Cards & Testing · 7 July 2026
Which CSCS card do you need? A plain guide to the colours
Green, blue, gold, black - the colour of a CSCS card is decided by the qualification behind it, not by how long you have worked. Here is which card matches which level, so you apply for the right one first time.
The colour of a CSCS card is not a rank you earn with years on site. It is a direct reflection of the qualification you hold. Get that idea straight and the whole system becomes simple.
Green - Labourer
The Labourer card is for general site work rather than a trade. It needs the Level 1 Award in Health and Safety in a Construction Environment (or an approved alternative), plus a pass on the CITB health, safety and environment test.
One recent change catches people out: since 1 February 2025 the first Labourer card is valid for two years, not five. People still in a labouring role after that can renew for a further five years, with a declaration confirming that is genuinely the work they do.
Blue - Skilled Worker
The Blue card is the trade card. It requires a construction-related NVQ or SVQ at Level 2, an approved apprenticeship, or another industry approved qualification.
This covers most people reading this: bricklayers, groundworkers, carpenters, plasterers, tilers, painters and decorators, dryliners, steel fixers, formworkers and more. Each trade has its own Level 2 NVQ.
Gold - Advanced Craft and Supervisor
Gold means Level 3. Either an advanced craft qualification in your trade, or a supervisory NVQ if you have moved from doing the work to organising the people who do it.
If you run a gang, set out work for others and take responsibility for how the job goes, you are supervising, and the Gold supervisory route is the one that describes it.
Black - Manager
The Black card is the management card, and it needs a Level 4, 5, 6 or 7 NVQ in a construction management subject. Site managers, contracts managers and senior managers sit here.
It is the most valuable card in the scheme and the one that opens the largest sites, which is why the qualification behind it is more substantial than the rest.
Everyone needs the test
Whichever colour you are after, you need a current pass on the CITB health, safety and environment test - and the pass must be less than two years old when you apply.
There are three versions of that test, and which one you need depends on the card. Booking the wrong version is the single most common wasted trip in this whole process.
Still not sure?
If your job title does not map neatly onto a colour, that is normal - construction job titles vary from firm to firm. What matters is the work you actually do day to day. Describe that to somebody who knows the qualifications, and the card follows from it.