The short version:

Why we are here

The Joint Council of Engineering Institutions was formed in 1964 to agree common standards for Professional Engineers.  Development of this task has been continuous through establishment of the Engineers Registration Board (originally for Incorporated Engineers), creation of the Engineering Council (in response to the Finniston Report of 1980), reform of the Engineering Council in 1996, and creation of the Engineering Council UK in 2002.

The long version:

History

In the UK the importance of engineers as soldiers was recognised by the founding of the Corps of Engineers in 1717.  Recognition of the contribution of engineering to civilian society came later when the Institution of Civil Engineers was formed in 1818.  Civil engineering was strongly associated with the dramatic developments of the modern economy - particularly canals, bridges, lighthouses, ports and public health.

The significance of the 19^th century railway economy led to creation of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers in 1847, but the transformation in communications wrought by the use of electrical telegraphy meant that an Institution of Electrical Engineers was established in 1871.

As engineering became more specialised, the number of societies and institutions grew. By the mid 1950s the demand for a central body - to agree standards for education and training, and to act as a representative of the profession - led to the creation of the Joint Council of Engineering Institutions in 1964 (later the Council of Engineering Institutions or CEI).

Disagreement on the importance and role of the CEI resulted in a Royal Commission study of the engineering profession (Finniston Cmnd 7783) which recommended the creation of an Engineering Council to register competent engineers directly.  In the event the Engineering Council was created as a chartered body to facilitate promotion of engineering and regulation of the profession, working in collaboration with the professional engineering institutions (PEIs).

The Engineering Council published Standards and Routes to Registration (SARTOR) in 1985 and undertook an auditing role to assess PEIs' ability to maintain registration Standards.

In 2002 the Council split into the Engineering and Technology Board (now called EngineeringUK) and Engineering Council UK (the latter later reverting to "Engineering Council").  The Engineering Council overhauled professional registration standards in 2003, publishing the first version of the UK Standard for Professional Engineering Competence (UK-SPEC) in December of that year.