We support our members to work to a high standard of professional practice and to ensure public confidence in the services they offer. All our members have agreed to abide by our Code of Professional Conduct. The Code sets out our expectations of members in all areas of their professional practice.
We recognise that occasionally things go wrong. If you are unhappy about the work of one of our members then we have procedures in place to enable you to make a formal complaint. These are known as our Professional Conduct Inquiry Procedures. Please note that we can only consider complaints against current members of CIEEM and only for work undertaken during their period of membership. We can only investigate complaints regarding the competence of our members and not, for example, the scale of fees.
Please also note that we would normally only inquire into one complaint per member at any one time. Additional complaints will be dealt with subsequently in the date order in which they are received. However multiple complaints regarding the same issue or piece of work may be treated as one complaint.
If you are considering making a complaint we strongly recommend that you read our list of frequently asked questions about the complaints process. You should read this in conjunction with the Professional Conduct Inquiry Procedures. Complaints can be made by individuals or by organisations.
If after reading these two documents you have any further questions about the complaints process then please contact the Secretariat. We are unable to comment on specific cases but always happy to answer general questions about the process.
We have produced a short advice note about professional conduct complaints relating to planning and development applications which may be especially helpful for local planning authorities and potential complainants. We also have an advice note for members of the Institute who are considering making a complaint about another member.
Most complaints are made in good faith, with the complainant believing that a member may have contravened the Code of Professional Conduct and that this merits investigation by CIEEM. Occasionally someone may make or pursue complaints in a vexatious or persistent way. Our Vexatious Complaints Policy ensures unreasonable and/or persistent complainants are dealt with fairly.
You can check to see whether somebody is a member of CIEEM by searching the Members Directory.
To make a complaint please complete and return a Complaints Form to Complaints@cieem.net.
Registered Practices have also signed up to a Code of Practice. If your complaint is about several pieces of work done by a number of employees of a Registered Practice or other potential breaches of the Code of Practice then you should contact CIEEM for advice on how to proceed.