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Green CSCS Labourer card
A general site operative doing labouring work. It is not for skilled trades.
- Valid for
- 2 years on the first card, then 5 years on renewal
- CITB test
- Operatives
- You need
- You have done the CITB Health and Safety Awareness (HSA) course, or another Level 1 health and safety equivalent
- Renewable
- Yes
CSCS cut the first Labourer card from five years to two on 1 February 2025. Anything telling you a green card lasts five years from the start is out of date.
Card checker
Which CSCS card do I need?
Two questions. No sign up, nothing stored, and it tells you the qualification and the test as well as the card.
The pathway
How to get the Green Labourer card
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1
Do the CITB Health and Safety Awareness course
One day, and it covers the Level 1 health and safety requirement CSCS ask for. Other Level 1 equivalents are accepted, but HSA is the one we run, and we can put you on the Operatives test the same day.
-
2
Pass the Operatives test
The CITB Health, Safety and Environment test at Operatives level. We run our own test centre, so you can sit it the same day as the course.
-
3
Apply to CSCS
Your first green card lasts two years. Stay in a labouring role and you renew it for five.
Applying for the card
Apply on the CSCS website£36Paid to CSCS, not to us. Do not pay more than this: CSCS say the standard application fee is all it costs.
You qualify for this card if
- You have done the CITB Health and Safety Awareness (HSA) course, or another Level 1 health and safety equivalent
- You have passed the Operatives CITB test
Course and test on the same day
We run our own CITB Health, Safety and Environment test centre, so you do not have to finish the course here and then go and find a test somewhere else. Course in the morning, test in the afternoon, one trip.
The GQA route
Getting this card through GQA
The green Labourer card is the same card whichever awarding organisation sits behind your Level 1 award.
GQA Qualifications are the awarding organisation for glazing, fenestration, curtain walling and glass processing. We are a GQA approved centre, so the qualification and the card come from the same place.
Renewal
When this card runs out
Yes. Confirm you are still employed in a labouring role, using the CSCS renewal declaration form or a letter from your employer or main contractor on headed paper. The test pass used for the first card is accepted for three years when you renew that first card, so most people do not need to sit it again.
The other cards
Other CSCS cards
Red Industry Placement card
A student or learner doing a work placement that forms part of a construction qualification.
2 years
Red Provisional card
Someone brand new to construction who needs to get on site quickly while they sort out a qualification.
6 months
Black Manager card
A site manager, contracts manager or project manager running construction work.
5 years
Gold Supervisor card
A site supervisor, foreman or ganger running a team on site.
5 years
Gold Advanced Craft card
An experienced tradesperson who has taken their trade to Level 3.
5 years
Blue Skilled Worker card
A qualified tradesperson: bricklayer, joiner, plasterer, painter, glazier, roofer, tiler and so on.
5 years
White Academically Qualified Person card
Someone with a construction related degree, HNC, HND or an accepted NEBOSH or CIOB qualification.
5 years
White Professionally Qualified Person card
A current member, at a professionally qualified grade, of a CSCS approved professional body.
5 years
Red Trainee card
Someone registered on a construction qualification and working towards it. There are now two different routes with two different cards.
5 years on the competence route, 2 years on the non competence route
Red Apprentice card
Someone registered on a recognised construction apprenticeship.
4 years and 6 months
Red Experienced Worker card
Someone who has done the work for years but never got the qualification. This is the card that buys you time to fix that.
1 year
Red Experienced Technical, Supervisor or Manager card
An experienced supervisor, manager or technical worker who has not yet got the qualification to match.
3 years
Green CSCS Labourer card: common questions
Often yes. We run the one day course and the CITB test in the same building, so both can usually be done on the same day. If the next date does not work for you, a red Provisional card covers you for six months while you get the green one sorted, but you can only ever apply for a Provisional card once, so it is worth using it to buy time rather than instead of the green card.
Your first one lasts two years. CSCS reduced it from five years on 1 February 2025. If you are still in a labouring role you then renew for five years.
Yes. We run our own CITB Health, Safety and Environment test centre, so you can do the one day course in the morning and sit the test the same afternoon.
Usually not. CSCS extends the test pass used for the initial application to three years when you are renewing that first two year card.
No. The Labourer card is for unskilled work and must not be used by people in skilled occupations. A bricklayer needs the blue Skilled Worker card, which comes from a Level 2 NVQ.
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