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Benefits of employing professionally qualified engineers

There are many benefits organisations can gain by employing engineers and technicians with Engineering Council professional qualifications:

1. Increased technical credibility with customers

  • A company that employs Chartered Engineers, Incorporated Engineers or Engineering Technicians will enhance its ability to win potential business. Many customers, both in the UK and overseas, will require evidence of your employees' engineering competence.  Engineering Council professional qualifications are an accepted way of satisfying this.
  • Our professional qualifications are recognised in many other countries through mutual recognition agreements with international professional bodies. Registration with the Engineering Council is recognised under European law through Directive 2005/36/EC.

2. Assurance that the employee has satisfied a rigorous assessment of their engineering competence

  • To gain registration, each engineer or technician must submit evidence of education, training and professional experience. These are scrutinised by a panel of senior engineers, including industrialists and academics. A formal face-to-face review is then undertaken, drawing on detailed real project submissions judged by the candidate to exemplify the competencies achieved.

3. Confirmation that the engineering credentials being claimed are actually held

  • All documentation submitted by the candidate is verified. Evidence of academic qualifications is checked with the issuing authority. Statements of experience gained and career path are verified by at least two sponsors, who are contacted separately for private reports.

4. Assurance that the employee is keeping up-to-date with professional codes of conduct and has the means to do this

  • Registrants are expected to observe the requirements of the Code of Conduct of the professional engineering institution (PEI) they have joined. PEIs are obliged to respond to allegations of infringement of the code.  They may suspend or remove membership and Engineering Council registration if proven. PEI Codes of Conduct follow the generic framework detailed below.

    Each PEI places a personal obligation on its members to act with integrity, in the public interest, and to exercise all reasonable professional skill and care to:
  1. Prevent avoidable danger to health or safety.
  2. Prevent avoidable adverse impact on the environment.
  3. a) Maintain their competence.
    b) Undertake only professional tasks for which they are competent.
    c) Disclose relevant limitations of competence.
  4. a) Accept appropriate responsibility for work carried out under their supervision.
    b) Treat all persons fairly, without bias, and with respect.
    c) Encourage others to advance their learning and competence.
  5. a) Avoid where possible real or perceived conflict of interest.
    b) Advise affected parties when such conflicts arise.
  6. Observe the proper duties of confidentiality owed to appropriate parties.
  7. Reject bribery.
  8. Assess relevant risks and liability, and if appropriate hold professional indemnity insurance.
  9. Notify the institution if convicted of a criminal offence or upon becoming bankrupt or disqualified as a Company Director.
  10. Notify the institution of any significant violation of the institution's Code of Conduct by another member.

5. A means to satisfy requirements of the Quality Management Systems standard ISO 9001:2008

ISO 9001:2008 (in 6.2.2.a) states that "The organisation shall determine the necessary competence for personnel performing work affecting product quality."

Registration contributes to demonstrating that employees have suitable and necessary competences.

Further information

The Engineering Council is aware that recruitment of technically qualified staff can be complicated and uncertain. We know how it is often difficult to adequately assess the depth of education and training required for a role which may be crucial to your company's success.

This is why we have worked for many years with other professional bodies in the UK to develop and maintain a recognised and trusted standard for professional engineers and engineering technicians.

UK-SPEC (the UK Standard for Professional Engineering Competence) provides a means of assessing and ensuring the continued technical competence of professional engineers and technicians, in reliable ways that are also internationally recognised.