How to Renew Your CISRS Card Before It Expires

Most CISRS cards last five years, and renewing is not automatic: for a Scaffolder or Advanced Scaffolder card you have to complete a two-day CISRS CPD refresher course and hold a health and safety test taken within the last two years. Get it done and your card is extended for another five years. Leave it too late and you can find yourself turned away from site until it is sorted.

Here is what renewal involves, what to do if your card goes missing, and what changes in 2027.

The five-year clock

Check the expiry date on your card now, not the week it runs out. Most CISRS cards are valid for five years from issue, and the renewal takes a bit of organising, so the people who never have a gap are the ones who diarise it well in advance.

The CPD refresher course

Since 1 July 2017 it has been a requirement that Scaffolder (blue) and Advanced Scaffolder (gold) cardholders complete a two-day CISRS Continuing Professional Development refresher course to renew. It keeps you current on changes to safety legislation, best practice and technical guidance, the sort of updates covered in guides like TG20:21, rather than re-testing you from scratch.

You can usually book and attend the refresher when your card has six months or less left on it, or once it has expired. Other cards renew differently, according to CISRS's own card pages:

• Labourer: a new COTS course, plus a health and safety test taken within two years.
• Supervisor: the two-day CISRS Supervisor Refresher, plus the supervisory-level health and safety test.
• Basic and Advanced Scaffold Inspection: retake the inspection course, plus the test.

The health and safety test

Alongside the refresher you need a CITB Health, Safety and Environment test taken within the last two years. Like the card itself, the test does not last forever, so part of staying "renewable" is keeping that in date too. If yours has lapsed, book it early, because it is one more thing that can hold up the process.

What changes in 2027

In September 2026 CISRS announced that it will be renamed the Competence In Scaffolding Record Scheme from 1 January 2027 and plans to leave CSCS on 1 June 2027. Its reason: CSCS requires cards issued under its licence to be used only in construction, while CISRS cards are used in industrial, utilities, marine and offshore work as well.

Two things matter for renewal. Existing cards stay valid for their full term, at all the same sites as before. And from June 2027, new and renewed cards will be issued, increasingly online, in a slightly different design without the CSCS logo, with the same competence standards behind them.

It may not end there. At a webinar on 22 September, CISRS said talks with CSCS were continuing and it hoped the notice could still be withdrawn. Check cisrs.org.uk for the latest before you renew.

Lost or damaged card

CISRS cards are issued by NOCN Job Cards, not by CISRS directly. To replace one, apply to NOCN using the CISRS application form for your card and choose Duplicate, which sits alongside New Card and Renewal on the form. The current scaffolder form asks for a £33 payment, taken by phone.

Employers can also check a card's details online, using the NOCN Card Checker or the CSCS Smart Check app.

Do not let it lapse

An expired card means you are, on paper, no longer certified, and most main contractors will not let you on site without a valid one. You can still renew after expiry by completing the refresher and test, but every week the card is out of date is a week you might lose work. The whole point of the trade's card scheme, as we cover in our guide to CISRS cards, is that the card is your ticket onto site. Keep it current and you keep working.

If you are progressing at the same time, it is worth knowing how renewal fits alongside stepping up to the Advanced Scaffolder card.

Card sorted and looking for your next role? Browse the latest scaffolding jobs and apply direct to the firms hiring.