8152 Road construction operatives
Unit group 8152 in the ONS Standard Occupational Classification 2020, with the line the Appendix Skilled Occupations gives it. Not immigration advice.
In short
- ONS unit group 8152, in minor group 815 (Construction operatives) and major group 8 (Process, plant and machine operatives).
- Appendix Skilled Occupations (figures as at 3 August 2026, re-checked 26 October 2026): Not on the list: Table 6.
- Going rate as the tables print it:
What the ONS says
Description
Road construction operatives construct, repair and maintain roads and lay paving slabs and kerbstones to form pavements and street gutters.
Typical entry routes
No academic qualifications are required. Training is typically provided on-the-job. All sites are required to have a ‘trained operative’ registered with the Street Workers Qualification Register. Trained operatives are required to attend accredited assessment centres. NVQs/SVQs in Highway Maintenance and Road Building are available at levels 1 and 2.
Tasks
- inspects road surfaces for hazards or signs of deterioration, clears mud, weeds and debris from road and spreads grit or salt as required
- sets up traffic management systems around work site such as cones, lights and barriers
- cuts away broken road surface with pick or pneumatic drill
- heats bitumen in bucket, applies it to newly laid asphalt and beats or draws tamper head on asphalt to close joints
- spreads bitumen, tar or asphalt and compacts surface using roller
- spreads aggregate over road surfaces using shovel, lays markings on road surface and repairs crash barriers
- removes damaged paving slabs and kerb stones, lays bedding of sand, concrete or mortar on prepared foundation, lays new slabs or stones and fills joints with mortar
Related job titles
- Asphalter
- Concrete finisher (building construction)
- Highways operative
- Paver
- Road worker
- Tarmacer
What the Appendix Skilled Occupations says
The Appendix lists this code in the table below, with the table’s own caption and the row as printed. Read the full table, and any condition in it, on GOV.UK.
Table 6: SOC 2020 occupation codes which are not eligible for the Skilled Worker, Global Business Mobility or Scale-up routes
- SOC 2020 occupation code
- 8152 Road construction operatives
- Examples of related job titles (non-exhaustive)
- Asphalter
- Concrete finisher (building construction)
- Highways operative
- Paver
- Road worker
- Tarmacer
Other unit groups in minor group 815
- 8151 Scaffolders, stagers and riggers
- 8153 Rail construction and maintenance operatives
- 8159 Construction operatives n.e.c.
Sources
Occupation text: Office for National Statistics, SOC 2020 Volume 1: structure and descriptions of unit groups (file dated 27 August 2026, version V13). Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Open Government Licence v3.0. Tables: Home Office, Immigration Rules Appendix Skilled Occupations on GOV.UK, page updated 3 August 2026; re-checked against the page updated 8 October 2026 on 26 October 2026, tables unchanged.
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