TICA has administered the TICA Skill Card for Thermal Insulation Operatives since May 2017, taking over responsibility for the industry skill card from CSCS.

At the beginning of 2015 the Construction Leadership Council (CLC) announced (via its Industrial Strategy: Construction 2025) that industry should specify and promote card schemes carrying the CSCS logo with no equivalents accepted. This is known as the One Industry Logo action.

In order to qualify for the CSCS logo all card schemes (including the TICA Skill Card) had to introduce plans to meet the CLC’s requirements by 2020 including:

• Agreeing appropriate qualifications for each occupation
• Setting a minimum standard for skilled occupations at NVQ Level 2

From 1 April 2019, Industry Accreditation (Grandfather Rights) is no longer accepted as an approved route to the blue Skilled Worker card.

At a meeting of the TICA Governing Council in March 2019, agreement was reached regarding the implementation of funding to members who require S/NVQ qualifications for their operatives who are now required to hold a Skill Card as part of TICA membership conditions.

Based on the 2016 return, TICA has agreed to pay for S/NVQ provision based on 20% of the declared numbers of employed operatives.

For example, if you declared 10 operatives within your organisation on your 2016 return, then you will receive an allocation of 2 S/NVQ qualifications delivered free of charge.

All TICA members will shortly receive communication from the Skill Card Team with details of their S/NVQ funding allocation based on their 2016 annual return – the same returns that were used to allocate the free of charge Skill Cards.

For members who have already incurred costs for qualifications since the Skill Card implementation in May 2017 the following provision for reimbursement has been put in place:

• a 50% immediate cash credit OR
• a 100% training credit with no expiry date

The training credit can be spent on future S/NVQ delivery to additional operatives – including the L3 Occupational Work Supervision S/NVQ.

Employers will be given a period of not more than 4 years to use up their funded allocation of S/NVQ delivery, taking the thermal insulation industry to a fully qualified workforce by 2023 in line with Construction Leadership Council Industrial Strategy.

The CSCS logo displayed on the TICA Skill Card provides the industry with confidence that the card holder has achieved the required standards of training and qualification for their occupation and is fully transparent.

Further information can be found here or email our Skill Card Team