How to get a CSCS green labourer card

The green CSCS labourer card is for people doing unskilled labouring on UK construction sites. This guide covers what the card is, the usual route to get one, and how renewal works, from the rules CSCS and CITB publish. It is not a price list for a training course. Course fees are set by training providers, not by Hiyr.

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A labourer with a CSCS card is showing the site that they have been identified and that they hold the qualification for general labouring. CSCS describes the green labourer card as the card for unskilled labouring occupations. It is not a skilled trade card. CSCS says people doing skilled work who only hold this card can be refused access to site.

A CSCS card labourer is the person principal contractors expect at the gate for clearance, material handling, mixing and helping a trade. It does not employ you, insure you, or set your rate. Hiyr reviews a copy of the card as part of construction verification. Hiyr does not issue the card.

The route CSCS sets out is a Level 1 Award in Health and Safety in a Construction Environment, or an alternative qualification CSCS lists on the labourer card page, plus the CITB Health, Safety and Environment test for operatives. Book the test through CITB. CSCS does not book it for you. For a first card, the test must have been passed within the last two years.

CSCS does not deliver the Level 1 course. Training providers set the course price, so this page does not quote one. CSCS says the Level 1 award has lifetime validity. Some alternative certificates expire after three or five years and can only be used once for a card application. Check the labourer card page before you book a course, including the Scottish equivalent CSCS lists there.

Apply through the My CSCS app or CSCS Online once you have the qualification and the test. You will also need the identity documents the application asks for.

CSCS lists the card application fee at £36 on its applying-for-cards page. Apprentice cards are free, and that is a different card from the labourer card. The CITB page about the HS&E test lists the test at £23.50. Those are the figures on the official pages. They are not Hiyr charges.

CSCS says that once an application is approved, cards should arrive within five working days. This guide does not add a faster promise.

CSCS says the first labourer card is valid for two years. If you are still working as a labourer, you can renew for five years by completing the labourer card renewal declaration. When you renew that initial two-year card, a CITB HS&E test is accepted for three years rather than two.

CSCS also says that people who held a labourer card before February 2025 may renew for five years with evidence of employment in labouring, plus a CITB test passed within two years. Read the current labourer card page before you renew, because the declaration and the evidence sit with CSCS, not with Hiyr.

Once you hold the card, you can create a free Hiyr profile, upload it with your photo ID and right to work, and be hired by clients directly. London and Birmingham each have a page for CSCS labouring work. Hiyr is a marketplace, not a labour agency, and it does not employ you.

Once the card is issued, the next page depends on who you are. Clients who need CSCS labourers for a site use the hire pages. Labourers who want jobs use the work pages. This guide stays on how to get and renew the card. It does not list vacancies and it does not book a hire.

Clients use the London or Birmingham hire page. Labourers who want jobs use the London work page or the national labourer jobs page. Hiyr is a marketplace on both paths. It is not a labour agency.