This is the fourth wave of CRO closures as part of its plan to deliver the Construction Leadership Council’s (CLC) 2025 vision. All card schemes carrying the CSCS logo including SKILLcard, must only certify those occupations with nationally recognised construction related qualifications, i.e. NVQs/SVQs or approved equivalents.

The project, which is expected to take a number of years to complete, will manage the phase out of CRO cards and support those affected by identifying paths to an agreed industry qualification for that occupation in order to obtain a skilled worker SKILLcard.

SKILLcard will no longer be accepting new applications for this card from 31 January 2020. Renewal applications will continue to be accepted until 30 April 2020, following which they will no longer be accepted. All existing CRO cards are still valid until the expiration date on the card.

Applicants will have three options available for them as alternatives to the engineering installation and maintenance engineer CRO card. Applications will be open for red trainee cards, blue experienced worker cards, blue skilled worker cards or advanced craft gold cards.

Duncan Sibbald, head of certification at BESA, which operates SKILLcard for the building engineering sector, commented: “This is an important next step in the CRO closure and the team at SKILLcard are on hand to help with any queries and assist cardholders and applicants find the right card for them.”