Solving the Skills Passport Challenge: NOCN Defines the Standard for Trust and Consistency

NOCN Group is addressing a key challenge in skills reform: the lack of consistency, trust and interoperability in skills passporting. Under the leadership of Chief Executive Graham Hasting‑Evans, the Skills (Learning & Assessment) Hub and trademarked Digital Skills Passport provide a standardised, scalable approach that enables skills and competence to be clearly defined, evidenced and trusted across existing systems. 

Embedded within the NOCN Skills Hub, the Digital Skills Passport enables accredited learning and certification to be recorded, verified and shared digitally. It provides individuals with a secure record of their skills journey and gives employers real‑time insight into workforce competence, connecting training, learning, assessment and certification within a single integrated framework. 

“For too long, individuals have struggled to demonstrate what they can do, and employers have struggled to verify it. The Digital Skills Passport changes that entirely” said Hasting‑Evans. 

Built on NOCN Group’s established expertise, including the long‑standing administration of nationally recognised, exemplar competency schemes such as the Construction Plant Competence Scheme (CPCS) and other major carding programmes, the NOCN Skills Hub and Digital Skills Passport strengthen and modernise proven systems already relied upon by industry. Informed by Hasting‑Evans’ leadership in large‑scale workforce programmes, including the London 2012 Olympic Games, the approach extends trusted competence frameworks into a fully connected digital environment. 

The integrated platform architecture works alongside existing systems to improve access to skills information, digital logbooks and records as well as the Digital Skills Passport. By bringing credentials, qualifications, CPD, compliance, skills recognition and development into one integrated environment, this initiative simplifies administration, increases transparency and supports scalable use across employers, providers and individuals. 

NOCN Group is working with UK employers, industry bodies and training providers – including The Skills Centre, Exeter College and the Green Skills Advisory Panel – to support the ongoing development of the platform and ensure it aligns with national priorities such as infrastructure delivery, Net Zero and critical skills needs. Further collaborators include M&J Evans, Evo Energy, Kelly Group, Cornwall College Group, Fourth Valley College (Scotland) and the National Federation of Builders. 
 
“We have already demonstrated that robust competency frameworks work,” Graham added. “What is needed now is alignment, a consistent, trusted ap proach that works across systems and economies.” 

The UK launch builds on an international pilot in India delivered in the digital, engineering and manufacturing sectors with Nettur Technical Training Foundation (NTTF), with NOCN Group working alongside our technology partner TCS iON (part of TATA Group). The pilot in India has provided a robust test environment to develop scalable models and solutions shaped for the needs of UK employers, training providers and individuals. 

Bringing together Hasting‑Evans’ leadership, NTTF’s long‑standing training expertise, TCS iON’s technological capability and the support of industry partners, the NOCN Skills Hub and Digital Skills Passport are positioned to play a transformative role in how skills are verified, recorded and shared globally. 

As the initiative continues to scale, NOCN Group believes it marks a bold and pioneering advance towards a skills system that delivers trusted visibility of skills for individuals, confidence for employers and value for economies worldwide.