Are you ready for the withdrawal of the CRO card?
Posted: 17th January 2017
The Construction Skills Certification Scheme (CSCS) is reminding the industry to get ready for the withdrawal of the Construction Related Occupation (CRO) card.
CSCS will stop issuing CRO cards from 31st March 2017 and all CRO cards issued since October 2015 will expire on 30th September 2017*.
In 2015 the Construction Leadership Council (CLC) announced (via the Industrial Strategy: Construction 2025) that skills certification card schemes carrying the CSCS logo must operate with nationally recognised qualifications (NVQs or approved equivalents) in place for all occupations.
The CRO card was intended for those occupations for which there are no nationally recognised qualifications and as such does not meet the requirements of the CLC.
The removal of the CRO card affects over 230,000 CRO card holders and the issue of an alternative card will depend on the occupation and qualifications held by the applicant.
In many cases CRO card holders will be required to register for existing or newly developed qualifications before their CRO cards expire. In others, CRO card holders will be asked to move to one of CSCS’s Partner Card Schemes that are more appropriate for their occupations. For some, where their occupation is not construction related or no suitable qualification exists, a CSCS card will no longer be issued.
CSCS is encouraging industry to visit www.cscs.uk.com/cro to find out what steps need to be taken to replace CRO cards.
CRO card holders who do not take the necessary steps to replace their cards will find they will be unable to obtain another CSCS card.
The withdrawal of the CRO card is seen as a practical step towards achieving the CLC’s requirement of ensuring nationally recognised qualifications are in place for all occupations within the scheme.
*For the avoidance of doubt, CRO cards issued before October 2015 will remain valid until their expiry date.