CITB removes endorsement requirement from Occupational Work Supervision qualifications

CITB SSC and the Occupational Work Supervision (OWS) National Working Group have revised the following qualifications:

GR0R 23: SVQ in Occupational Work Supervision (Construction) at SCQF level 6
GR0H 79: SQA Level 3 NVQ Diploma in Occupational Work Supervision (Construction)

What you need to know

CITB and the OWS National Working Group have removed the requirement to endorse units in the above SVQ and NVQ. As a result, you are no longer required to provide side letters or endorsements for your candidates.

CITB has advised that this decision means: Employers are responsible for ensuring that anyone holding an OWS qualification is competent to supervise the area(s) that they are being asked to oversee.

Employers will be able to plan better career progression for their staff. It will allow employers to better use their workforce across different areas of the business.

What this means for candidates

CSCS no longer require proof of endorsements to issue candidates with their CSCS card.

There are no changes to the entry requirements of either qualification. Any candidate who registers for the SVQ or NVQ in Occupational Work Supervision will need to provide evidence of their competence within construction and the built environment or the relevant associated trades and professions.

Next steps

SQA will now begin re-accrediting the above OWS qualifications. We plan to have the revised SVQ and NVQ available for centres to deliver from late autumn 2021.

To give centres time to transfer over to the new qualifications, there will be a dual running period of three months. At the end of this period, the current qualifications will enter their lapsing period.