The IHBC has started a new round scrutinising public statements about IHBC membership that may not properly reflect the professional status of a person or practice.
Eddie Booth, IHBC secretary, said: ‘Only current full professional members of the Institute are permitted to use the IHBC letters after their name in any form or to claim membership of IHBC in any professional context.’
‘In the interests of our members, and of the IHBC as the charity to which we subscribe, it is essential that we make sure that these terms are fully observed. Anyone whose publicity material incorrectly suggests professional membership of the IHBC, or corporate membership of our business listing, HESPR, will receive an initial request to correct the information.’
‘We fully understand that members may overlook how some might interpret public references to their links to the IHBC, so we are putting out this initial alert. Genuine transgressors, however, will be pursued as far as necessary.’
The IHBC letter states:
‘I appreciate that your mention of IHBC is not intended to deceive and is done with the intention of promoting your connections with the institute. But this may be seen to suggest that you have full professional membership of this institute. As an affiliate or associate you have not yet demonstrated your ability to meet the criteria for full membership. In line with our position as a registered professional body (see http://www.companieshouse.gov.uk/), I would be very grateful if you would remove all such references to the IHBC from your business and publicity material immediately. We will be extending our monitoring of these matters in the coming year, so please do feel free to let me know if any related issues come to your attention so that we can act accordingly.
That said, we would of course be very happy for you to apply to upgrade to full membership. An additional benefit of such an upgrade would allow you to explore membership of our business register, HESPR, which would enable to you enjoy a corporate association with the IHBC (or similar). You can find our newly revised membership application form and guidance on our web site (http://www.ihbc.org.uk/membership_join.htm). Once an application has been processed and approved you would be able to benefit from full association with the institute and use the designation letters after your name as well as apply to join HESPR.’
For details of the IHBC’s disciplinary procedure see: LINK
For HESPR see: http://www.ihbc.org.uk/hespr/
