Practitioner membership terms and conditions
1. Summary
1.1 By making an application to join the Restorative Justice Council (RJC) as a practitioner member you (‘the practitioner’) and your organisation (‘the practitioner’s organisation’) agree to the following terms and conditions.
1.2 In particular we draw your attention to sections on the payment of fees and the basis for refunds to be made on those fees; the requirements on the practitioner and the practitioner’s organisation in achieving and maintaining membership of the RJC Practitioner Register; and the terms of membership of the RJC.
2. Practitioner member status
2.1 RJC practitioner members are either unregistered practitioners, Associate Practitioners or Accredited Practitioners. All practitioner members join as unregistered practitioners whilst their application to join the Practitioner Register as an Associate Practitioner is being assessed. Associate Practitioners may apply for Accredited Practitioner status either through the qualification route or by direct accreditation.
2.2 A separate fee and terms and conditions apply to practitioners applying for Accredited Practitioner status via Direct Accreditation or the qualification route.
3. Application to join the RJC as a practitioner member
3.1 To apply to join the RJC as a Practitioner Member the practitioner or practitioner’s organisation must:
- Agree to pay the Practitioner Membership Fee (defined in Annex 1).
- Supply the RJC with the following information:
- the practitioner’s name, address and email
- the name and address of the organisation the practitioner works or volunteers for and the practitioner’s job title
- the information required to assess your eligibility for practitioner registration
4. Payment and refund of practitioner membership fees
4.1 The practitioner or the practitioner's organisation shall pay the practitioner membership fee within 30 days of the invoice date.
4.2 The Practitioner Membership Fee is for one year of membership. Membership starts from the date of application.
4.3 The Practitioner Membership Fee applies to all practitioners regardless of status. The current fee is provided in annex 1.
4.4 If the application is unsuccessful for any reason or the application is withdrawn within seven days of being made (regardless of whether it has been accepted) the practitioner or their organisation will be entitled to a full refund of the practitioner membership fee. Where the practitioner or their organisation cancels their membership of the RJC Practitioner Register after they have successfully applied and after seven days of their application the practitioner shall pay the full practitioner membership fee for the year.
4.5 The RJC reserves the right to introduce payment methods allowing the practitioner or the practitioner’s organisation to pay their annual fee in monthly instalments. Where the practitioner membership fee is paid in monthly instalments the practitioner is still liable to pay the fee for the entire year should monthly payments be cancelled before the end of twelve months.
5. Practitioner membership benefits
5.1 RJC practitioner membership includes the following membership benefits:
- Access to free online resources
- The RJC’s magazine Resolution
- RJC e-bulletins
- Discounted entry to RJC and partner organisations’ conferences and Continuing Professional Development (CPD) events
5.2 Associate Practitioners receive the following additional membership benefits:
- Listing on the RJC Practitioner Register
5.3 Accredited Practitioners receive the following additional membership benefits:
- Enhanced listing on the RJC Practitioner Register
- A certificate
- Use of the Accredited Practitioner Quality Mark and the letters APRJC (Accredited Practitioner Restorative Justice Council)
5.4 The RJC reserves the right to withdraw membership benefits once the membership renewal date has passed. Practitioners will continue to be required to adhere to the ongoing practitioner membership requirements during this period.
6. RJC constitutional membership
6.1 To be a constitutional member (also known as ‘formal membership’) of the RJC an RJC practitioner member must agree:
- To the vision of the Restorative Justice Council
- That in the event that the RJC is dissolved with outstanding debts/liabilities, including the expenses of winding up the organisation, to contribute up to £5 towards those debts/liabilities.
6.2 RJC constitutional members vote for the membership trustees on the RJC’s Board of Trustees and may attend the RJC Annual General Meeting free of charge. They may also stand as membership trustees in their own right. For more information on the constitutional rights of RJC members please see the RJC’s ‘Articles of Association’ at www.rjc.org.uk/constitution.
6.3 Practitioner members may still receive RJC membership services whilst waiving constitutional membership and voting rights.
6.4 Practitioner members whose fee is waived through their RSQM approved organisation are RJC members with voting rights. An organisation cannot vote on behalf of its practitioners – each practitioner must vote individually.
7. Termination of membership
7.1 A practitioner will cease to be an RJC member:
- When six months have passed since the renewal date and no payment of due membership fees has been received, or
- The practitioner resigns its membership of the RJC (excluding to the right to waive formal membership), or
- By resolution of the RJC Board of Trustees in accordance with the RJC’s Articles of Association.
8. Application to join the Practitioner Register
8.1 To apply to join the RJC Practitioner Register you must either have practitioner membership or apply for practitioner membership.
8.2 To be apply to join the Practitioner Register the practitioner should:
- Confirm the practitioner is currently providing restorative processes
- Confirm the practitioner has completed facilitation training
- Supply details of the practitioner’s case supervision arrangements including a referee
- Supply the practitioner’s areas and regions of practice
- Confirm that the practitioner has read, understood and agreed to uphold and abide by the RJC Practitioner Code of Practice.
- Declare that the information contained in the practitioner’s application is true, accurate and complete to the best of the practitioner’s knowledge.
- Authorise officers of the RJC to make any such enquiries as they consider necessary to verify the information given.
8.3 The RJC may contact the practitioner’s case supervision referee to check the details of the case supervision provided are correct. The application will be reviewed by the RJC and if all the practice requirements, including details of case supervision arrangements, are deemed adequate the practitioner will be eligible to be listed on the RJC Practitioner Register.
9. Ongoing Practitioner Register requirements
9.1 Associate Practitioners
The ongoing requirements of RJC practitioner registration for Associate Practitioners are:
- Payment of the annual practitioner membership fee.
- Confirmation that the practitioner is still delivering either formal or informal restorative processes.
- Confirmation of the practitioner's case supervision arrangements
9.2 Accredited Practitioners
The ongoing requirements of Accredited Practitioner status are:
- Payment of the annual practitioner membership fee.
- To provide evidence of their continuing professional development two years after they were first accredited, and then annually thereafter.
- Completion of the accreditation renewal process annually.
To complete the accreditation renewal process the practitioner must:
- confirm the practitioner’s case supervision arrangements
- confirm that the practitioner is still delivering formal restorative processes
- complete a log of the practitioner’s learning (two years after initially becoming accredited, and then annually thereafter.)
10. Withdrawal of registration
10.1 A practitioner may have their status as either an RJC Associate or Accredited Practitioner withdrawn where:
- The practitioner fails to meet the ongoing practitioner membership requirements (see above).
- The RJC or ICAE finds that the practitioner has breached the Practitioner Code of Practice.
10.2 The RJC may temporarily suspend Associate or Accredited Practitioner status whilst a breach of the Practitioner Code of Practice is investigated and considered.
10.3 A practitioner may continue to be an RJC practitioner member following the withdrawal of registration. The practitioner will be classed as an unregistered practitioner.
10.4 Following the withdrawal of registration, the practitioner may cease to be a member by resolution of the RJC Board of Trustees in accordance with the RJC’s Articles of Association (clause 7).
11. Variation
11.1 At its discretion, RJC may at any time alter, amend, change, modify or withdraw any of the terms and conditions that comprise this agreement. Membership renewal and continued use of member services shall be deemed acceptance of any changes to these terms and conditions.
12 Privacy policy
12.1 By accepting these terms and conditions, you agree to the use of your information as set out in the RJC privacy policy. In addition, by accepting these terms and conditions you agree to the following terms relating to access to sensitive personal data and confidential information.
12.2 Personal data
RJC and RJC assessors will process (non-sensitive) personal data relating to the practitioner and their organisation, including (but not restricted to), the practitioner’s name, names of the organisation's contact people for invoicing, their job title, employer, direct phone line, email address. All such personal data will be processed in accordance with the RJC's privacy policy and the Data Protection Act 1998.
12.3 Sensitive personal data
Practitioners should not upload any sensitive personal data when applying for practitioner membership or Accredited Practitioner status. If any sensitive personal data is uploaded the RJC will remove it and the information will not be available to contribute towards the success of the relevant application.
12.4 For clarity, for these purposes, sensitive personal data includes any information which could cause a living individual to be identified as a participant of a restorative process. Any information relating to participants in a restorative process should be anonymised before being shared with the RJC.
12.5 Sensitive personal data also includes personal data relating to racial or ethnic origins, political opinions, religious beliefs, membership of trade unions, physical or mental health, sexual life, the commission/alleged commission of any offence by that person or proceedings/disposal of proceedings relating to such an offence.
12.6 For clarity, data is not personal data unless an individual can be identified from that data. Therefore statistical data containing information that could potentially be sensitive personal data if it could be related to an individual, for example racial or ethnic origins, will not usually be sensitive personal data for the purposes of the Data Protection Act 1998. As such anonymised case studies may include information about the participants political opinions, religious beliefs etc. Furthermore, although the RJC asks for information about the practitioner’s racial or ethnic origins and physical or mental health during the application process for monitoring purposes, the data is anonymised and held separately to the practitioner’s membership records and as such does not constitute personal data for the purposes of the Data Protection Act 1998.
12.7 As such, for the purposes of the Data Protection Act 1998, the RJC and RJC assessors will not process sensitive personal data.
12.8 Confidential information
As part of RJC assessment processes, assessors may be required to look at confidential information about the practitioner or the practitioner’s organisation. The RJC and RJC assessors will treat applications in the strictest confidence. Confidential information should only be shared with the RJC or RJC assessors where necessary. The practitioner should ensure that all necessary permissions to share any confidential information has been gained. All RJC staff and RJC assessors have signed a confidentiality statement which is included in their contracts.
12.9 Marketing
RJC may, from time to time, contact practitioners with information about products and services that they might be interested in, for example CPD events, conferences, direct accreditation or other professional services and products relevant to restorative practitioners. Practitioners may opt out of receiving such information at any time using the unsubscribe feature on received emails or by emailing enquiries@restorativejustice.org.uk.
12.10 The RJC will not supply data to any third party for marketing purposes.
13 Governing law
13.1 These terms and conditions shall be interpreted in accordance with English law and all disputes shall be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of England and Wales.
14. Annex 1: Fees
Practitioner membership fees £45 per annum. VAT exempt. Free to employees and volunteers of RSQM approved organisations.
Direct Accreditation £360 one-off fee inclusive of VAT.
Qualification application fee £30 one-off fee inclusive of VAT.