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  4. Subcontractor Guide: Working with an NFRC CPS contractor? What you need to know about joining the NFRC Competency Passport

Subcontractor Guide: Working with an NFRC CPS contractor? What you need to know about joining the NFRC Competency Passport

You’ve been invited because you carry out work for an NFRC CPS contractor. As part of the Scheme, they need a clear picture of who is carrying out their work, including the subcontractors and other businesses they work with.

Why have you been invited?

The way competence is managed and demonstrated across the roofing industry is changing. The NFRC Competency Passport gives businesses a clearer way to manage information about the people and businesses carrying out their work and, as the Passport develops, the evidence that demonstrates their competence.

If you’ve received an invitation, it’s because you carry out work for an NFRC CPS contractor. As part of the Scheme, that contractor needs to have a clear picture of who is carrying out their work and the competence behind them. That includes the subcontractors and other businesses they work with.

You’re being asked to set up your business and add the relevant people you directly employ who are involved in carrying out CPS work.

We’ll take you through exactly what you need to do below.

Your business, your account

  • You stay in control

    You’ll set up and manage your own business and people on the NFRC Competency Passport.

  • Connect with the CPS contractor you work with

    The CPS contractor will send a request to connect their business to yours. This shows that your business is involved in carrying out their work, while you continue to manage your own account and information.

  • You only need to set up once

    If you work with more than one NFRC CPS contractor, you can use the same account and connect your business to each of them.

Getting set up

Your invitation will come from [email protected]. There are four steps to complete. Select a step to see what to do.

1 Set up your businessAccept your invitation and approve the CPS contractor.
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The NFRC CPS contractor you work with will send you an invitation through Certchain.

What you need to do

  1. Open your invitation: Look for an email from [email protected] and follow the link to get started.
  2. Set up your account: Check that your business name and email address are correct, enter your name, create a password and accept the terms and conditions.
  3. Approve the CPS contractor: You’ll see a connection request from the NFRC CPS contractor that invited you. Check that it is the right business and select Approve.
  4. Skip the certification section: You may be asked to add certifications, qualifications or your CV. You don’t need to add this information at this stage. Select Skip and continue.

Your business is now set up and connected to the CPS contractor you work with.

Is your business already on Certchain?

You don’t need to set it up again.

Give the CPS contractor your Certchain ID so they can send you a connection request. When it arrives, sign in, open the request from Organisations or your notifications, check it’s from the right CPS contractor and select Approve.

2 Add and share your roofing operativesAdd the operatives you directly employ and share them with NFRC CPS.
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Next, add the roofing operatives you directly employ who are involved in carrying out work for the CPS contractor.

Do not add subcontractors, freelancers, self-employed people or people employed by another business as users within your organisation. We cover what to do with them in Step 3.

What you need to do

  1. Go to Users: Select Users, then New User.
  2. Set up sharing with NFRC CPS: Before adding your operatives, scroll down to Also share with a linked organisation. Turn this on and select NFRC CPS.

    This is important. It allows the relevant information for the people carrying out CPS work to be shared with NFRC CPS as part of the Scheme. Setting this up first means you won’t need to share each person individually afterwards.

  3. Enter their details: For each operative, enter their:
    • first name
    • last name
    • email address
    • National Insurance number
  4. Select Monitor-only: Under their role, select Monitor-only at the bottom of the list.

    This is the role you should use for roofing operatives at this stage. It allows their record to be set up and managed without requiring them to actively use the NFRC Competency Passport yet.

  5. Add the next person: Select Add another and repeat the process for each roofing operative you need to include.
  6. Create the users: Once you’ve added everyone, select Create user, then Create & invite.

Each person will receive an email inviting them to activate their account.

If someone is already on Certchain

If you see the message “Nobody was added: This National Insurance number is in use”, the person already has a Certchain record.

Do not create a new record for them. Instead:

  1. Go to User Transfers.
  2. Select Request User Transfer.
  3. Find the person you need to add.
  4. Select your business as the organisation they are moving to.
  5. Submit the transfer request.

The business that currently manages their record will need to approve the transfer before they can be moved to yours.

Once the transfer has been approved, make sure the person is also shared with NFRC CPS. You can do this manually through the Users section.

3 Tell the CPS contractor about anyone else involvedSend details of any other businesses or self-employed people you use.
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If you use another business, subcontractor, freelancer or self-employed person to help carry out work for the CPS contractor, do not add them to your business as an employee.

Instead, give the CPS contractor their:

  • business or trading name
  • contact name
  • email address
  • National Insurance number
  • whether they already use Certchain
  • Certchain ID, if they already have one

The CPS contractor will then contact them and make sure they are set up and connected correctly.

The simple rule is:

Your employeesyou add and manage them.
Other businesses or self-employed peopletell the CPS contractor about them.
4 Keep your information up to dateUpdate your people and let the contractor know about changes.
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Once you’re set up, keep your information up to date as things change. This includes when:

  • a roofing operative involved in the work joins or leaves your business
  • you start using a new subcontractor, freelancer or self-employed person to carry out work for the CPS contractor
  • someone you use stops carrying out that work
  • you stop working with the CPS contractor

If there are changes to the subcontractors, freelancers or self-employed people you use, let the CPS contractor know so they can update their records.

If you stop working with a CPS contractor, you can unlink your businesses in Organisations.

If you start working together again later, you can reconnect your existing businesses. You do not need to set up again.

Your information

Why do you need my National Insurance number?

National Insurance numbers are used as unique identifiers to make sure each person is matched to the correct account and to prevent duplicate records.

This also helps make sure competence information and evidence is linked to the right person.

Your National Insurance number is used for identification only and is not stored.

Who can see my information?

Connecting your business to an NFRC CPS contractor does not give them access to everything in your account.

You continue to manage your own business, people and information. Information about individual people is only shared where it is needed as part of the Scheme.

Does it cost anything?

No. There is no cost to get set up on the NFRC Competency Passport.

What if I work for more than one CPS contractor?

You only need to set up your business once.

You can connect your business to more than one NFRC CPS contractor, so you do not need to create a new account each time.

What happens next?

The NFRC Competency Passport is being introduced in stages, so you won’t need to do everything at once.

  1. Now: Get your business and people set up

    For now, you need to:

    • set up your business
    • connect with the CPS contractor you work with
    • add and share the relevant roofing operatives you directly employ
    • tell the CPS contractor about any other subcontractors, freelancers or self-employed people involved in carrying out their work

    That’s all you need to do at this stage. You don’t need to add qualifications, training or other competence evidence yet.

  2. Next: Build competence records

    The next stage will focus on the competence of the people carrying out the work.

    Individuals will begin building their competence records, adding information and evidence about their skills, knowledge, experience and behaviours, including qualifications, training and relevant experience.

    We’ll provide guidance on what’s needed before this stage begins.

  3. Ongoing: Keep your information up to date

    As things change, keep your business and roofing operatives up to date and let the CPS contractor know about any changes to the other people or businesses involved in carrying out their work.

Need help?

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