Proposed rules to establish an Appeals Committee

• 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. 
• In October 2022, ARB invited views on proposed rules to establish the Committee. These covered how an individual can appeal to the Committee and the procedure for how it should function.
• The survey comprised of four questions.
• Two questions featured ‘closed’ multiple-choice elements, with the remaining two using solely an ‘open’ free-text element where respondents could give more insight into their views. The questions are reproduced in order below:

Question 13: Status of the Appellant while the appeal is being considered

The proposed rules would mean that:

• For appeals against an initial decision involving an application for registration, the Appellant will remain unregistered pending the outcome of the appeal.
• For appeals against an initial decision to remove someone from the Register under the new competence (CPD) scheme, the Appellant will remain on the Register pending the outcome of the appeal.

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 received 48 unique responses to the consultation.
• 96% of respondents to the survey were registered architects.
• The majority of respondents supported our proposed rules.
• There were no significant recurring themes raised that would impact the inclusivity our 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.