Registered Members passed the "3-year" Renew Period, and Rejoin Again.

Cheong,

 

If you are suspended from the Engineering Council register (often described as “lapsed”) for more than 3 years, then if you wanted to use the CEng designation in future you would have to pay the registration assessment fee and be assessed again. When you last paid it probably included your fee for the year ahead so you would have continued to be on the register until mid-2016.  You can of course honestly state that you were CEng registered between certain dates, but that you no longer are and you shouldn’t use the designation on business cards for example or in any other context.

 

In my experience most former registrants who decide to undertake a fresh assessment are successful, but there is no guarantee. The assessment process seeks to re-validate your current level of competence against UK-SPEC. If you registered before UK-SPEC was introduced, or your more recent experience has offered less opportunity for the “technical leadership” expected of a CEng, then you could encounter a “tripping point” and be unsuccessful in the assessment process.

 

A frequent difficulty for members who seek registration 20 plus years into career, is that the optimum time for them to demonstrate the UK-SPEC standard would have been many years earlier. It is common for engineers with a strong technical focus in early career to become managers, often with fewer opportunities to exercise technical expertise and their engineer’s judgement. A lapsed registrant has the advantage of “banking” whatever qualifications got them their registration in the past , which a member applying for the first time doesn’t.  However, a further risk is created by the emphasis in UK-SPEC on technical “innovation” as an attribute expected of a Chartered Engineer, which tends to disadvantage those responsible for “established  technology” such asset management rather than “leading edge” design.

 

To answer your question (and others in similar circumstances), my thoughts would be; If you can easily afford the fees, then why give up something potentially useful.  I would expect this to be the case for most people working in a CEng type role and in the UK the fees are modest relative to typical earnings and other types of discretionary expenditure.  If you find the fees a problem then do you qualify for a concession?    https://www.theiet.org/membership/types/fees/reduced/index.cfm

 

The IET is very fortunate to gain the engagement and loyalty of so many of its members and if you find yourself unable to actively engage, or otherwise to derive useful value from your membership, then it is reasonable to choose to spend your money elsewhere. Some people value membership of particular groups, loyalty, stability etc. others just see registration as a transaction.  If you have already lapsed without a “heavy heart”, then as a transaction you have to decide if being a Chartered Engineer could be of value to you now or in the foreseeable future. You have already lost it temporarily and assuming that you are not improperly pretending to still hold it, this may be doing you no harm. If you go beyond three years the loss will be permanent. You may be able to regain it in future, but there is a significant risk that you won’t be reaccepted, which could be embarrassing and a disadvantage in your career if your circumstances change.

 

It may not apply in your region, but professional registration can be a significant advantage when seeking employment in the UK, with many jobs advertised as “CEng preferred”. Although the other registration categories aren’t so often cited in job advertisements, they are valued by some people making hiring or promotion decisions.  If I were that decision maker, then I would give some weight to professional commitment and also in appropriate circumstances to indications of loyalty and reliability like continuous membership and/or registration.  It may surprise you that I have retained IEng for 30+ years and at times this has added some value as part of my portfolio, which also includes Chartered Fellowship in a management discipline (CIPD).  I’m writing this because a change of circumstances offered me an opportunity to work for the IET where my IEng was valued. It also allows me to at least to be part of the argument about how we develop and properly value all those who we seek to serve, not just current Chartered Engineers who like you did, occupy quite a privileged position.       

                      

Cheong,

 

If you are suspended from the Engineering Council register (often described as “lapsed”) for more than 3 years, then if you wanted to use the CEng designation in future you would have to pay the registration assessment fee and be assessed again. When you last paid it probably included your fee for the year ahead so you would have continued to be on the register until mid-2016.  You can of course honestly state that you were CEng registered between certain dates, but that you no longer are and you shouldn’t use the designation on business cards for example or in any other context.

 

In my experience most former registrants who decide to undertake a fresh assessment are successful, but there is no guarantee. The assessment process seeks to re-validate your current level of competence against UK-SPEC. If you registered before UK-SPEC was introduced, or your more recent experience has offered less opportunity for the “technical leadership” expected of a CEng, then you could encounter a “tripping point” and be unsuccessful in the assessment process.

 

A frequent difficulty for members who seek registration 20 plus years into career, is that the optimum time for them to demonstrate the UK-SPEC standard would have been many years earlier. It is common for engineers with a strong technical focus in early career to become managers, often with fewer opportunities to exercise technical expertise and their engineer’s judgement. A lapsed registrant has the advantage of “banking” whatever qualifications got them their registration in the past , which a member applying for the first time doesn’t.  However, a further risk is created by the emphasis in UK-SPEC on technical “innovation” as an attribute expected of a Chartered Engineer, which tends to disadvantage those responsible for “established  technology” such asset management rather than “leading edge” design.

 

To answer your question (and others in similar circumstances), my thoughts would be; If you can easily afford the fees, then why give up something potentially useful.  I would expect this to be the case for most people working in a CEng type role and in the UK the fees are modest relative to typical earnings and other types of discretionary expenditure.  If you find the fees a problem then do you qualify for a concession?    https://www.theiet.org/membership/types/fees/reduced/index.cfm

 

The IET is very fortunate to gain the engagement and loyalty of so many of its members and if you find yourself unable to actively engage, or otherwise to derive useful value from your membership, then it is reasonable to choose to spend your money elsewhere. Some people value membership of particular groups, loyalty, stability etc. others just see registration as a transaction.  If you have already lapsed without a “heavy heart”, then as a transaction you have to decide if being a Chartered Engineer could be of value to you now or in the foreseeable future. You have already lost it temporarily and assuming that you are not improperly pretending to still hold it, this may be doing you no harm. If you go beyond three years the loss will be permanent. You may be able to regain it in future, but there is a significant risk that you won’t be reaccepted, which could be embarrassing and a disadvantage in your career if your circumstances change.

 

It may not apply in your region, but professional registration can be a significant advantage when seeking employment in the UK, with many jobs advertised as “CEng preferred”. Although the other registration categories aren’t so often cited in job advertisements, they are valued by some people making hiring or promotion decisions.  If I were that decision maker, then I would give some weight to professional commitment and also in appropriate circumstances to indications of loyalty and reliability like continuous membership and/or registration.  It may surprise you that I have retained IEng for 30+ years and at times this has added some value as part of my portfolio, which also includes Chartered Fellowship in a management discipline (CIPD).  I’m writing this because a change of circumstances offered me an opportunity to work for the IET where my IEng was valued. It also allows me to at least to be part of the argument about how we develop and properly value all those who we seek to serve, not just current Chartered Engineers who like you did, occupy quite a privileged position.