Two men, one from Manchester and one from Macclesfield have been sentenced to 28 months each at Chester Crown Court. The pair pleaded guilty to conspiring to commit fraud and fraud by false representation between May and September 2019, after falsifying CITB health, safety and environment tests for commercial gain.
The tests are those required to obtain construction industry competence cards. The pair were test centre administrators at the accredited DWM Plant Ltd in Knutsford, Cheshire. During a counter fraud investigation CITB investigators uncovered a large-scale criminal operation involving mostly foreign nationals being assisted on their CITB HS&E test. Some candidates were travelling long distances and taking their tests in only 4-5 minutes by means of assistance via a remote mouse.
