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NVQ Level 2 Painting and Decorating
The qualification behind the Blue CSCS Skilled Worker card for painters and decorators, assessed on the jobs you are already on. Six units, nothing to choose, no college and no exam. Register any week and go at your own pace.
Why candidates choose Acadame
What makes our Level 2 NVQ Painting and Decorating different
About this qualification
The Level 2 NVQ Diploma in Decorative Finishing (Construction) is the qualification CSCS accept for the Blue Skilled Worker card, and the one most painters and decorators who learned on the tools hold instead of a college certificate. It is what most people mean by an NVQ Level 2 in painting and decorating, and older versions were titled Decorative Finishing and Industrial Painting Occupations. It is not taught. It records, against the national occupational standards, the decorating you already do: stripping, filling, sanding and priming, applying undercoats and finish coats by brush and roller to walls, ceilings, woodwork and metalwork, and working safely from steps, trestles and towers.
It is awarded by GQA Qualifications as a single pathway with six mandatory units and no options, so there is nothing to choose and nothing to argue over: if you prepare and paint to a commercial standard, the six units are your week. Hanging wallcoverings, airless spray and the specialist finishes sit in the Level 3, and industrial painting on steelwork is a different pathway that GQA do not offer.
Assessment is a portfolio of photographs, job sheets and witness testimony from your own jobs, an observation of you decorating and a professional discussion with your assessor, most of it from your phone and by video call. There is no fixed duration: you register any week and finish as quickly as your jobs produce the evidence.
- Nothing new, if you are already decorating to a commercial standard. The qualification records what you do rather than teaching it
- How to evidence a job properly: what a photograph at each stage, a job sheet, the paint specification and a witness testimony from the site manager each prove
- What the six units actually ask for, from surface preparation and defects to coating systems and access platforms, so nothing is missed
- Where the Level 3 Painting and Decorating sits, and whether the papering and specialist work you do already points at it
How completing this qualification helps you
- The Level 2 NVQ Diploma in Decorative Finishing (Construction), certificated by GQA
- Eligibility for the Blue CSCS Skilled Worker card, once you have passed the health and safety test, issued by GQA under their own CSCS card scheme
- A temporary CSCS card on registration, in case you need one while you complete
- A Level 2 that never expires, which is what main contractors ask for before they let a decorator through the gate
Who is it for?
Painters and decorators who learned on the tools and hold no formal qualification, self employed decorators who need a card for commercial and new build sites, and anyone whose Blue card or old Industry Accreditation card has run out without a qualification behind it. If you mask, sand and help but a decorator does the finishing, talk to us first, because you need enough of your own work to evidence.
Entry requirements. There are no formal entry requirements. What you do need is live painting and decorating work to evidence from, because every unit is assessed on real jobs: your photographs, your job sheets, the specification you worked to, your site manager's word. Most people are assessed on their normal week. 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, the kind of decorating you are on and what you can evidence, and it shows you whether the six units match your week and the evidence your assessor will ask for. 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
Six units, all mandatory, worth 67 credits: the three site units every construction NVQ carries, erecting and dismantling access platforms, preparing surfaces for painting and decorating, and applying surface coatings by brush and roller. There are no optional units and no pathways to choose. 261 guided learning hours, 590 hours total qualification time. Nothing is taught: each unit is evidenced from your own work.
The six units everyone completes (67 credits)
- A/503/1170 Conforming to general health, safety and welfare in the workplace (2 credits)
- J/503/1169 Conforming to productive working practices in the workplace (3)
- F/503/1171 Moving, handling and storing resources in the workplace (5)
- D/600/8281 Erecting and dismantling access/working platforms in the workplace (8)
- J/650/0299 Preparing surfaces for painting and/or decorating in the workplace (27)
- T/650/0300 Applying surface coatings by brush and roller in the workplace (22)
Painting and decorating, the only pathway
- There are no optional units and nothing to choose: the six units above are the whole qualification
- Hanging wallcoverings, airless spray, complex stencils and specialised papers are Level 3 units, not Level 2 options
- Industrial painting, airless spray and abrasive blast cleaning on steelwork, is not a GQA pathway. ProQual's version of the qualification carries one; tell us if that is your work and we will confirm the right route before you register
Method of assessment
How the Level 2 painting and decorating NVQ on-site assessment works
Competence based, which means no exam and no written test. You build a portfolio of evidence from the jobs you are on, your assessor watches you decorate and you talk the knowledge through in a professional discussion. 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 the six units match the work you actually do, whether you have enough live work to evidence them, and whether the papering and specialist work you do already points at the Level 3 instead.
2. Register with GQA
We register you with GQA under qualification number 610/0053/X. That registration can also release a temporary CSCS card in case you need one, once we have your HS&E test result report, a passport style photograph and the right postal address.
3. Evidence from your own jobs
Photographs of the work at each stage, from the bare or stripped surface through filling and priming to the finish coat, job sheets and day sheets, the paint specification and colour schedule you worked to, delivery notes, witness testimony from the site manager, the RAMS and toolbox talks you signed, the CoSHH sheets for the paints, fillers and strippers you use. Your assessor tells you exactly what each unit needs.
4. Workplace observation
Your assessor comes to the job and watches you decorate: setting up the access, protecting the area, preparing the surface, cutting in and laying off, and cleaning down, and records what they see against the standard.
5. Professional discussion
A recorded conversation about why you work the way you do. It covers the knowledge a photograph cannot show: why that primer on that surface, dealing with damp, chalking and lead paint, drying and recoat times, what you do when the specification will not work.
6. Certificate, then the card
Internal quality assurance, then GQA issue the certificate. Pass the CITB Operatives test, or GQA's own health and safety test, and we apply to GQA for your Blue Skilled Worker card.
After the qualification
Getting the Blue card, not just the certificate
The qualification is only half of it. The Blue Skilled Worker card needs the Level 2 qualification and a pass in a health and safety test taken within the last two years, either the CITB Health, Safety and Environment test for Operatives or GQA's own test. Not the Specialist test, and not the Managers and Professionals test. We book the right one for you. GQA issue their own CSCS cards, so the certificate and the card both come from GQA, and the card carries the CSCS logo and is read on site like any other.
You do not have to wait for any of that to be on site. GQA issue a temporary CSCS card as soon as we register you, in case you need one while you complete, and post it to you direct. We pick up the cost. You give us your 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. It is not a free Blue card: that follows the certificate.
- CITB Health, Safety and Environment test at Operatives level, or GQA's own test, booked with us
- Blue Skilled Worker card application, which we make to GQA for you, valid five years
- Temporary card on registration, in case you need one, posted by GQA
- The Level 3 Painting and Decorating next, if the papering and specialist work is already yours
Level 2 NVQ Painting and Decorating FAQs
No. There is no classroom and no exam. Everything is assessed on the painting and decorating you already do, through photographs and documents from your own jobs, an observation of you working 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. With only six units and no options, most decorators finish inside a few months alongside the job, and someone with a phone full of photographs from recent jobs can be quicker.
The Blue Skilled Worker card, valid five years. You need the Level 2 certificate plus a pass in the CITB Health, Safety and Environment test for Operatives, or GQA's own health and safety test, within the last two years, then the card application, which we make to GQA for you. The Level 3 gets the Gold Skilled Worker card (Advanced Craft).
Yes, in case you need one. GQA issue a temporary card as soon as we register you and post it to you direct, at our cost. We need your HS&E test result report, a passport style photograph and the exact address to send it to. It is not a free Blue card: the Blue card follows the certificate.
No. The Level 2 is surface preparation and coatings by brush and roller, plus access platforms and the site units. Hanging wallcoverings, airless spray, complex stencils and specialised papers are units of the Level 3. If that is already your week, the Level 3 is the honest fit and the initial assessment on this page will say so.
Not on its own. The GQA qualification is painting and decorating: preparing surfaces and applying coatings by brush and roller. Industrial painting, airless spray and abrasive blast cleaning on steelwork, is a separate pathway that GQA do not offer, though ProQual's version of the qualification carries one. Tell us what you do and we will confirm the right route before you register.
Photographs of each job at stages, from the bare or stripped surface through filling and priming to the finish coat, job sheets or day sheets, the paint specification and colour schedule you worked to, delivery notes, witness testimony from the site manager, the RAMS and toolbox talk records you signed, and the CoSHH sheets for the paints, fillers and strippers you use. Your assessor maps each one to a unit and tells you what is missing. Evidence can come from more than one job, so anything you cannot evidence yet is something we plan with you and your employer around the next one.
Yes. Employers can be invoiced and can put several decorators through as one booking. A CITB grant may be available to CITB registered employers, and we check what applies before you commit. Self employed decorators pay direct, with interest free instalments if you want them.
£850 + 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 a painter and decorator who has been working for years without a card that is the normal route. There is no set length. You are assessed on the work you are already doing, so the pace is set by how quickly the evidence comes together rather than by a timetable. People who already have photographs, job records and a supervisor who will sign a witness statement often finish inside a few weeks. Nobody is held back waiting for a term to start.
Your assessor comes to you, on your own jobs, in your own working week. They watch you work, take photographs, ask you why you did it that way, and record it against the units. 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.