Reviews of qualifications, registration and professional titles

Members will recall our review of the Professional Standards Framework (PSF) last year, which included a series of useful meetings with members, employers, advisory panels, academics and other stakeholders – as well as a questionnaire.

Perhaps inevitably, this review raised more questions than it answered. Our Board of Trustees and Environmental Health Service Committee are clear that this review needs to be done properly and in depth, rather than being a "quick fix". Alongside the PSF review, conversations have been ongoing with Ian Gray and Dr Chris Day about their AGM motion, which raised a number of other issues about our qualification and registration frameworks.

The upshot is that in 2026, we will be convening a new Qualification & Registration Review Steering Group to tackle this full range of issues. Stakeholders’ contributions to the PSF review will form part of the submissions to the Steering Group, so your comments will be fed into this new initiative.

In parallel to this work on qualifications and registration, our Board of Trustees has also convened a Professional Titles Working Group. This workstream will explore issues related to professional identity, including the thorny issue of whether our professional title should be “Environmental Health Officer” or “Environmental Health Practitioner” – or perhaps something completely different.

We are now seeking to recruit one Chair for both of these groups. This will be a paid position. The role of this Professional Standards Advisor is quite niche – we believe it will be suited to senior academics in the environmental health / public health space, or senior practitioners with a good grip on qualifications, registration and related issues.

There is more information on the role of the Senior Professional Standards Advisor and the work of the two groups on our Work for us page. The closing date for applications is 17.00, Friday 27 February.

Once the groups are operating, there will be regular updates to members on their work in Member Connect, Environmental Health News, etc.

Please help us by spreading the word about the Chair role through your contacts and networks.