SKILLcard reassures Vent Hygiene CRO card holders following inaccurate NAADUK letter

Following an open letter issued by the NAADUK 16^th December 2019, SKILLcard would like to correct factual inaccuracies and present the true situation surrounding CRO cards for our sector.

The NAADUK letter is not only inaccurate and directly contravenes the BuildUK Training Standard; it also scaremongers and may cause unnecessary concern amongst workers and firms in the industry.

1 - CRO closures across the industry

• The closure of CRO cards is actually a phased programme all CSCS Partner card schemes (36 in total) are having to undertake
• All card schemes must only certify those occupations with nationally recognised construction related qualifications, i.e. NVQs or approved equivalents. 
• This is a directive from the Construction Leadership Council’s (CLC) 2025 strategy not at the discretion of BESA or SKILLcard
• In all instances, affected card holders have been communicated with well in advance
• All affected card holders have been offered alternative routes and qualifications in order to obtain an SKILLcard with plenty of time to complete them
• All CRO cards remain valid until the expiry date on the card

2 - Ventilation Hygiene Specialist CRO Cards

• The Ventilation Hygiene Specialist CRO card has been a well-planned closure with communications starting to card holders in August 2019 giving advance warning of the closure and offering alternative card routes with plenty of time to secure an alternative card
• Their existing cards remain valid until the expiry date
• The qualification route is a short 3-day course, widely available at a number of training centres across the country
• Experienced workers could, if confident, simply sit the assessment in order to obtain the qualification
• The closure of this CRO card has been managed in a way to ensure skilled workers are supported and there would be no impact on the availability of a properly skilled workforce in the sector

3 – Ventilation Hygiene Training

• BESA Training courses GHO and GHT have been set up to the approved CSCS standard which is in turn approved by The Skills Partnership as being equivalent to NVQ L2
• Other training providers have been proactively approached and invited to map their courses against the qualification equivalency framework by the BSE Skills Partnership but have not taken the opportunity to do so
• SKILLcard would welcome other training providers to offer equivalent mapped courses

4 – SKILLcard, CSCS, CLC & BuildUK

• Engineering Services SKILLcard is indeed a subsidiary company of BESA, however, it operates independently for the industry and is audited by CSCS to ensure impartiality
• SKILLcard, like the other 36 CSCS Partner Card schemes, operate to ensure consistent, fair and transparent operation of personnel register to allow companies to demonstrate the skills, qualification and experience of individuals working on construction sites.  No CSCS Partner card scheme is a monopoly.
• The Construction Leadership Council (CLC) agreed that from January 2015 the industry, including trade association, contractors, clients and government should specify and promote card schemes carrying the CSCS logo with no equivalents accepted.  This is supported by industry and Build UK and is taken directly from the BuildUK Training Standard.

In light of the inaccurate statements made by NAADUK, SKILLcard would like to reassure all Ventilation Hygiene Specialist CRO Card holders that their existing cards are still valid until the expiry date on their card and that the new qualification route is short, widely available and suitable for experienced workers to undertake.

All current card holders with the relevant skills should be able to pass the short course and obtain a new skilled worker card well in advance of your existing card expiry date.

If any card holders or companies are concerned, the team at SKILLcard are on hand to answer any questions on skillcard.info@theBESA.com or 01768 860406.

Rachel Davidson, Director of Certification