CSCS Smart Check upgrade brings new workforce intelligence to the construction industry

CSCS Smart Check, the card verification platform used across the construction industry, has been upgraded to capture a significantly richer range of data; a development that will strengthen workforce planning and skills intelligence across the sector, including for scaffolding and access.

The upgrade introduces three new data fields to the Smart Check API: GPS coordinates identifying where a card was read, a site ID or name identifying the location, and a read reason indicating whether the check was a pre-induction, induction, re-induction, routine check, site entry or other purpose. These fields are now live and available to employers and approved IT partners who have integrated Smart Check into their site access systems and induction platforms.

Smart Check is the only platform capable of verifying all 2.3 million cards carrying the CSCS logo, and is already in use by some of construction's largest contractors. In addition to supporting compliance with the Building Safety Act by providing quick and secure card verification, the upgraded platform will now contribute meaningfully to national workforce planning.

Combined with the CSCS Alliance's Workforce Insights tool, which draws on anonymised data from more than 2.3 million cardholders across 37 schemes, Smart Check can now provide a detailed geographic picture of skills and occupational volumes across the country. That means industry bodies, government and public authorities will have better evidence on where training investment is needed and where skills gaps genuinely exist.

CSCS is already contributing to the data and intelligence work of the Construction Skills Mission Board through a newly established data working group, and will be present at UKREiiF from 19 to 21 May to outline its digital infrastructure capabilities to contractors and local authorities.

Sean Kearns, Group Chief Executive of CSCS, said: "Smart Check has always been about giving the industry confidence that the people on site are who they say they are, and properly skilled and qualified for the work they're doing. With these enhancements, it becomes something more: a source of national workforce intelligence. If we know the skills and training levels on the ground in each geography, we can help industry, government and public authorities make informed decisions about where to invest in training and where the real gaps lie."

For CISRS, whose cards are among those verified through the Smart Check platform, this upgrade represents a further strengthening of the evidence base underpinning scaffolding and access competence across the UK.

For more information about CSCS Smart Check, visit CSCSGroup.co.uk/SmartCheck.