Associate membership is a partial professional qualification, awarded in recognition of achievement and demonstrable involvement in, or engagement with, particular areas of planning. Associate membership therefore indicates that you have achieved a certain level of knowledge and experience in your chosen planning field. Associate Members use the designation AssocRTPI to denote their status. Find out more about the benefits.

Associate membership also provides a pathway to progressing to Chartered Town Planner status via the A-APC.

Why join

• Gain partial qualification and get on the route to Chartered membership.
• Use the post-nominals AssocRTPI and logo to showcase your knowledge and expertise.
• Access networks and discounted events.
• Access RTPI member benefits and services including specific benefits for academics.

Eligibility

To be eligible to submit your Associate membership application:

• You must have a minimum of 2-7 years' experience engaged with planning (full-time equivalent). The exact amount required varies according to your educational background and qualification, as shown in educational background below.

• Up to 1 year of this experience may have been gained before completing the relevant qualification (for educational backgrounds a-d); the remainder must be gained after the qualification.

Educational background

a. Planning degree (partially RTPI accredited) - 2 years experience required
b. Planning degree (non-RTPI accredited) -  2 years experience required
c. Non-planning degree - 3 years experience required
d. RTPI Town Planning Technical Support Apprenticeship - 3 years experience required
e. Other - 7 years experience required 

What is the Associate membership application?

Candidates for Associate membership must prepare a 4,000 word written submission (+/-10%) demonstrating their experience and how they have developed their competence. There are three parts to the submission:

• Practical Experience Statement
• Professional Competence Statement
• Professional Development Plan

Your Associate submission must contain the following items:

To complete your application for Associate membership, you will need the following: 

• A copy of any relevant degree certificate or transcript to confirm you have been awarded the qualification/s. 
• A signed sponsor declaration form. 
• Corroborator declaration form/s. 
• Your written submission, including the three components: PES, PCS and PDP. 
• Your reflective journal as a Licentiate, if applicable. 
• Your employment history. 
• A credit/debit card for payment. 

Download the main guidance from our Resource Centre.

Submitting your application 

2026 new applications:

Please submit your application via the online joining portal. The RTPI will accept files up to 10 MB each. If an individual document is larger than this, please contact the Membership team for advice on how to resave your submission in a smaller file size. 

See the How to submit page for more information on how to submit your application online. 

All first-time and resubmissions from February 2026 onwards should be made via the online joining portal. We will no longer accept applications via email.  

Fees

An administration fee is required to process your application and should be paid on submission. Further information on administration fees can be found here.

Visit the membership subscription fees page for more information about how to maintain your membership.   A confirmation of fees notice will be issued to you once you have joined and will be pro-rated based on the month you join.