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Level 5 NVQ Planning Lifts
The qualification that turns a Red CPCS A61 or NPORS N401 Trained Operator card into the Blue Competent Operator card, assessed on the lifts you already plan. GQA or ProQual, no classroom and no exam. Register any week and go at your own pace.
Why candidates choose Acadame
What makes our Level 5 NVQ Planning Lifts, Appointed Person different
About this qualification
The Level 5 NVQ Diploma in Controlling Lifting Operations, Planning Lifts, is the competence qualification for the appointed person under BS 7121: the person who plans the lift, writes the lift plan and the risk assessment and method statement, selects the crane or lifting equipment, sets up the site and the exclusion zones, and briefs the lift team. It is not taught. It records, against the national occupational standards, the lifts you already plan.
It is the qualification CPCS and NPORS ask for when an appointed person moves from the Red Trained Operator card, issued after the A61 or N401 course and technical test, to the Blue Competent Operator card. Both schemes are CSCS partner schemes and the Blue card carries the CSCS logo. It is awarded by GQA Qualifications under qualification number 603/2746/7 or by ProQual AB under 601/7662/3. We register you with GQA unless your employer or framework specifies ProQual, and the certificate says which.
Assessment is a portfolio of evidence from lifts you have planned, an observation of you planning and briefing a lift, and a professional discussion with your assessor, most of it live and online by Zoom or Teams with a site visit where an observation needs it. There is no fixed duration: you register any week and finish as quickly as your lifts produce the evidence.
- Nothing new, if you are already the appointed person on live lifts. The qualification records what you do rather than teaching it
- How to evidence lift planning competence: what a lift plan, a duty chart calculation, a ground bearing check, a site set-up plan and a briefing record each prove
- Where your file is thin against the seven units, from environmental controls for lifting operations to resource planning and working relationships
- Which awarding body should register you, and what the equipment endorsement on a GQA certificate covers
How completing this qualification helps you
- The Level 5 NVQ Diploma in Controlling Lifting Operations, Planning Lifts, certificated by GQA or ProQual
- Eligibility for the Blue Competent Operator card from CPCS or NPORS, once you have passed the CITB HS&E test at Specialist Supervisory or Managers and Professionals level
- A GQA certificate that carries an endorsement for the equipment you plan lifts with, from mobile and tower cranes to lorry loaders, hoists and telescopic handlers
- A portfolio of lift plans and method statements that stands as evidence of appointed person competence for clients, crane hire desks and principal contractors
Who is it for?
Appointed persons who hold a Red CPCS A61 or NPORS N401 Trained Operator card and plan lifts now: for crane hire and contract lift companies, main contractors, steel erectors, precast and modular installers, civils, rail and plant hire. Also lift planners, crane supervisors stepping up to appointed person, and anyone whose Red card is running out before the NVQ is done.
Entry requirements. There are no formal entry requirements from the awarding bodies. What you do need is live lifting operations to evidence from, because every unit is assessed on real lift plans, risk assessments, method statements, site preparation and briefings you produce as the appointed person. In practice that means you have done the CPCS A61 or NPORS N401 course, hold the Red Trained Operator card and are planning lifts on site now. If you supervise lifts rather than plan them, the Level 4 Supervising Lifts is the honest fit; ask us. The initial assessment below confirms this before you pay anything.
Ready to find out if you qualify?
The initial assessment takes a couple of minutes and nothing is typed: you click through what you do and what you can evidence, and it tells you the pathway, the level and what to gather. Or ask MB and get an answer straight away.
Initial assessment
Check you qualify, in a couple of minutes
Nothing to type. Click through what you do, whether you hold the Red card and plan lifts now, which awarding body should register you, and what you can evidence, and it shows you the evidence your assessor will ask for against each of the seven units. It is about what you can evidence, not a test: anything you cannot evidence yet is something we plan with you and your employer. These answers are your initial assessment, and you can email yourself a PDF of it.
The online check needs JavaScript. Without it, tell us what you do and we will run the initial assessment with you over the phone.
What you evidence
The units behind the qualification
Seven mandatory units and no options, whichever body registers you. With GQA the qualification is 89 credits, 274 guided learning hours and 890 hours total qualification time, and the certificate carries an endorsement for the lifting equipment you plan with. With ProQual it is the same seven areas under ProQual unit codes, published as 482 guided learning hours and 985 hours total qualification time without credit values. Nothing is taught: each unit is evidenced from lifts you plan, and your assessor confirms the exact unit list on registration.
The seven units everyone completes (89 credits with GQA)
- K/616/7692 Planning lifting activities using cranes and/or lifting equipment in the workplace (21 credits)
- M/616/7693 Planning and establishing health, safety, welfare and environmental systems for lifting operations in the workplace (17)
- K/507/9540 Planning work activities and resources to meet work requirements in the workplace (12)
- J/508/0551 Evaluating and selecting work methods to meet project or operational requirements in the workplace (11)
- Y/508/0585 Planning the preparation of the site for the project or operation in the workplace (11)
- L/508/0583 Identifying, allocating and planning the deployment and use of plant, equipment or machinery in the workplace (9)
- M/503/2915 Developing and maintaining good occupational working relationships in the workplace (8)
GQA registration, our default
- Qualification number 603/2746/7, 89 credits, 274 guided learning hours, 890 hours total qualification time, the seven units above
- Your certificate carries an endorsement for what you plan lifts with: mobile cranes, tower cranes, crawler cranes, compact cranes, lorry loaders, knuckle-boom cranes, overhead and pedestal cranes, hoists, telescopic handlers, masted forklifts, excavators, piling and drilling rigs, floating and specialist lifting equipment, access equipment, non-mechanised lifting equipment
- GQA can issue a temporary CSCS card on registration in case you need one while you complete. It is not a free Blue card and it is not a CPCS or NPORS card: your Red Trained Operator card is what covers you as an appointed person while you finish
ProQual registration, on request
- Qualification number 601/7662/3, 482 guided learning hours, 985 hours total qualification time, no credit values published and no equipment endorsement
- The same seven areas under ProQual codes: F/651/0467 planning lifting activities, H/651/0468 safety, health, welfare and environmental systems for lifting operations, J/651/0469 work activities and resources, A/651/0366 evaluating and confirming work methods, F/651/0402 planning the preparation of the site, Y/651/0419 plant deployment, A/651/0177 working relationships
- Used where your employer, client or framework specifies ProQual. Same assessor, same evidence, same Blue card outcome. No temporary card on a ProQual registration
Method of assessment
How the lifting operations qualification is assessed
Competence based, which means no exam and no written test. You build a portfolio of evidence from the lifts you plan, your assessor observes you planning and briefing a lift and you talk the knowledge through in a professional discussion, mostly live by Zoom or Teams. The online check above is your initial assessment; there is no separate skills scan.
1. Initial assessment, online
The questions you click through above are your initial assessment. They tell us whether you hold the Red card and plan lifts now, whether you have enough live lifting operations to evidence the seven units, and which awarding body should register you.
2. Register with GQA or ProQual
We register you with GQA under qualification number 603/2746/7, or with ProQual under 601/7662/3 if your employer or framework specifies it. Tell us when your Red card expires and your assessor plans the evidence inside that window.
3. Evidence from your own lifts
Lift plans and lifting operation risk assessments and method statements, crane and equipment selection with duty charts and ground bearing calculations, site preparation records: access, ground conditions, outrigger mats, exclusion zones, overhead and underground services, permits, lift team briefings and toolbox talks, thorough examination and inspection checks, weather and change records, post lift reviews. Your assessor tells you exactly what each unit needs.
4. Workplace observation
Your assessor watches you plan and brief a lift, on site or by video call where the planning happens: the site visit, the method decision, the briefing to the crane supervisor, the operator and the slinger signallers, and records what they see against the standard.
5. Professional discussion
A recorded conversation about why you plan the way you do. It covers the knowledge criteria a document cannot show: BS 7121 and LOLER behind the plan, why you chose that crane and that configuration, what changed when the wind picked up or the ground was not what the survey said.
6. Certificate, then the Blue card
Internal quality assurance, then GQA or ProQual issue the certificate. Take it, with your CITB HS&E test pass at Specialist Supervisory or Managers and Professionals level from the last two years, to CPCS or NPORS, and the Red card becomes the Blue Competent Operator card, valid five years.
After the qualification
Getting the Blue card, not just the certificate
The NVQ is half of what CPCS or NPORS ask for. The Blue Competent Operator card for an appointed person needs the Level 5 NVQ and a pass in the CITB Health, Safety and Environment test within the last two years, and for A61 and N401 it is the Specialist Supervisory or the Managers and Professionals test, not the Operatives test and not the online operative test. We book the right one for you. The Red Trained Operator card runs for two years from your technical test and CPCS allow a further twelve months of grace to upgrade it; leave it later and you are back to the technical tests. If yours is close to expiry, tell us when you register and we plan the evidence around it.
On a GQA registration you can also have a temporary CSCS card as soon as we register you, in case you need one while you complete. It is not a free Blue card and it is not a CPCS or NPORS card: your Red Trained Operator card is what covers you as an appointed person while you finish, so most people do not need it. If you do, we need your CITB HS&E test result report, a passport style photograph and the exact postal address, because GQA send it once and we will not pay for it twice if the address is wrong. On a ProQual registration there is no temporary card and the Blue card follows the certificate and the test.
- CITB Health, Safety and Environment test, Specialist Supervisory or Managers and Professionals level, booked with us
- Blue Competent Operator card application to CPCS or NPORS, valid five years
- Temporary CSCS card on a GQA registration, in case you need one, posted by GQA
- NPORS N405 Crane and Lift Supervisor for the supervisors on your lift team
Level 5 NVQ Planning Lifts, Appointed Person FAQs
The Blue Competent Operator card for Appointed Person, from CPCS (category A61) or NPORS (N401), whichever scheme your Red card is on. Both are CSCS partner schemes and the Blue card carries the CSCS logo. You need the Level 5 NVQ certificate plus a pass in the CITB Health, Safety and Environment test at Specialist Supervisory or Managers and Professionals level within the last two years. The card is valid five years.
In practice, yes. The awarding bodies set no formal entry requirement, but CPCS and NPORS only issue the Blue card as an upgrade from the Red Trained Operator card, and the Red card comes from the A61 or N401 course and technical test. You also need to be planning lifts now, because that is where all the evidence comes from. If you are not yet an appointed person, the NPORS N401 course is the place to start and we run it.
Not the Operatives test. CPCS say A61 Appointed Person candidates sit the Managers and Professionals test or the Specialist Supervisory test at a test centre, and NPORS ask for the Specialist Supervisory test for appointed persons. The online operative test does not count for this category. We book the right one for you and most people take it in the first few weeks.
Both are Ofqual regulated Level 5 NVQ Diplomas in Controlling Lifting Operations, Planning Lifts, and both are the qualification CPCS and NPORS ask for. We register you with GQA by default because the GQA certificate carries an endorsement for the equipment you plan lifts with and GQA can issue a temporary CSCS card on registration. We use ProQual where your employer, client or framework specifies it. Same seven units, same assessor, same evidence, same Blue card.
No. There is no classroom and no exam. Everything is assessed on the lifts you already plan, through a portfolio of your own lift plans and records, an observation of you planning and briefing a lift, and a professional discussion with your assessor.
As long as you take. There is no fixed duration, no cohort and no term dates: you register any week and the qualification is led by you. Someone planning lifts every week with a full file can be through in a few months; if your lifts are occasional it takes longer. The Red card lasts two years from your technical test and CPCS allow twelve months of grace to upgrade it, so tell us your expiry date when you register and your assessor plans the evidence inside it.
Documents you already produce as the appointed person: lift plans, lifting operation risk assessments and method statements, crane and equipment selection with duty charts and ground bearing calculations, site preparation records covering access, ground, outrigger mats, exclusion zones and services, permits, lift team briefing records, thorough examination and inspection checks, weather and change records, post lift reviews, plus photographs and video of the set-up. Your assessor maps each item to a unit and tells you what is missing.
Yes. Employers can be invoiced and interest free instalments are available on every qualification. CITB grant may be available to CITB registered employers, and ELCAS funding if you are a service leaver or veteran. We check what applies to you before you commit.
£1,250 + VAT. That is the whole qualification: registration with the awarding body, your assessor, the visits, the portfolio and the certificate. There is no separate exam fee and no course fee on top, because there is no course to attend. The CSCS card is applied for separately and CSCS charge their own fee for it.
Yes, and for an appointed person already planning lifts that is the normal route. There is no set length. You are assessed on the work you are already responsible for, so the pace is set by how quickly the evidence comes together rather than by a timetable. People who already keep good records often finish far sooner than they expect. Nobody is held back waiting for a term to start.
Your assessor comes to you, and works from the job you are already doing. They look at the lift plans you have already written, the method statements, the risk assessments and the records of the lifts themselves, and talk through the decisions behind them. Between visits you upload evidence and your assessor tells you what is still missing. There is no college, no classroom and no written exam.
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Putting several people through?
One assessor and one invoice for the whole team
Group registrations are common on frameworks and large sites. We assess on site so nobody leaves the project, and we handle the awarding body, the certificates and the cards in one place.