The following services are available to help you through your APC (Assessment of Professional Competence)

RICS training advisers
Following a successful training programme, RICS decided to set up a network of RICS Training Advisers (RTAs) covering the whole of the UK with effect from 1 January 1998.

Their role is primarily to help employers attain a structured training agreement (STA).

To see if a firm already has an approved STA please check the list from the excel spreadsheet attached.

RTAs are professional trainers who are also qualified RICS members. They are contracted to work part time, two days a week, for RICS.

Their role is to provide support and advice for employers of all specialisms who have candidates progressing towards the Assessment of Professional Competence (APC).

They should only be contacted during normal working hours by either the employer, counsellor, or supervisor.

The aim is to promote the highest standards of training practice within the profession.

This is achieved by:

• visiting firms to discuss APC training arrangements with employers, counsellors and supervisors
• helping employers to set up and operate structured training schemes
• encouraging the full involvement of RICS regions, academic institutions and other training organisations in the provision of training and professional development programme
• co-ordinating training activities and facilitating secondments to the mutual advantage of candidates and firms
• giving advice on the best means of assessing trainees
• handling queries about transitional arrangements from the 2002 to the 2006 APC
• feeding back any concerns and recommendations to RICS
• training and appointing APC doctors.

Access the RICS training adviser contact details by region.

APC doctors
APC doctors - appointed by RTAs - are volunteers within each RICS region that represent each specialism of surveying.

They provide a local independent point of contact for candidates seeking to discuss their experience, requiring assistance with completing interim or final submissions and looking for local information on training course providers.

You can obtain contact details for your local APC/ATC doctor from the Excel downloads panel on this page or from

RICS Contact Centre
T +44 (0)870 333 1600
E contactrics@rics.org

APC buddy scheme
(Candidates on the written submission final assessment route only)

APC candidates in countries where there is, as yet, no locally organised APC are still undertaking the final assessment by written submission only.

Because of the normally small number of members in these countries, candidates do not get the opportunity to meet and often feel isolated because of the lack of a 'friendly ear' to discuss and share their APC experiences.

RICS has now set up a 'buddy scheme', which consists of a group of newly qualified members who will offer help and assistance to candidates who may want advice on any aspect of their APC - a sort of APC pen pal service.

If you are an APC candidate, are undertaking the final assessment by written submission and would like details of a buddy mentor, please email Pat Shaw pshaw@rics.org at RICS.

If you have recently qualified and would like to act as a buddy mentor, please download the questionnaire and email it to Pat Shaw pshaw@rics.org.  

Supervisors and counsellors

Supervisor
Responsible for overseeing the candidate's day-to-day work and for ensuring that the work is done satisfactorily in a proper and professional manner.

The supervisor should ideally be a chartered surveyor, but members of some other professional institutions are acceptable if a chartered surveyor is not available. 
 
Counsellor
Responsible for the strategic management of the candidate’s training.

The counsellor must be a chartered surveyor, normally of the faculty for which the candidate is training.

The counsellor will, for example, decide when, in the interests of a candidate’s developing experience, a departmental move is required or back-up learning is advisable, and make arrangements to release the candidate accordingly.

In some cases, the counsellor will not be a member of the same employment organisation as the candidate.  

Course providers
Disseminating information and providing training for the APC. 

Local RICS Groups
Providing CPD events organised in conjunction with the RICS training advisors, regional APC doctors and RICS matrics.