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Supervision and Management NVQs
Level 3 to Level 7, from working foreman to senior manager, assessed on the jobs and the people you already run.
The short version
Where you are, and which card follows
These are the qualifications behind the Gold Supervisor and Black Manager cards. Like every other NVQ on this site they are assessed on the work you already do rather than taught: your assessor works from the programme, the risk assessments, the meeting notes and the correspondence you produce anyway.
The ladder runs Level 3 for a working foreman or chargehand, Level 4 for a site supervisor, Level 6 for a site or contracts manager, and Level 7 for senior management. Nobody has to climb it in order. You enter at the level your current role evidences.
The commonest mistake is entering too low. A site manager who takes the Level 4 because it looks safer ends up with a Supervisor card and has to do it all again for the Black card. If you are running the job, take the Level 6.
- Level 3 to Level 7, entered at the level your role evidences
- Assessed on the records you already produce
- No college, no classroom and no written exam
- Gold Supervisor or Black Manager CSCS card
- Start any week of the year
Start here
Which level do you need?
Neither level is a prerequisite for the other. If the work you do already is Level 3 work, you go in at Level 3. The two minute check on any of these pages will tell you which one your day job evidences.
Level 3 and 4, supervising
Gold CSCS Supervisor card
Level 3 Occupational Work Supervision is for a working foreman or chargehand still on the tools part of the time. Level 4 Construction Site Supervision is for a supervisor running sections of work rather than a gang. Both lead to the Gold Supervisor card.
Level 6, managing
Black CSCS Manager card
Level 6 Construction Site Management for a site or project manager running the job, and Level 6 Contracting Operations Management for the commercial, planning and procurement side. Both lead to the Black Manager card.
Level 7, senior
Black CSCS Manager card
Level 7 Construction Senior Management, for people running several projects or a business unit rather than a site. The evidence is strategic rather than operational.
The list
The qualifications in this trade
Entered at the level your current role evidences. These are separate qualifications, not a ladder you have to climb in order.
Method of assessment
How the on-site assessment works
Five steps, and four of them happen on your own jobs.
The online check
Two minutes on this site. It asks what you do, how long you have done it and what evidence you can lay hands on, and tells you which level fits. That check is the initial assessment: there is no separate interview to sit through afterwards.
Register and meet your assessor
You are registered with the awarding body and given one named assessor who stays with you from start to finish. They ring you first, before anything else, to agree the units and work out what you already have that counts.
They come to you
Your assessor visits 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. Nothing is staged and nothing is done in a workshop.
Evidence in between
Job records, photographs, drawings, a witness statement from your supervisor. You upload it as you go and your assessor tells you exactly what is still missing, so you are never guessing.
Certificate, then the card
Once the evidence is complete it goes for verification and the certificate is issued. The CSCS card is a separate application to CSCS, with their own fee, and you need a current CITB Health, Safety and Environment test pass to go with it.
For employers
Putting a squad through
Most of this work is done for employers rather than individuals, because it is cheaper and far less disruptive that way round.
- One assessor covers the whole squad, so there is one person to deal with
- Everyone stays on the job. No day-release, no travelling, no lost production
- Different trades and different levels can run alongside each other
- One invoice, and we will tell you where every candidate has got to
- CITB Health, Safety and Environment tests booked in the same block
- CITB grant support where your company is registered and in scope
Supervision and management NVQs: common questions
Go by what you are responsible for, not by your job title, because titles vary wildly between firms. If you run a gang and are still on the tools some of the time, that is Level 3. If you run sections of work and other people's gangs, that is Level 4. If the programme, the budget and the subcontractors are yours, that is Level 6. If you are across several projects, that is Level 7. The two minute check on any of these pages will tell you which your day job actually evidences.
£1,145 + VAT at Level 3, £1,445 + VAT at Level 4 and Level 6, and £1,895 + VAT at Level 7. That is the whole qualification: registration, your own assessor, the visits, the portfolio and the certificate. There is no course fee and no exam fee. The CSCS card is a separate application with its own fee.
Level 3 and Level 4 lead to the Gold Supervisory card, with a pass on the CITB Health, Safety and Environment test at Specialist Supervisory level. Level 6 and Level 7 lead to the Black Manager card, with the Managers and Professionals test. The test must have been passed within the two years before you apply, and the card application goes to CSCS rather than to us.
Yes, and if you are managing you should. They are separate qualifications rather than stages, and the only question is whether your own work evidences the units. Somebody running a site who takes the Level 4 first spends money and months to arrive at a Supervisor card they did not want, then has to do the Level 6 anyway.
Less than people expect, because the evidence is work you have already done. Most of what your assessor needs already exists: programmes, risk assessments, minutes, RFIs, valuations, correspondence. The job is organising it and talking it through, not producing something new. Managers who keep decent records are usually finished sooner than tradesmen are.
No, and there is no written exam. Your assessor comes to you and works from the job you are running.
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