When SKILLcard was launched in the autumn of 2001, it was recognised that many skilled personnel operating in the industry did so without any formal trade qualifications. An initial window of opportunity was therefore made available to allow individuals in this category to register with SKILLcard by means of an employer's endorsement - a process referred to as ‘industry accreditation’.

However, this window has already closed for most occupations covered by SKILLcard - and is due to close on 31 January next year for the service and facilities sector.

"This means that companies that employ service personnel without relevant industry qualifications have only a few weeks to get them registered the easy way," explained Peter Rimmer, SKILLcard Project Manager and HVCA Head of Employment Affairs.

"After the end of January, employers will have to get their technicians and engineers without trade qualifications to register for an Experienced Worker card," Mr Rimmer added.

"This means they will have to register for the relevant National or Scottish Vocational Qualification (NVQ/SVQ), and undertake - and pay for - an initial profiling with an NVQ/SVQ assessor."

Recalling the decision of the HVCA Service and Facilities Group (SFG) to endorse the application of the SKILLcard concept to service and facilities, SFG Chairman Malcolm Linsley acknowledged that they had done so very much as an act of faith.

"There are not the same pressures on service and facilities companies to register their workforce with SKILLcard as there are on installation contractors operating on construction sites controlled by members of the Construction Confederation's Major Contractors Group," he explained.

"However, there are signs that clients are looking very carefully at the competence and qualifications of the people deployed by service providers on their premises. Registration with SKILLcard is an ideal way of demonstrating the competence and qualifications of our technicians and engineers."

Citing major clients such as the Environment Agency, HM Land Registry, the Court Service and W S Atkins, Mr Linsley emphasised that this was a trend set to continue, as clients became increasingly discriminating in the service providers they selected, with the quality of their people being a key deciding factor.

These sentiments were echoed by Ken Nall of HVCA member Johnson Controls, which has some 1,200 service and facilities workers registered with SKILLcard.

Mr Nall said that clients were looking increasingly for evidence of the skills, competence and qualifications of the workforce. In this respect, SKILLcard had proved to be a convenient and effective way to show clients that the company had engineers of the right calibre for the job.

Further information on the closure of the window of opportunity and the SKILLcard application process can be downloaded from the SKILLcard website at www.skillcard.org.uk.

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