The RTPI is committed to supporting all candidates through the Assessment of professional competency (APC) and achieving Chartered membership. We want to ensure that candidates can access the APC assessment. Therefore, we are happy to consider requests for reasonable adjustments, where appropriate, to enable this to happen.

The reasonable adjustment policy, below, sets out in more detail how we can help to support candidates going through the APC assessment.

RTPI Reasonable Adjustment Policy

This policy applies to the RTPI Assessment of Professional Competence and the Chartered Town Planner Degree Apprenticeship End Point Assessment.

Access arrangements allow candidates who have a disability to undertake the Assessment of Professional Competence to become a Chartered, Associate or Legal Associate member, or undertake the End Point Assessment to complete their apprenticeship.

Reasonable adjustments take place before the assessment to allow the candidate to access it without changing the demands of the assessment. The RTPI is committed to equality of opportunity and the Equality Act 2010 requires the RTPI to consider requests for reasonable adjustments where a candidate, who is disabled as defined by the Act, would be at a substantial disadvantage in comparison to someone who is not disabled.

Disability is defined by the Act as “a physical or mental impairment which has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on a person’s ability to carry out normal day- to-day activities.”

Reasonable adjustments may be unique for each candidate and should seek to reduce the effect the disability has on the candidate’s ability to complete the required assessment.

Examples of reasonable adjustments include, but are not limited to:

• Candidates submitting their APC submission outside of the normal assessment schedule deadlines.
• Candidates using software programmes where they can dictate their written submission and it is automatically typed up rather than type it themselves or using software programmes which check for the use of English as well as spelling, punctuation and grammar.
• Allowing a sign language specialist to translate spoken language during the Professional Discussion as part of the Chartered Town Planner Degree Apprenticeship End Point Assessment.

Reasonable adjustments should not give the candidate an advantage over other candidates. It should not change the APC assessment e.g., for the Professional Competence Statement (PCS) all the required competencies should be demonstrated. It should not be a substitute for a lack of knowledge or experience. The assessment standard which candidates are required to demonstrate should not be lowered as a result of a reasonable adjustment.

When reviewing a request for a reasonable adjustment, consideration will be given to factors such as costs, timeframe, availability and ensuring the integrity of the assessment if not undermined.

Procedure

Candidates are encouraged to contact the Membership team before they start work on their APC submission. Although requests for reasonable adjustments can be made at any time, as a candidate’s medical condition and needs are not constant. All requests should be made in writing by emailing the Membership team (membership@rtpi.org.uk) but candidates are encouraged to contact the Membership team to seek advice and to understand the policy before formally submitting a request.

Requests should include details of the condition and supporting information. It would also be useful to understand what support the candidate’s employer puts in place to enable the candidate to conduct their day-to-day work tasks and responsibilities as part of their job.

The RTPI recognise that all candidates’ needs are different and therefore all requests for reasonable adjustments will be treated on an individual basis. Consistency and fairness will be considered when reviewing requests. The Membership team will consider each request, with input from assessors and other specialists e.g., medical and/or legal, as necessary. This process will be overseen by the Membership Assessment Advisory Panel (MAAP).

Outcome

The Membership team will let the candidate know the outcome of their request for adjustment(s). If a request is deemed to be unreasonable, the candidate will be informed as to the reasons why, and if possible, alternative reasonable adjustments will be suggested. As requests will be unique to the candidate and advice from specialists may be required, the timeframe may vary on an outcome. If external advice is not required then a decision and outcome will be communicated to the candidate within two weeks of the requests.

 

This policy was last updated in September 2025.