Standing Orders
These Standing Orders are the regulations of the Society,
determined by the Board of Directors under Article 84 of the Articles of Association
Standing Orders of Play Therapy (UK) –
The United Kingdom Society for Play and Creative Arts
Therapies Limited
Where the term therapy is used, it refers to work done by
individual and organisational practitioner members in the field of therapeutic
play, play therapy, filial play, creative arts therapies, child counselling and
child psychotherapy.
1. The Society has two main categories of members:
- Shareholding
- Practitioner
2. Shareholding Membership
2.1 Any person or organisation entitled to acquire shares
under the Companies Acts 1985 to 1989 may apply to purchase shares in the
Society at the current price fixed by the Board of Directors. Applicants should
be aware that the Society is a not for profit organisation and that no
dividends will be paid.
2.2 All shareholding members may attend and speak at a
General Meeting. Individual Members and Organisation Members have one vote per
fully paid up share.
3. Practitioner Membership
3.1 General
3.1.1 All practitioner members are reminded that, on
applying for admission to membership or on renewal of membership, they sign an
undertaking that if admitted as Full Members, and as long as they are
practising members, they will observe the, regulations for the time being in
force and that they will be bound by the Society’s Ethical Framework for Good
Practice in the therapies, be subject to the Professional Conduct Procedure,
use principles of clinical governance as recommended by the Society and fulfil
the Society’s requirements for continuous professional development (CPD)
therein for the time being in force.
3.1.2 Practitioner membership includes individuals and
organisations. The Board of Directors may from time to time:
- determine, add to, amend, revoke or otherwise close such
classes and sub-classes of membership as are deemed necessary.
- determine the movement of members from one class or
sub-class of membership to another.
- set the criteria for entry to each class or sub-class of
membership.
- set entrance fees, subscriptions and other fees or payments
to be made by members.
3.2 Grades of Membership
3.2.1 The Society has four grades of individual practitioner
membership:
(i) The Associate Member grade shall be open to anyone
working with children or interested in therapeutic play, play therapy, creative
arts therapies, child counselling and child psychotherapy. Also to retired or
non-practising therapists.
(ii) The Full Member grade shall be open to professional
therapists who have been awarded a qualification, recognised or accredited by
the Society at least at Diploma level at stage 3 of the Professional Structure
Model (PSM) Training Model and is engaged in the practice, supervision,
training or management of the therapies as defined in the Memorandum of
Association, full or part time, voluntary or remunerated; Evidence of CPD is
required for continuing membership.
(iii) The Trainee Membership Grade shall be open to those
undertaking a training course as relevant to the therapies (as defined in the
Memorandum of Association) and recognised by the Society.
(iv) The Student Grade shall be open to those undertaking a
recognised creative arts therapy training course.
3.2.2 Corporate Practitioner Membership
Corporate Practitioner Membership shall be open to
organisations which accept the Society’s Ethical Framework for Good Practice in
working therapeutically with children and the Professional Conduct Procedure
therein and such other membership conditions as the Board of Directors may from
time to time determine. The term Corporate shall include the staff, volunteers,
members and committee members. Corporate membership shall be open to
organisations which:
offer the therapies to children; and/or
offer direct services to practitioners of the therapies;
and/or
offer training in the therapies; and/or
have personnel who use the therapies in the course of their
work and/or
engage in other activities such as research that are
relevant to the objects of the Society.
An organisation that is a Corporate Practitioner Member may
nominate a number of individual persons employed by or associated with the
organisation for individual practitioner membership at grades appropriate to
their level of qualifications, skills and experience. The number of nominated
persons accepted will be determined by the Corporate Practitioner Membership
fees as decided by the Board of Directors from time to time.
3.3 Registration Fees. The Board of Directors will set registration
fees and any changes to which shall apply from 1st October each year. Fees
shall be payable to the Society at its central office.
4. Affiliations
4.1 The Board of Directors shall have the power in its sole
discretion to grant affiliation status to individuals or organisations not
being members of the Society and not resident in the United Kingdom upon such
terms and conditions as it from time to time shall determine.
4.2 Holders of affiliation status shall not be members of
the Society and shall not be entitled to any of the rights of members.
5. Professional Conduct
5.1 The Board of Directors shall from time to time make
regulations concerning the method by which any question of alleged breach of
Professional Conduct by a member or associated action is to be brought before
the Association.
5.2 The Board of Directors shall from time to time determine
the procedures to be followed for hearing such alleged breaches, including
appeals, and for the subsequent communication of findings and any other matters
it deems to be relevant.
5.3 The Board of Directors shall from time to time determine
the range of sanctions which may be applied in cases where alleged breaches are
found to be proven.
5.4 It shall be for every member or for any person to bring
to the attention of the Chief Executive any facts or matters indicating that a
member may have become liable to disciplinary action. In any such case the
Chief Executive shall lay the facts and matters before the relevant body
appointed by the Board of Directors if she/he is of the opinion that the matter
ought to be investigated.
6. Accreditation
6.1 The Board of Directors shall from time to time determine
the criteria and approve the procedures for the conduct of the Society’s
systems for accreditation.
6.2 The Board of Directors may, as required, establish:
working group(s) to advise it on the operation, development, amendment,
revocation or closure of schemes devised for the accreditation of individuals
or organisations.
6.3 The Board of Directors may from time to time establish
reciprocal arrangements and/or equivalent routes to accreditation/registration
with other cognate professional bodies as it shall determine.
6.4 The Board of Directors shall have the right for good and
sufficient reason to terminate the accreditation/registration of any member
provided that the member in question, or a representative of the member, shall
have the right to be heard by the Board of Directors under any procedure set up
for this purpose by the Board of Directors.
7. Professional Structure Model
7.1 The Board of Directors shall from time to time determine
the design, content, operation, development, amendment and dissemination of the
Professional Structure Model including the competency framework for
practitioners of the therapies.
7.2 The Board of Directors may, as required, establish:
working group/s to advise it on the design, content, operation, development,
amendment and dissemination of the Professional Structure Model and competency
framework.
7.3 The Board of Directors may from time to time establish
reciprocal arrangements and/or equivalent uses of the Professional Structure
Model and competency framework with other cognate professional bodies as it
shall determine.
8. General Meetings
8.1 Notice of the Annual General Meeting shall be sent by
the Secretary to shareholding members not less than twenty-one days before the
date of the meeting.
8.2 Resolutions to be considered at the Annual General
Meeting shall be submitted to the Secretary in writing by a date to be fixed by
her/him not less than twenty eight days and not more than fifty six days before
the date of the meeting, and shall be sent to shareholding members not less
than fourteen days before the meeting.
8.3 Resolutions, other than those proposed by the Board of
Directors, shall be submitted by the Advisory Board. Amendments to resolutions
shall be accepted in exceptional circumstances at the discretion of the Chair
after consultation with the proposer and seconder of the resolution.
8.4 Practitioner members may at any time submit in writing
suggestions or proposals to the Advisory Board that may require a resolution to
be passed at a General Meeting. It is the responsibility of the Advisory Board
to evaluate the proposal to determine if it should be submitted to the Board of
Directors for approval.
8.5 Voting shall be by a show of voting cards bearing the
number of eligible votes, determined by the number of shares held. A simple
majority shall be sufficient to pass a resolution.
8.6 In the conduct of the meeting the decision of the Chair
in any matter not covered by these Standing Orders shall be final.
9. Divisions
9.1 Divisions may be formed within the Society to represent
special interests of practitioner members in the therapies. The objects of
Divisions shall be in accordance with the objects of the Society.
9.2 Practitioner Members of a Division shall be members of
the Society but membership of a Division is optional for members of the
Society. Members of the Society may apply to join as many Divisions as they
wish. A Division shall consist of at least 20 members.
9.3 Corporate Members of the Society can nominate a single
representative to apply to be a member of a Division
9.4 The formation of a Division shall be provisionally when
the Division's Terms of Reference have been approved by the Board of Directors.
The Division shall be formally constituted by the decision of a General Meeting
of the Society. Amendments to the Terms of Reference shall be submitted to the
Board of Directors for approval before coming into force.
9.5 A Division of the Society shall be named according to
its broad function.
9.6 Each Division shall notify the Chief Executive of the
names of its Officers upon their election or appointment.
9.7 Each Division shall submit a written report of its
activities to the Board of Directors at least once a year.
9.8 Each Division shall be financially self supporting.
9.9 Each Division shall determine its own membership fee,
any changes to which shall apply from 1 October each year. Divisional fees
shall be paid to the Society at its central office and shall be remitted to
Divisional accounts on at least a quarterly basis.
9.10 Should a Divisional Executive Committee wish to
dissolve the Division, it must first consult the Board of Directors. If there
is still a wish within the Division for it to be dissolved, an assenting vote
of not less than two thirds of its total practitioner members is required.
Dissolution is subject to ratification by a majority vote of the next General
Meeting of the Society.
9.11 The Board of Directors shall have the power to propose
the dissolution of a Division when it deems this to be in the best interests of
the Society. Such a proposal to dissolve must first be passed by two thirds of
the Board of Directors present and voting. The Division in question shall be
advised in writing of the reason for the proposed action. The Division shall
have until the next General Meeting of the Society (but in no case less than
nine months) to effect remedial measures or otherwise bring itself into
compliance with the Memorandum and Articles of Society and Standing Orders of
the Society.
9.12 In the event of a Division being dissolved, money in
the Division's account will revert to the Society's general funds.
10. Local Groups Affiliated to the Society
10.1 The Board of Directors may recognise autonomous Local
Groups of therapists or those interested in promoting the value of the
therapies, as a Local Group affiliated to the Society. The group may adopt its
own name but shall in all instances identify itself as affiliated to the
Society.
10.2 Local Groups shall have at least ten members of the
Society and shall not have membership whereby more than one third are
non-Society members. All members of the Executive Committee shall be members of
the Society.
10.3 The objects and operation of the Local Group shall be
in accord with the Memorandum and Articles of Society and Standing Orders of
the Society.
10.4 Membership of a Local Group shall be open to any
members of the Society living or working within the geographical area covered
by the Local Group. Corporate Members of the Society shall be able to nominate
one representative to be a member having the same status as an Individual
Member.
10.5 Each Local Group shall notify the Chief Executive of
the Society, at least annually, of the names of its Officers, its membership
and its activities during the year.
10.6 Each Local Group shall be financially self-supporting
and determine and collect its own membership subscriptions. In the event of
dissolution, each Local Group shall determine how to disperse any accumulated
funds.
10.7 A Local Group must not use for its own purposes the
Society's company number, or logo on its headed notepaper. A Local Group may
apply to the Board of Directors for permission to use the Society logo for
Society related activities. A Local Group where all its members belong to the
Society may apply to use the Society logo when promoting its activities.
10.8 Should a Local Group wish to discontinue its
relationship with the Society this should be notified in writing to the
Secretary of the Society giving nine months notice.
10.9 The Board of Directors shall have the power to withdraw
the affiliated status of a Local Group when this is deemed to be in the
interests of the Society. The Local Group shall be advised in writing of the
proposed action and shall have no less than nine months in which to effect
remedial measures.
11. National Societies
11.1 The Society may include National Societies for England,
Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
11.2 The objects of the National Societies shall be in
accordance with the objects of the Society, and shall not come into force until
they have been approved by the Board of Directors.
11.3 The relationships of the National Societies to the
Society and its Divisions shall be formally agreed in consultation with the
Board of Directors.
12. United Kingdom Register of Play Therapists
12.1 A Register of Full Practitioner Members may be found
within the Society.
12.2 The name of the register shall be The United Kingdom
Register of Play Therapists or such other as the Board of Directors of the
Society shall from time to time approve.
12.3 The Register will be organised in such a way as the
Board of Directors shall from time to time approve and comply with the
requirements of the British Government's regulatory agencies such as the
CHRE/PSA.
12.4 All publications, notices and correspondence and
relevant associated documentation from the United Kingdom Register of Play
Therapists will display the Register logo and the Society logo, company number,
and registered office as required by Company law.
12.5 The Terms of Reference, and any amendment thereto of
the United Kingdom Register of Play Therapists shall be submitted to the Board
of Directors for approval before coming into force.
12.6 Registrants will have attained a standard of training,
competence and experience in the therapies as defined by the Board of
Directors. They are required to maintain their ability to perform competently
by undertaking further continuous professional development (CPD) activities.
12.7 Amendments to the criteria for Registration shall be
approved by a system of consultation with relevant cognate professional bodies
and others and be agreed by the Board of Directors before coming into force.