Consumer protection that’s wide of the marque

What is interesting is the protection given to accreditation schemes. Claiming to be in a scheme when not is a breach of the regulations and there are greater powers available now to prosecute and stiffer penalties when found guilty. That is a considerable advance on the ragtag of regulations and rules previously.

I recently spoke with someone about this and his comment was that you can have all the badges you like, but if what you do is rubbish, the badge is meaningless. It struck me as so true. We spend a lifetime collecting badges of one kind or another personally, professionally and corporately: whether they be for swimming, a professional qualification, ISO 9001 or Investors in People. But at the end of the day if the execution of what is done is unsatisfactory then the badge is as good as useless.

Unfortunately this is where the regulations fall short because there is little or no protection against useless badge holders.

Even worse are the badges that are themselves useless. It is not hard to identify them either. You pay a fee, you get the badge. There are some ‘interesting’ similes with quality, longevity and skill usually involved in the name and there is minimal checking done to assess the competence of the new badge holder, along with a ‘so what’ code of conduct.

The CIOB badge, along with those of our sister chartered institutes, is not for sale. If the applicant is not up to it then that’s that. The qualification description is simple and to the point and there is extensive work done to not only check the knowledge and competence of the applicant, but there are the means to ensure that the badge holder (the member) remains competent.

If anyone steps out of line, the sanctions can be severe – even to the point of impairing their livelihood.

This shows the fundamental difference between a professional body and a trade body. As a professional body our prime duty is not our members, but the people (society at large) who rely on our members’ competence and expertise. That’s what the Charter says.

Trade bodies are essentially there to promote, lobby and even be apologists for their members, so their agendas tend to be geared to self interest.

Badges are everywhere, they represent shorthand. Some have substance behind them and can provide a foundation for reliance by the world at large, but these are outweighed by the many others where reliance is impossible and, in some cases, downright dangerous.