CSCS cards and construction day rates

A practical note for people hiring day labour in the UK, written around London and Birmingham sites. It explains what a CSCS card is for, which colour usually covers a general labourer, and how to read a day rate on Hiyr. It is not a quote, and it is not a CITB rulebook.

• Post the job free: Searching profiles is free.
• Read ID-checked profiles: Choose the person.
• Confirm the work: Payment is held until you confirm the work.

CSCS cards are an industry scheme used to show that someone on a UK construction site has been identified and holds a qualification for the work they are doing. Principal contractors use the card at the gate. A card does not employ the person, insure them, or set their wage. It gets them onto the site you named, if the colour matches the role.

Hiyr asks construction providers, including labourers, carpenters, electricians and the other site trades, for a CSCS card together with photo ID, proof of right to work and a trade certificate. Staff review the upload before the profile can be hired. You should still read the colour and the expiry on the profile, because your gate may want something specific.

For general site labour, the card people mean is the green labourer card, tied to a basic site-safety qualification rather than a skilled NVQ. It suits clearance, material handling, mixing and helping a trade. It is the wrong card if you actually need a bricklayer, carpenter, electrician or plant operator. Those roles have their own cards and, often, extra tickets.

Red cards and other temporary or trainee cards exist. If your site only accepts a particular colour, write that in the job. A profile badge that says credentials were checked is the result of Hiyr’s document review. It does not rename a green card as a gold card.

Cleaners are not a CSCS trade on Hiyr. Their checks are photo ID, right to work, a relevant certificate and public liability insurance. Do not ask a domestic cleaner for a site labourer card unless the clean is inside a live construction site that requires one.

London principal-contractor jobs, including Stratford and the Olympic fringe, Canary Wharf and the Isle of Dogs, King’s Cross, Nine Elms, White City and City-fringe fit-out, commonly stop people without a scannable card. The practical briefing is the postcode, the gate procedure, the colour, and whether you run your own induction on the morning. Congestion charging and parking are money issues, separate from the card.

A London day rate has to absorb travel across a large city. Ask the provider what their figure assumes. A rate written for a Zone 2 site may change for a shed in Park Royal or a night shift. Hiyr does not add those extras in the background. They belong in the job.

Birmingham gates on principal-contractor work also expect CSCS. The sites in front of local hirers are Digbeth and Eastside conversions, city-centre fit-out, Edgbaston houses, and light-industrial units. Gangs are often smaller than a London tower, so one labourer is a larger share of the crew.

The West Midlands is not one city. A provider happy to work Digbeth has not agreed Wolverhampton, Walsall or Solihull until the job says so. Large civils demand in the region competes for the same card-holders. Hiyr is a marketplace those people can join. It is not the payroll for a named megaproject.

On Hiyr the hourly rate and the day rate are numbers the provider entered. They are not an average Hiyr has calculated for London or Birmingham, and they are not a quote until you hire that person. Agency websites often advertise broad bands for CSCS labour. Those adverts belong to the agencies. Use them only as a reminder that rates move with the card, the shift and the postcode.

Posting a job is free. Searching providers is free. Hiyr charges a platform fee only when you pay for a hire at checkout, and the fee is shown before you confirm. You hire on the platform. Contact details are not packaged and sold as a lead.

Hiyr is a marketplace for verified hiring, not an employer and not a labour agency. The provider sets the rate. Tax, CIS and employment status stay between the client and the provider.

When you compare two profiles, compare the card colour, the location, the rate basis (hour or day) and what the headline says they actually do. A low day rate with the wrong card is not a saving if the turnstile sends them away.

Open the London or Birmingham labourer page, read whoever is listed, and post a job if you need cover those profiles do not match. The guides sit beside the hiring pages so the explanation and the live list stay on different URLs. Search on the main find-providers screen is the working tool; these pages are the ones written for a single trade and city.