This guides anyone thinking of making a complaint against a member of the Institute. Members must observe the Institute's Code of Professional Conduct. The Code states that members of the Institute must keep up-to-date and must always act with competence, honesty and integrity. There are other requirements set out in the Code.
Complaints against members are taken seriously. There is a Complaints Procedure, available to anyone on request.
Conduct and Discipline Panel
The Conduct and Discipline Panel considers complaints against members of the Institute. Decisions on complaints can only be taken at Panel meetings, which are normally held four times a year.
It should be understood that the Panel only considers complaints against its individual members. Neither the Institute nor its Panel is able to:
- Review decisions of local planning authorities; nor
- Investigate allegations of maladministration by a local planning authority or other organisation.
Time taken to investigate a complaint
The time taken will depend on the complexity of the case, the amount of documentation to be studied and whether or not the Panel will need to interview the member of the Institute concerned. Some investigations take some months before a decision can be reached.
Disciplinary action
If the Panel finds that a member has breached the Code, the Institute may:
- Warn the member as to his or her future conduct;
- Reprimand the member;
- Suspend the member's membership of the Institute; or
- Terminate the member's membership
What happens depends on the severity of the breach of the Code.
If I wish to complain, what do I do now?
There are three ways to complain.
- Write to: The Complaints Investigator at the Institute. You should include copies of all documents related to your complaint. You may wish to obtain copies of the Code and Complaints Procedure before lodging your complaint.
- Download the RTPI Complaint form here and use this to submit your complaint.
- Email: code.complaints@rtpi.org.uk
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