MPDS requires all mentors to be Chartered or Incorporated Engineers (of any discipline). However, in specific circumstances it may be more appropriate for the day-to-day mentoring of a DE to be undertaken by someone other than the person registered as their mentor. These situations are as follows:

·   If the developing engineer is likely to spend an extended period working in a location which will make it difficult for the mentor and developing engineer to meet regularly, it may be more suitable for the employer or mentor to ask a professional engineer at the developing engineer’s place of work to act as delegate mentor.

·   If, within a scheme, there are not enough mentors to support the developing engineers who would like to register on the scheme (IMechE recommends that a mentor should not support more than two young engineers at any one time), the employer or registered mentor should consider appointing another suitable person to act as delegate mentor.

In both instances, the delegate mentor is not required to be a Chartered or Incorporated Engineer but the person registered as the delegate engineer’s mentor is required to approve the various MPDS submissions. Read-only access to e-MPDS is available for delegate mentors to view evidence and reports online, so that suggestions and recommendations can be made, prior to approval by the registered mentor.