Yes, the Scheme is designed for all Tiers to directly join the Scheme, not just Tiers 1.

Yes, certainly. Everyone - no matter the size of the company - should join the Scheme.

There is an annual subscription fee for each worker record added to the Passport software system and service. Depending on the size of your company, Mitie will either offer credit facilities or – more usually – you simply pay online for each worker record as you add it using a credit/ debit card.

There is also a separate charge for the Highways Common Induction. The HCI provider requires payments up-front.

Passport provides a shared platform between employers and contractors signed up to the Scheme, providing a single transferable record for each cardholder. As individuals move between organisations and across supply chains, their record travels with them, meaning that all their qualifications, skills, training and other details affecting their authority to work are available to you. Not only is this faster, but it ensures that you do not waste time and money on unnecessary repeat training.

You will also have visibility of your cardholders who have completed the Highways Common Induction (HCI), avoiding having to go through the process again.

Once an employer is set up in the system they can choose to pay in two ways.

Firstly, you can buy credits up front. Members of staff can then use these credits when they need to complete the induction. Depending on the size of your company and payment preference, you can pay by credit card or invoice. Contact Power Plus for this.

Secondly, you can pay as you go. This requires a credit card to pay for the HCI as and when required.

The HCI costs £14 + VAT per person. The Highways Common Induction is valid for 3 years.

The annual charge per cardholder covers the system’s usage. The only additional charge that may occur is for replacement cards if the original is lost or damaged by the cardholder. The cost of a replacement card is £6 + VAT.

Go the Passport homepage and register your company (simply by clicking the Company Registration button in the login box). Mitie will then contact you to complete the on-boarding process before providing you with your login to access the software system.

Once your company is registered, nominate a suitable person within your organisation to take responsibility for Passport within your company and then contact the MiTec helpdesk to arrange Passport Administrator training.

If you are self-employed, please contact Mitie for administrator support:

Telephone: 0330 726 0225

Email: he.validate@mitie.com 

Yes. Not only can the Administrator manage the Passport database for the organisation, but they can also train card checkers, so that individual smartcards can be consistently and regularly checked on site to help protect worker safety. 

Note: only trained and authorised staff should manage the Passport database.

All requested physical Passport smartcards are sent by Mitie to the office address chosen by the Passport Administrator at the point the card is requested. Cards are sent to a corporate address for collection or onward distribution directly to the cardholder. 

Also, don’t forget that a virtual smartcard can also be requested for cardholders. These are delivered in minutes directly to the worker’s mobile phone.

Create the record on the Passport system. As soon as the record is created the system assigns a unique number that is required for the Highways Common Induction - this is to allow connection between the information in the two systems.

Note: you do not need to wait for the card to arrive to complete the HCI.

The Highways Common Induction (HCI) is been developed to a video-based induction, followed by a competency assessment by a company called Power Plus. The induction aims to promote best practice standards including safety, health, well-being and environment management. It raises awareness of the significant risks on the strategic road network, and to set common standards on the network. The HCI should ideally be completed before you start work on the network.

No. The concept is by undertaking the Common Induction separately sites can concentrate on just delivering the site-specific safety briefing focussed on the right risks and hazards. Such separate site-specific inductions will provide you with any additional procedures not covered in the Common Induction training.

As an employer administrator, you will need a Passport Worker record yourself to book your staff on the new induction. However, you can be exempted from paying the annual charge if the only reason you have a worker record is to book inductions for your staff and you don’t need the Passport smartcard either. Please contact the Mitie helpdesk to arrange your exemption.

Once you have done this, just make sure each worker has been added to Passport (and their first year’s subscription paid). Then, you will need to visit the HCI site (https://highwaysengland.powerplusportal.com) to commence the registration process. 

Yes. Using our own software to poll the CSCS management service in real-time will enable CSCS (and some Partner Scheme) cards to be checked and then logged on Passport, as well as the competencies transferred across.

These competencies can then be surfaced on the worker’s Passport smartcard. Multiple cards can be stored and updated on a Passport worker record, together with the cards’ images. This means workers no longer need to carry multiple cards with them as they travel across the supply chain, it’s all on their Highways Passport record.

Although the Passport smartcard has no expiry date, if the NFC chip and aerial within the card itself become damaged, the card may need replacing. Virtual cards have no expiry and are also unable to get damaged.

Individual competencies are valid on the card depending on their own validity/expiry periods.

The main idea of the scheme is that cardholders can move between employers and across the supply chain and their record travels with them; they retain the same card and all the previous training and qualifications history.

As part of the process when your employee leaves, your Passport administrator should “de-register” the individual on the system on their last day; this will allow a new employer to pick up the record on the system and register them from that point. This also means renewal charges from that point are covered by the new employer.

All you need to do is log the end of employment date in the worker’s record. This immediately makes this worker record available for another employer to register the cardholder as an employee through a simple search on Passport.

Note: the Passport Industry Scheme rules require the employers to de-register all records as soon as the employee leaves the company.

There is a dedicated app available for free download from the Apple store for iOS devices and Google Play on Android.

Just search for Validate 5.

If you are not using the app, but you have a tablet or laptop that you want to use, then use our Web Card Reader. Similar to the app in functionality, you don’t need to install any software on your device, but you must have comms to use it (whereas the app can cache data on recently read cards). For information, go to the Web Card Reader link on the Passport system homepage (https://he.validate.mitie.com).

Don’t forget that you can use the same methods to read virtual smartcards (Note: Virtual smartcards do not use NFC).

Each device used to swipe individuals in / out using the app contains a record of these cardholders and their activities. On a busy site or project, teams of people will swipe in / out with different team leaders, so no single device on site will hold the record of everyone on site that shift.

However, as all swipes are uploaded to the central database, there are site or project user roles available on the main Passport browser-based application, which will display all relevant swipe activity to appropriately logged-in users. These user roles also provide a muster list showing everyone currently on site / project in the case of an emergency or evacuation.

You are encouraged to use Passport in Local Authority projects or in your ancillary businesses. A number of Principal Contractors are using Passport on their local authority contracts and this number is growing quickly.

Yes. You are encouraged to do so.

You need to register your company. Go to the website (https://he.validate.mitie.com/), click on the Company Registration button. Complete and submit the online form. Mitie will then be in contact with you, after which you will be provided with Employer Admin access to Passport.

No.

Payment of the worker subscription when the worker record is first created is not mandatory in terms of sequence, but it is strongly recommended.

Until the worker’s Passport subscription has been paid, the worker’s record is not fully available to you as the employer and no credentials can be checked on site.

Therefore, it is recommended to pay the worker’s first year Passport subscription up front, then arrange for the worker to complete the HCI (Highways Common Induction). This means when the worker’s HCI achievement is notified into Passport automatically the worker record is already fully active and their credentials can be checked straightaway including at site level.

The employer administrator who books (and pays for) worker inductions with Power Plus also needs a “worker” record on the Highways Passport itself. This is so that certain details can be verified between the two systems. However, please note: as an employer administrator who does not need a Passport worker record for anything else and does not need a smartcard, the annual subscription charge can be exempted. Please contact the Mitie helpdesk to arrange this. 

Many workers already have a virtual smartcard. If they don't yet have one, a mobile phone number or email will need to be registered. Once the employer admin has logged these in the worker record, they can request a virtual card. 

That's all you need to do. 

Passport will then contact the worker, providing a link to download our Vircarda wallet, which securely stores their virtual Passport. The individual can now start benefitting from this unique technology and receive targeted and relevant messages to help keep them safe. Individuals can present their virtual card upon arrival on site as they can use it in place of a physical smartcard.

If you have fewer than 50 employees with valid subscriptions, it is easiest to request virtual cards individually. This process is quick and straightforward. You can order 50 workers' cards in well under an hour. 

We can make a bulk request for companies with more than 50 employees with valid subscriptions. The first time you make a bulk request, please contact Mitie. 

Absolutely not. We do not use any mobile location services within Passport to protect worker privacy. The geomap works by using the postcode assigned to a project when the user first defined it, not using any form of phone tracking.  

Designers visiting site more than once a year (site includes, surveys in fields/verges, compounds and active construction areas) do need to have a Passport with HCI. Designers who do not visit site do not need a Passport.

Implementation support is available for Principal Contractors on their FIRST Project. If you are a Principal Contractor and need some help to get started with introducing Passport on your first project, please contact: Jack.boon@referencepoint.co.uk.

For ALL other user support on Passport (onboarding, training, card fulfilment and helpdesk), please contact Mitie.

Email: he.validate@mitie.com

Telephone: 0330 726 0225.