With high levels of unqualified workers in the sector there was a need to develop a tool that could (a) enable employees to have their competences mapped against key industry standards and (b) provide a means of carrying evidence of competence between employers and to support progression between job roles. Initially the passport was an optional standard for the industry but it is now a mandatory requirement for acquiring the ÒRed TractorÓ kitemark, a national food quality assurance standard.
The passport was developed as an online tool to provide a way of monitoring and recording workersÕ competences against minimum standards for job roles, which would identify gaps and also training needs, helping to drive up training standards in the pro-cess. The passport provides an accessible, online record of worker’s achievements, a virtual CV.