The Construction Skills Certification Scheme (CSCS) has announced that it will be withdrawing the Industry Accreditation route to a CSCS card from 31 December 2024.
Industry Accreditation, also known as Grandfather Rights, allowed workers to obtain CSCS cards on the strength of an employers’ recommendation rather than the achievement of a recognised qualification. This was closed to new applicants in 2010 but those already holding a card have been able to renew on the same basis. Until now.
All cards issued under Industry Accreditation/Grandfather Rights will expire on 31st December 2024 and only those that have completed a competence-based assessment (NVQ) will be able to renew their card. For example – Supervisors with a Gold CSCS card will need to complete a Level 3 or 4 NVQ. Managers with a Black CSCS card will need to complete a Level 5, 6 or 7 NVQ.
The timing of the removal of Grandfather Rights could not be worse, coming as it does in the midst of an ongoing skills shortage AND a cost-of-living crisis.
There is already a very real danger that some industry operators and operatives will not be able to afford to make the switch and could find themselves unemployable through no fault of their own. And we have already seen hordes of operators holding five or more different cards relinquishing some, purely because they cannot afford to renew all of them to satisfy the whim of a training organisation.
Estimates suggest that the removal of Grandfather Rights could impact between 70,000 and 200,000 industry workers.
That figure alone should set alarm bells ringing.
Employers and employees alike regularly struggle to find a slot on a training course or at a test centre as it is. The sudden influx of upwards of 70,000 workers each clamouring for an NVQ could be the straw that breaks the training camel’s back.
There is also a growing concern about how this change might impact those with dyslexia, with learning difficulties and those for whom English is not a first language.
How are they being informed of the planned change? How will they apply for an NVQ? How well will they cope with a test that might be – at least in part – on a computer? Do the training providers have sufficient readers and reporters on stand-by to assist those that are struggling?
But there’s another concern too.
I have been driving a car for more than a quarter of a century. I have driven everything from a VW Beetle to supercars from the likes of Porsche and Tesla. I have driven here in the UK and in numerous countries around the world. I consider myself to be a good driver.
Could I pass a driving test today? Almost certainly not.
In 30-odd years behind the wheel, I have picked up a lot of bad habits. The rules and regulations have changed countless times over the years. And the theory test that is now part and parcel of the British driving test had not even been invented when I threw away by “L” plates.
The fear is that some of the UK construction’s longest serving and most experienced operators could find themselves similarly challenged when faced with the need to achieve an NVQ.
They might have 20 or more years under their belt. But they too may have picked up some bad habits along the way. We all know that real-life operation is very different from classroom operation. Some of those now required to sit a test last did so in the age of pen and paper. How will they cope with a computer-based test? And maybe, just maybe, some operators that have long worked to a sufficiently high standard to satisfy their employer might not operate quite well enough to satisfy an NVQ adjudicator.
There is now the very real possibility that the UK demolition and construction sector could start 2024 with considerably fewer qualified operators.
Some will have fallen by the wayside due to the prohibitive cost of the NVQ. Some will have dropped out because they are unwilling or unable to sit the required test. Some will disappear because, despite 20+ years’ on-site experience, they do not meet the classroom standard set by those in suits rather than those in site boots.
This shift places unnecessary strain upon an already over-stretched training regime and upon workers that are already struggling to put food on the family table.
Moreover, it heaps a huge burden onto the shoulders of those that are willing to jump through the CSCS regulatory hoops and to apply for and gain an NVQ.
Thanks to an ill-conceived and ill-timed shifting of the goalposts, the short-term future of the entire industry rests upon their shoulders. For them and for the industry as a whole, failure is not an option.
