CSCS cards and IFA membership in job adverisements for diggers...what a laugh

[kevin wooldridge]

I suppose if you pay for it yourself it can be legitimately off set against tax as can the cost of travel to the test venue and any learning resources you invest in. I cannot help thinking it is the employers responsibility to pay for it (many do). I would imagine there are discounts and tax breaks in it for them.

Whilst there may be a tax advantage for an employer to pay for the card (staff training tax allowance), almost certainly HMRC would disallow a claim from an individual for the cost, unless you could demonstrate that the CSCS card was an upgrade to skills you currently possessed, rather than an entry qualification into the profession. Construction sites that say the card alone is evidence of qualification would almost certainly make it fall into the latter category. So probably the cost of the intitial card cannot be offset against tax and therefore neither can the cost of getting to the test centre (of course now several people will post to say that their cost was allowed by HMRC......!!) However, if you are already in possession of a card and need to renew it (I forget off hand how long they are valid for - 2 years?), then you can claim the cost of the second and subsequent cards, as it would count as an upgrade rather than a 'new qualification'......Does that make sense?

PS Last time I went to renew my card the trainer delighted in showing us a selection of forged CSCS cards (apparently there are a lot around - strangely all seeming to feature folk with dark coloured skin and eastern European names it seems!!) and pointed out that anyone turning up with a card on a site was supposed to get the main contractor to verify its legitimacy via the CSCS card legitimacy hotline. You might argue that a contractor who fails to do that is also failing to apply the spirit of the card and once again ask the question what is the card really all about!!

Oh and there are different grades of construction industry CSCS card based upon your level of managerial responsibility, but not sure the gradiations apply to archaeology