their cards.

CITB grants can only be paid to employers that are registered and in scope of CITB. If you are self-employed and working on a contractor’s site which is registered with CITB, you should speak to the contractor about enrolling you on an S/NVQ and they can claim the funding upon your achievement of the qualification. Contractors should check funding eligibility with CITB before enrolment.

If your IA card is due for renewal now, you can renew it via the IA route until 30^th June 2024, but regardless of its issue date, it will expire on 31^st December 2024. Before this deadline you will need to transition to a card via one of the pathways outlined in this guidance. As an assessment can take on average between  6-12 months, you should put a plan in place now to ensure you can smoothly transition from your IA card to one linked to a qualification.

To find a training provider and register for your qualification, please use CITB’s Construction Training Directory.

The Construction Training Directory is where you will be able to find the training you need that is delivered by CITB Approved Training Organisations (ATOs).

There are approximately 70,000 IA card holders – many have between 20 to 30 years’ experience and the majority are in supervisory and site management roles.

You need to put a plan in place to move off Industry Accreditation before your card expires at the end of 2024.

What that plan looks like depends on your occupation and what qualifications you may already hold.

All Industry Accreditation (IA) cards issued from 1st Jan 2020 will expire on 31st Dec 2024