PRC Newsletter - Issue 22

Dear Volunteer, welcome to the 22nd Professional Review (PRC) Newsletter. In this edition, Tom Owen reviews the recent Licence renewal that IMechE has to undertake every 5 years. There is also an appeal from the editor for more material for the newsletter.

• PRC Meeting Update
• Editorial
• IMechE Five-year Engineering Council Licence Renewal
• Observing a PRC Meeting
• Contacts

PRC Meeting Update

In September, we had a virtual meeting with one observer present. There was just one case discussed, which is a testament to the quality of PRI training and PRI reports.  When I started on the PRC nearly 16 years ago, we usually discussed more than a dozen cases.

PRC Vacancies
There will be vacancies for the PRC/PRC Panel starting in January next year.  If you are interested, contact me.

PRC Chair
My tenure as chair ends at the end of this year, having served two two-year terms.  I have really enjoyed it.  The new chair, who starts in January 2027, will be announced in the next newsletter, and I will also summarise what the PRC has achieved over the last four years in that newsletter.

As always, contributions from volunteers are greatly appreciated. IMechE could not function without your support.

Best wishes,

Tim Bagnall 
PRC Chair

Editorial

Welcome to this Newsletter, Number 22. 

For this “slimmed down” edition we have report form the single observer at the last PRC meeting and some important news from Tim Bagnall, the current Chairman of the PRC meeting.

As mentioned, this time we have a rather thin edition so I am looking for anybody and everybody who reads this newsletter and who has something to say and add to the general information available – so that the information can be broadcast to the whole of our readership.  I look forward to being swamped with offerings!  Thanks in advance to you all.

Matthew Waterhouse 
VC, Communications

IMechE Five-year Engineering Council Licence Renewal

The Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE) has successfully secured renewal of its Engineering Council licence for a further five years, reinforcing our role in supporting engineers to achieve Professional Registration.

A successful five-year renewal
The renewal follows a comprehensive review and audit of our professional registration activities, standards and processes, involving volunteers and staff from across IMechE.

The five-year renewal comprises an initial one-year licence period, the standard approach of the Engineering Council, followed by a further four years on completion of a small number of actions by the Institution. 
The result reflects the strength and consistency of IMechE’s approach to Professional Registration and the expertise of the staff and volunteers who support its delivery.

Continuing success in Professional Registration
Our License renewal sits alongside another significant achievement. In 2025 we registered the highest number of Engineers and Technicians onto the Engineering Council register for the fourteenth consecutive year, demonstrating the scale and continuing impact of the Institution’s work.

Professional Review Interviewers, assessors, mentors and those working with organisations and applicants are central to this success. Their expertise and commitment help ensure that Professional Registration standards are applied consistently and that candidates are supported throughout their journey.

A collaborative effort
The licence review was a substantial undertaking. A coordinated project team worked with colleagues and volunteers across the Institution to prepare, review and submit 485 documents within a two-month period, providing the evidence required to demonstrate compliance with Engineering Council requirements.

Graham Taylor, Chair of the Qualifications and Membership Board, described the work as a “one team approach”, recognising the commitment and expertise of everyone involved.

Looking ahead
Securing the five-year licence renewal is a significant success for IMechE and reflects the professionalism and commitment of everyone involved in Professional Registration. We would like to acknowledge the outstanding contribution of the many volunteers and stakeholders who give their time and expertise to interviewing, assessing, mentoring and supporting engineers towards Professional Registration.

Tom Owen
Head of Membership Growth and Services



Observing a PRC Meeting

It was interesting to observe the meeting.  I was expecting the meeting to focus on individual cases, but it was interesting to see the full depth of responsibilities that the committee has to apply while providing oversight of the whole application process.  This was apparent in the tracking of actions which is ongoing.

The Committee vice chairs report progress on processing applications.  It is clear that the team and review panel need to keep to a strict cadence to ensure applications are processed in a timely manner and that there is a backlog at the moment which the team is trying to clear.  It was also interesting to note that there is a reported increase in Fellow applications at the moment while the number of CENG and IENG applications remain at a steady rate.  

The need to review Industrial competences which may be out of date was discussed.  It was interesting to note that the need to do this at all was discussed by the panel as a more broad and current definition of what Mechanical Engineering is would encompass these industrial competencies. I would tend to agree with this from an interviewer perspective as we interview people from different industries to the same competencies for Membership. 

The PRI reviewed the enablement survey, and for me a stark statistic was that only 70% of interview uptake is achieved  due to interviewer availability before the survey and 78% after.

The number of cases appealed was reviewed 10 in total which the panel considered ok given the volume of cases, 5 went to a second interview.  The panel discussed how to provide feedback to PRI's and reviewers on the final outcome of a second interview.  I would encourage this to happen also as I think it is invaluable feedback to close the loop for Interviewers.

The Updated application for Eng Tech was discussed also.  Again, interesting to note the process the panel follows and the discussion on how to get final approval of the updated from.  As part of the wider discussion, it is clear that there is a “UK SPEC 5” coming soon!

Feedback on interview schedules was discussed.  PRI's can take too long concentrating on competences A and B at the expense of C, D and E.  This is to be reinforced within the PRI panel training in the near term.  Also, it was discussed on scoring guidance to add to training packs.  Packs should included links to full scoring guides.  From this it is clear the panel collects and reviews feedback from IF's to include appropriate guidance in regular training.

A case for review was discussed and the panel unanimously voted for second interview.  From an Interviewer perspective this was really good as the PRC review included both interview notes and the full application.  I would agree with this conclusion and my observations are that the co-panellist comments did not reflect the scoring given in Competences A and B.

Thank you to the Panel for allowing me to observe.  It is something that I think is valuable as it gives an broader perspective on the overall membership application process and the challenges that the panel have in managing this and processing many applications each year with a team of Volunteers.

Robert Totten CEng FIMechE
Professional Review Interviewer

 



Contacts

Coordinator
Matthew Waterhouse - matthew.waterhouse@member.imeche.org

Chair
Tim Bagnall - tim.bagnall@member.imeche.org

PRC Staff Manager
Kevin Murphy - kevin.murphy@imeche.org