PrintRegulations
AMENDMENT TO DISCIPLINARY REGULATIONS – EFFECTIVE 4 AUGUST 2008
Amendments to the Disciplinary Regulations ('the Regulations') were approved by the Institute Council at its meeting on 29 May 2008 and will come into effect on 4 August 2008.
A summary of the effect of the new amendments appears below.
Extension of the Range of Sanctions
Following implementation of CIPFA's Practice Assurance Scheme for Members engaged in practice, the range of sanctions available to the Disciplinary and Appeal Committees is extended to include the power to withdraw Practising Certificates for a specified period or indefinitely (new Regulation 7.2(d)(i)). Consequential amendments set out the procedure for Members who wish to apply for reinstatement of a Practising Certificate (new Regulations 16.4 and 17).
Specialist Members
The discretion of disciplinary scheme committee chairs to appoint 'Specialist Members' (i.e. committee members with specialist knowledge of the field in which a respondent to disciplinary proceedings works) to the panels considering a particular case has been removed. This change is designed to promote and enhance the transparency of decision-making in disciplinary hearings and to reflect the greater reliance in recent years on expert evidence. There is now routine use in disciplinary hearings of expert witnesses, whose views (in contrast to those of committee specialists) can be challenged with ease by all the parties and the panel in open session.
The new Regulations can be viewed here [PDF size 364KB].