Question 13: Status of the Appellant while the appeal is being considered
The proposed rules would mean that:
Do you agree with this approach?
Respondents were invited to select one of the following options: Strongly agree, Agree, Neither agree nor disagree, Disagree, Strongly disagree.
Respondents also had the opportunity to explain the rationale for their response in an open text box.
Question 14: Appeal Fee
The proposed rules include that ARB will set a fee that must be paid by an individual before their appeal can be considered. This would be set annually by the Board, on a purely cost recovery basis, and stated on ARB’s website.
Do you agree with this approach?
Respondents were invited to select one of the following options: Strongly agree, Agree, Neither agree nor disagree, Disagree, Strongly disagree.
Respondents also had the opportunity to explain the rationale for their response in an open text box.
Question 15: Is there anything within the proposed rules that could have an impact on ARB’s commitment to equality, diversity, and inclusion, or have a positive or negative impact on anyone with particular protected characteristics?
Question 16: Do you have any other comments about the proposed rules?
We produced an analysis report that summarised responses to the survey. This was discussed at ARB’s Board meeting on 15 February 2023 and approved for publication. This report is available here.
Alongside the consultation, we identified technical changes that would help to clarify the status of Committee members by reflecting developments to the status of ARB’s workers. These changes will also mean a more efficient and transparent approach to membership of ARB’s Professional Conduct Committee and Appeals Committee. These two committees cover separate areas of decision-making.
In line with requirements of the Architects Act 1997, ARB has also consulted the Secretary of State on the Rules regarding the Committee’s composition.
At its meeting on 15 February, ARB’s Board approved the updated Rules for the Committee and its functioning. We will now implement the Rules to establish the Committee and, when the Committee is established, we will begin to inform individuals as part of any decisions we make that are eligible for appeal.
View submitted responses where consent has been given to publish the response.
The Architects Registration Board (ARB) is an independent professional regulator, established by Parliament as a statutory body, through the Architects Act 1997. We are accountable to government.
The law gives us a number of core functions:
This consultation
Changes to the law through the Building Safety Act 2022 require ARB to establish a new Appeals Committee.
The scope of decisions that the Committee can consider is set in legislation but ARB is able to set rules on the Committee's composition and functioning.
We are now consulting on these proposed rules before they come into force. The proposed rules are set out in our document here, along with accompanying changes to ARB’s General Rules. They cover:
Background
The new committee is intended to provide a non-judicial route of appeal to aggrieved persons within its scope.
This aims to make the appeals process more accessible than the previous route, which was to the Board directly and then to the High Court.
It also aims to ensure that architects removed from the Register under our incoming competence (CPD) scheme will have recourse to challenge that decision.
The updated Architects Act 1997 means the Committee can consider appeals against:
or
The Committee may make any decision that could have been made by the person who made the decision appealed against. These initial decisions will normally be made by the Registrar, with the exception of a situation where it would be inappropriate for them to make the decision (e.g a close connection with the individual in question).
The below flowchart provides an indicative outline of a typical appeal process to help illustrate how the Committee would function (but does not replace anything in the proposed rules).
These rules will affect how the new Committee functions and may be of particular interest to potential applicants or architects who will be required to participate in our new CPD scheme.
The consultation will close on Friday 9 December 2022.
The consultation will comply with ARB's Code of Practice for consultations. We have decided to issue this consultation for a period of six weeks because of the narrow nature of the topic and our desire to avoid unecessary delays in establishing the Committee.
Alongside this, ARB will consult the Secretary of State on the Committee’s composition, in line with requirements in the updated Architects Act.
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