FAQs on Upgrading Pathways and Registration Requirements

To retain skilled and experienced construction workers, employers can upgrade them to be “Higher Skilled” R1 workers through any of the 4 upgrading pathways – CoreTrade scheme, Multi-skilling scheme, Market-based Skills Recognition Framework, and Direct R1 pathway.

The criteria of each upgrading pathway are summarized in the table below.

Under the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) skills and levy framework, “Higher Skilled” R1 workers can stay in Singapore up to 26 years and their employers pay lower levy for these “Higher Skilled” R1 workers. In addition, these workers are more productive and would contribute more to their employers.

“Higher Skilled” R1 workers are required to attend the stipulated Continuing Education and Training (CET) within 2 years of attaining their R1 status. BCA will assist to inform employers when the CET is due.

For Direct R1 workers, their first CET would be 2 years from the test date that they have attained SEC(K) at higher skill level.

To continuously upgrade the construction workforce to support improvement in productivity, quality and safety, all personnel registered under CoreTrade and Multi-skilling schemes or upgraded through the Direct R1 pathway, are required to attend Continuing Education and Training (CET) under their respective registered trade category.

The CET will be a half-day to 1 day course covering the latest codes and regulations, good practices, and demonstration of new methods, materials, tools and equipment relevant to the specific construction trades and/or areas of responsibility of the registered personnel.

The Construction Registration of Tradesmen (CoreTrade) Scheme was introduced to allow the built environment sector to build up its core group of competent and experienced workers in key construction trades and supervisory roles to anchor and lead the construction workforce, and raise its quality and productivity levels.

Who is it for?

CoreTrade provides a platform to retain the better and more experienced workers by providing a clear career progression path and giving them due recognition. It allows one to progress from a “Basic Skilled” R2 worker, to a registered CoreTrade Tradesman specializing in specific trades, a registered CoreTrade Trade Foreman and eventually a CoreTrade Supervisor. CoreTrade personnel are qualified as “Higher Skilled” R1 workers under the Ministry of Manpower (MOM)’s Foreign Worker Levy Scheme.

There are 3 classes of CoreTrade personnel:

• CoreTrade Tradesmen

• CoreTrade Foremen

• CoreTrade Supervisor

CoreTrade applications can be made via www.bca.gov.sg/cwrs before registering the construction personnel for training and skills assessment at BCA’s Approved Training and Testing Centres.

Service Standard

CoreTrade applications will be processed within 7 working days upon submission of complete documents.

Yes, employers can upgrade their workers to be “Higher Skilled” R1 workers through any of the 4 upgrading pathways – Coretrade Scheme, Multi-skilling scheme, Market-based Skills Recognition Framework and Direct R1 pathway.

Application can be made to upgrade from a CoreTrade Tradesman to Trade Foreman. Once an application to upgrade has been made, the application is reviewed to determine if he/ she meets the minimum requirements for skills and experience to upgrade.

If a CoreTrade Tradesman has obtained 6 years construction experience in Singapore, he may take the written test component only and pass the written test component of the same trade category to upgrade to Foreman.

If the candidate failed the written test component for Trade Foremen and have passed the practical test component (only for non-plant construction trades), he would then be allowed to be registered as CoreTrade Tradesmen which allows him to stay in Singapore up to 22 years and their employers pay lower levy. However, for Timber formwork and Steel Reinforcement, the trades are only applicable at Trade Foremen level.

Alternatively he can take a retest on the written test component.

To register as a CoreTrade Tradesman (except for Construction Plant Operation), the worker needs to take and pass a practical test component only.

To register as a CoreTrade Tradesman in Construction Plant Operation, CoreTrade Trade Foremen or Multi-Skilled worker, the worker needs to take and pass both practical and written test component. The written test paper has translations in Chinese, Tamil, and Thai.

>In addition, the written test component for CoreTrade Foremen has been modified from a closed-book to an open-book written test from 3 November 2014 onwards, to enable the candidates to learn better.

To register as a CoreTrade supervisor, the worker needs to take training and test in theory only.

Under the Building Control (Amendment) Act 2007, all licensed Class 1 General Builders are required to lodge a manpower programme on the deployment of CoreTrade personnel when undertaking construction projects with contract value of $20 million (inclusive of GST) or more.

The CoreTrade deployment has been classified into 4 main categories of projects. They are new building works, addition and alteration works, civil engineering works (general) and civil engineering works (MRT station).

Taking into account the scale of works, the deployment requirements are also calculated based on Man-Year (MY)¹ and contract value to allow for flexibility in deployment.

For more information, please refer to the CoreTrade Deployment Requirements page.

¹ Man-year (MY) is defined as a period comprising 260 working days or its equivalent.

Firms can lodge the manpower deployment plans at the CoreTrade Online Registration System.

Please note that all projects that have yet to attain Temporary Occupation Period (TOP) will not be required to comply with CoreTrade deployment until further written notice from CBC. Refer to the CoreTrade Deployment Requirements page for more information.

With the new minimum R1 proportion requirement at the firm-level to be implemented in 2017, BCA will phase out the project-level CoreTrade deployment requirement for Tradesmen, and focus on building up key construction personnel at the Foremen and Supervisory levels with effect from 01 January 2015. Once implemented, all new and on-going CoreTrade projects will not be required to comply with the deployment requirements for the category of Tradesmen. Construction firms will still need to comply with the deployment requirements of Trade Foremen and Supervisors.

The deployment requirements for CoreTrade Tradesmen at the project-level will in effect be replaced by the new minimum R1 proportion requirement at the firm-level. This will give construction firms greater ownership in recruiting or upgrading better workers. Construction firms will also benefit from the increased levy savings and higher productivity of the upgraded workers, which will help them better manage their manpower cost and stay competitive.

Moving forward, the CoreTrade scheme will focus on building up construction personnel at the Foremen and Supervisory levels, who play a key role in guiding the workers to improve productivity through better site management. We have hence retained the deployment requirements for Trade Foremen and Supervisors to encourage workers, including locals, to upgrade beyond the Tradesmen level.

CoreTrade registration will remain one of the pathways to qualify workers as R1, which will allow him to enjoy a lower levy and work in Singapore for up to 22 years.

Once implemented, all new and on-going CoreTrade projects will not be required to comply with the deployment requirements for the category of Tradesmen. However, construction firms will still need to comply with the deployment requirements of Trade Foremen and Supervisors.

No, the CoreTrade personnel should be deployed under the relevant categories, i.e. CoreTrade Trade Foremen should be deployed under Trade Foreman categories, while CoreTrade Supervisors should be deployed under Supervisor categories.

No, only CoreTrade registered personnel will be accepted for CoreTrade deployment requirements.

BCA understands that there may be some contractors whose projects that are so unique that its manpower deployment needs vary from the usual building works.

If the builder failed to comply with the requirement, the builder will be given an opportunity to submit written representations to the Commissioner of Building Control, as required under Section 29J(3) of the Building Control Act, before the Commissioner exercises his powers pursuant to Section 29J(1) or (2) of the Building Control Act which reads:

(1) Subject to subsection (3), the Commissioner may by order revoke any general builder’s licence or specialist builder’s licence if he is satisfied that

• (a) The licensed builder fails to comply with any of the relevant requirements of section 29H(1) or (3) or section 29I(1) or (5), as the case may be;

(2) The Commissioner may, in any case in which he considers that no cause of sufficient gravity for revoking any general builder’s licence or specialist builder’s licence exists, by order

• (a) Suspend the licence for a period not exceeding 6 months;

• (b) Impose on the builder concerned a financial penalty not exceeding $20,000;

• (c) Censure the builder concerned;

• (d) Impose such other direction or restriction as the Commissioner considers appropriate on the builder’s business as a general builder or specialist builder, as the case may be.

The Multi-Skilling scheme was developed following feedback from the industry on the need for more upgrading pathways for construction workers. It is an alternative pathway for them to progress from “Basic Skilled” R2 workers to “Higher Skilled" R1 workers under the Ministry of Manpower (MOM)’s Foreign Worker Levy.

While the CoreTrade Scheme recognises those workers specializing in key construction trades, i.e. possessing “deep” skills, the Multi-Skilling scheme complements the CoreTrade scheme by recognising experienced workers who are competent in multiple trade skills or have completed 120 training hours of approved safety courses.

Multi-Skilling workers offer greater flexibility in deployment on site and hence help to enhance productivity by reducing productivity downtime. This will benefit firms as they will be able to deliver their construction work with lesser workers.

No, only CoreTrade registered personnel will be accepted for CoreTrade deployment requirements.

SEC(K), which stands for Skills Evaluation Certificate (Knowledge), is a skills certification framework conducted by the Building and Construction Authority to assess a worker’s competency and skill in a particular construction trade.

Workers can apply for SEC(K) at the BCA Academy or at the BCA Approved Training and Testing Centres (ATTCs). Contact details of these ATTCs can be found at ATTC contacts [PDF, 175 KB]. Companies can also apply for their workers to take the 2^nd SEC(K) at the Overseas Test Centres (OTCs). Please refer to the Overseas Test Registration procedures at Overseas Test Registration [PDF, 53 KB].

Multi-Skilling applications can be made via www.bca.gov.sg/cwrs.

No, he must meet minimum 4 years of construction experience in Singapore and holds one SEC/SEC(K) or Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) certification for Malaysian work permit holders, before you can apply for him in Multi-Skilling under the Skilled based pathway.

The original certificate will only be issued once to the worker. Any subsequent copies will be in the form of a statement called Skills Qualification Statement and note that each statement request is chargeable.
BCA has appointed Fonda Global Engineering Pte Ltd to provide application service for Worker's Skills Qualification Statement Request with effect from 5 October 2020. To make request for the statement of your worker’s SEC/SEC(K) skills qualification, please contact Fonda Global Engineering Pte Ltd at:

Address: 45 Sungei Kadut Loop Singapore 729495
Contact No.: 6515 5775
Email: statementrequest@fondaglobal.com