Check your CSCS card - it might be back to school time!

[Gunners]

I deliberately don't promote my own videos on here guys, you lot know who I am and what I do. But a topic that I have covered recently needs to go out to as many people as possible as it could affect us all in the construction industry.
In short, if you have a CSCS/CPCS card that you obtained before 2010 and you have not completed a relevant NVQ for the categories you hold - you have until December 2024 to do so.
My video explains more but suffice to say this is going to cost a lot of money just to keep the card you already have.
As always, please like and subscribe

 

[V8Druid]

license to print ..... basta*ds

 

[Brendan]

Doesn't every blue card already have the nvq2?

 

[Grahams]

They can f*** off. I'l let my card lapse rather than messing about with an NVQ.

 

[hiluxman]

Must be 3 or 4 years since I last showed mine and probably a similar time before that.

 

[Gunners]

Doesn't every blue card already have the nvq2?

Not if you got it through the industry accreditation route that was available in the early days

 

[craig]

It was talked about on here briefly quite a while back.
My first category's I had need a NQV

 

[JD450A]

It was talked about on here briefly quite a while back.
My first category's I had need a NQV

Don't forget that NVQs cover multiple machines... Alot of testers will neglect to mention that....

 

[diggerjones]

I watched your video last night @Gunners

 

[DaveDCB]

Don't forget that NVQs cover multiple machines... Alot of testers will neglect to mention that....

Iirc doesn’t the nvq cover basic plant operations(or something like that) then the particular category’s after that cover the machine types? Been a long time since I got my nvq (2003!) I’ve forgotten how it all works

 

[charlie2]

Iirc doesn’t the nvq cover basic plant operations(or something like that) then the particular category’s after that cover the machine types? Been a long time since I got my nvq (2003!) I’ve forgotten how it all works

did nvq back in2011/12 and thought that was it but when i last renewed cpcs i got a note with card that i did not have an nvq. not that fussed as retired now anyway. card valid until nov 2014. they keep finding more hoops to jump through, some of the best guys ive worked with have never had any training or cards etc.

 

[6feetdown]

I've got advanced craft carpentry and joinery does that count!

 

[Nick...]

I’ve not had a card for 11/12 years and no one asks.no intention of getting one either.first 2 cards cost a packet for no return aswell.
nick...

 

[Shovelhands]

I’ve got a Tesco Club card and a membership card to a gym I was once talked into attending.

 

[V8Druid]

my CITB card expired 30 ish years ago ... had no intention of spending anything on a useless piece of plastic then and would never contemplate it now ... six categories'd get real dear, real quick

 

[Gunners]

Its all very well you retired lot saying you wouldn't bother, and I don't blame you. For many nearing retirement, this will be a step to far, but for those of us a little younger, its an unfortunate reality that a lot of sites still demand a card as a basic level of competence. We have no choice really if you want to have the opportunity to do certain work.
The idea of improving the workforce through training is a valiant one, but the idea of effectively deciding that decades of experience pre CSCS cards counts for nothing is preposterous, belittling, and downright insulting.

 

[Smiffy]

Its all very well you retired lot saying you wouldn't bother, and I don't blame you. For many nearing retirement, this will be a step to far, but for those of us a little younger, its an unfortunate reality that a lot of sites still demand a card as a basic level of competence. We have no choice really if you want to have the opportunity to do certain work.
The idea of improving the workforce through training is a valiant one, but the idea of effectively deciding that decades of experience pre CSCS cards counts for nothing is preposterous, belittling, and downright insulting.

Experience counts for nothing. Why do you need to do an nvq to push a broom round a site. I haven't got cscs. I have npors tickets for various things, a nrswa card and sssts. And loads of random other things that never get used. When I enquired it appeared I had to go and do some college course to have anything other than a labourer card.

 

[doobin]

What a load of bollocks.

I’m slowly adding to my list of firms that ask for CHAS and tickets, then employ me anyway when I tell them I don’t do that s**t. Here’s the most recent job for a factory- just a simple bollard replacement, completed in three hours with a quick hand from their forklift op. Easy £400 on my own and done by ten AM- but installed properly. Surround all compacted with air tamper and then the top concrete mixed with SBR so it doesn’t crack. Best to take a knock from a lorry and be easy to pull and replace than to have concrete all the way down and a nightmare to swap out.

Another job we do for them is clean the water jet pit. Grab out the copper scraps, bucket and shovel out the garnet sand. Remove the filtration system, properly jet it (they used to just hold a domestic pressure washer at one end and hope for the best ) and then make any welding repairs needed (tig, stainless) before reinstalling.

Can you imagine the cost of employing three different CHAS accredited firms to do that??? I’m with @V8Druid - they will soon change your tune if you can do what others can’t.

 

[DaveDCB]

In my early days of turning up on site in my vans hoodie and jeans, I got some funny looks (age 18/19/20) but generally I’d just get stuck in straight to work and no one would bat a eyelid once I got going!
Nowadays you can’t even enter site without your tickets and machine paperwork, it’s just a non starter. I keep my CPCS uptodate just because it’s easier to have than be looking for it if I need to go back to site work! Still a bloody farce!

 

[JerryRtilt]

I've somehow muddled through for about the last 15 -20 years without a card, and its definitely a step to far now, but i sympathise with the younger generation, there's few enough youngsters coming into the industry without making it harder for them.
As far a I'm concerned the sites that insist on cards are probably run by the companies that keep you waiting for 90 + days for your money, and i count myself lucky to be able to avoid them nowadays.