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CSCS Card Verification Overview

What you need from CSCS, how to connect your account, and how to get your induction forms ready. Available for UK sites only.

Breadcrumb now connects to CSCS Smart Check, so your site team can check CSCS cards without leaving Breadcrumb. When a worker submits their induction, Breadcrumb checks their card with CSCS and shows the result to whoever reviews the induction.

This article is for admins setting up the connection for their company. It covers what you need from CSCS, how to connect your account, and how to make sure your induction forms collect the right details.

Available in the UK only. CSCS card verification is not available for sites in Ireland.

 

What you need before you start

Breadcrumb checks cards using your company's own CSCS Smart Check account. Before you can switch verification on, you need:

  • A signed Smart Check agreement. This is CSCS's standard licence, signed by three parties: your company, Breadcrumb (as your IT partner) and CSCS. If you already use Smart Check, you will most likely still need to sign this agreement so Breadcrumb can connect on your behalf.
  • A paid CSCS licence. CSCS charges an annual fee and invoices you directly. It does not appear on your Breadcrumb invoice. One licence covers your whole company across all of your sites.
  • Your Smart Check login details. Once the agreement is signed and paid, CSCS sends you a username, password, and API key.
  • Admin access to Breadcrumb on web. The connection is set up in the web portal, not the mobile app.

To start the agreement, contact your Customer Success Manager. They can walk you through the paperwork and join you on a call to finish setup if that helps.

 

 

Note: You can only save once the connection test succeeds. If the test fails, check each value against what CSCS sent you, paying close attention to extra spaces when copying and pasting. If it still fails, contact CSCS to confirm your account is active.

 

Update your login details

If CSCS issues you new login details, return to the CSCS SmartCheck tab, enter the new values, then test and save. Your existing connection keeps working until the new details pass the test, so a typo will not take verification offline.

 

Make sure your induction forms collect the CSCS card

Breadcrumb verifies any card submitted through a File question with the document type set to CSCS Card.

If your induction forms already use the CSCS Card document type, there is nothing to change. Verification starts as soon as you connect your account.

If your forms collect CSCS cards another way, such as a general file upload or a differently named document type, update the question so its document type is CSCS Card. Cards submitted any other way are stored as normal but are not checked with CSCS.

 

What changes for workers

When a worker reaches the CSCS Card question in their induction, they now see a Registration number field next to the expiry date. They type in the number from their card, then upload the front and back photos as usual. The registration number is required, so they can't continue without it.

Workers using the mobile app need the latest version to see the registration number field. It's worth reminding your workforce to update before you switch verification on.

 

What your site team sees

When someone reviews an induction on web, each CSCS card shows one of these statuses:

  • Valid: the card exists in CSCS and is in date.
  • Expired: the card exists in CSCS but has expired, based on the date CSCS holds.
  • Invalid: CSCS could not find the registration number. This often means it was mistyped, so it needs a closer look rather than an automatic rejection.
  • Pending: the check is still running. This normally takes a few seconds.

Opening the card shows the cardholder name, card type, photo and expiry date returned by CSCS, alongside the photos the worker uploaded. The same statuses appear in the cards register.

 

Good to know

  • Only new inductions are checked. Inductions submitted before you connected your account are not verified retrospectively.
  • Only CSCS cards are checked. Other schemes such as CPCS and IPAF are not verified in this release.
  • Your site team still makes the call. An Invalid or Expired result does not block approval or sign-in. The reviewer decides how to proceed.
  • The check confirms the card, not the person. Compare the name and photo returned by CSCS with the worker in front of you to make sure the card belongs to them.
  • Expiry dates are not overwritten. The cards register still shows the expiry date the worker entered. If CSCS holds a different date, the status reflects the CSCS date.
  • Verification is per company. If a worker has inducted with more than one company, each company checks the card separately using its own Smart Check account.

  • If CSCS is unavailable, your site team can still review the uploaded photos and process the induction as normal.