Sometimes it can be difficult to know how overseas qualifications compare to those obtained in the UK and to know whether your qualifications are good enough for the role you’d like in the UK. UK NARIC is an organisation responsible for giving information and advice about qualifications and skills to workers from overseas. UK NARIC […]

The CSCS card is awarded to workers by the Construction Skills Certification Scheme in the UK to recognise skills and qualifications relevant to the field of construction. CSCS cards are fitted with Smart Card chips that contain up to date information about the holder’s qualifications, just like a portable CV. In order to obtain a […]

Apprenticeships are proven to be one of the most effective ways to teach new skills and and offer great benefits for both student and teacher. Apprentices learn theory in college while gaining on-site experience in the workplace to ensure a thorough understanding of their field. This means apprenticeships don’t graduate with great theoretical knowledge and […]

The ConstructionSkills Grant Scheme, which recently went live, is there to make sure that employers are able to train their employees to the highest possible level. It is awarded to all claiming employers registered with CITB/ConstructionSkills. It’s not automatically awarded though so make sure you apply for it to get what you are entitled to. […]

A training and development plan (you will most likely hear it referred to by its full title of “Staff Training and Development Plan”) is a document designed to help you maximise the potential of your employees by recording the current qualifications of your staff and identifying future training courses which they could benefit from. The […]

The Site Safety Plus Scheme is a roster of enhanced health and safety training courses designed to complement the basic CSCS Test by developing a high level of additional skills and knowledge relevant to your trade and role. The Site Safety Plus courses range in scope from one day courses to five day intensive training […]

City and Guilds qualifications available to construction workers range from basic site skills to highly advanced courses designed to develop careers in specific trades and areas. Some courses are designed purely to develop skills in a recognisable way while others  serve as  technical certification for the relevant Construction NVQs. Basic City and Guilds Construction Courses […]

The Construction NVQ is assessed on site as much as possible, to ensure that candidates are able to “earn while they learn” – in other words to carry on doing their job while they gain the qualification they need to possess the CSCS Card relevant to their trade and  role within it. Different Colours of […]

To get a CSCS card you are normally required to have an NVQ, with the actual NVQ level needed being dependent on the type of card you want to get — level 1 for a green operative card, level 2 for a blue skilled worker card, level 3 for a gold supervisor card and level […]

Getting a CSCS card when you work in construction is essential because, without one, you’ll struggle to gain access to most major sites and so will be very limited in the work you can do. The main problem is that to get a CSCS card you will, in most cases, have to attain a specified […]