The Registration Process

The application form is an opportunity for applicants to showcase their career journey, how they built their underpinning knowledge and understanding and used that to build their competence to the point of applying for a category of professional registration. The application form should capture the career history and competence evidence succinctly.  

An applicant can apply for one specialism at a time. The application form cannot be for more than one specialism.  

There should be at least one person who attests to the information in the application form, confirming it is true to the best of their knowledge and that they support the applicant’s application. These individuals are referred to as supporters or referees. 

The purpose of this stage is to assess the written evidence supplied by an applicant against the UKCSC SPCC. The Assessor is asked to determine if the applicant has provided enough evidence to conduct a professional discussion and if they are likely to be successful for the registration category applied for.  

There must be at least one Assessor at this stage, who is professionally registered in the same category as that the applicant is applying for. 

Assessors can make decisions at this stage: 

• Request additional written information to support the written evidence  
• Reapply for an alternative category and/or alternative specialism 
• Go forward for interview for the category and specialism applied 

All decisions should be documented and well justified so that it is clear why the decision was made. 

The purpose of this stage is to assess the applicant via a conversation, against each competence in the UKCSC SPCC. The interviewers are asked to have a discussion with the applicant to determine whether the candidate meets each of the competences for the category applied for. This will include using the applicants written evidence to form questions and discussions to determine undertake this assessment. The interview must be structured to explore the competences.  

There must be two interviewers at this stage for those applying for Chartered and Principal categories of professional registration. One of those interviewers must be professionally registered at the same category of professional registration as that the applicant is applying for and registered in the same specialism as that applied for.  

There must be one interviewer at this stage for those applying for Associate Cyber Security Professional (ACSP) who must be registered as either ChCSP or PCSP. 

Interviewers are expected to use the agreed scoring methodology to score the candidates competence for each of the competences relevant to the professional registration category applied for. 

Interviewers are expected to provide a recommendation of outcome for the applicant to the final assessment panel. This recommendation must have a full justification for choosing the recommendation. There must also be justifications for each score against the competences.  

The following recommendations can be made: 

• Award professional registration category applied for. 
• Award alternative professional registration category. 

• Decline professional registration category, further competence development required.  

The final assessment panel are required to holistically review the all the evidence from the applicant and recommendations from the Assessors. The panel make the final decision on whether the applicant is awarded professional registration or not therefore Council approved, Technical Assessors are required.  

The Assessors are expected to understand the full career history and experience of the applicant. They are expected to assess whether the candidate received a fair and just assessment on their evidence. They are expected to consider the written evidence from the applicant, the written justifications from the Assessors as to decisions made, scoring applied and recommendation made for a final decision.  

The final assessment panel can make the following decisions: 

• Award professional registration category applied for. 
• Award alternative professional registration category 
• Decline professional registration category, further competence development required.  

If the applicant is awarded an alternative category or declined for the category applied, the panel are expected to provide a full justification and feedback that can be used to support the licensed body when writing the decision letter, to support further competence development of the applicant. The feedback must be constructive.  

The application form is an opportunity for applicants to showcase their career journey, how they built their underpinning knowledge and understanding and used that to build their competence to the point of applying for a category of professional registration. The application form should capture the career history and competence evidence succinctly.  

An applicant can apply for one specialism at a time. The application form cannot be for more than one specialism.  

There should be at least one person who attests to the information in the application form, confirming it is true to the best of their knowledge and that they support the applicant’s application. These individuals are referred to as supporters or referees. 

The purpose of this stage is to assess the written evidence supplied by an applicant against the UKCSC SPCC. The Assessor is asked to determine if the applicant has provided enough evidence to be successful for the registration category applied for.  

The Assessors at this stage, must be professionally registered in the same category as that the applicant is applying for. 

Assessors can make decisions at this stage: 

• Request additional written information to support the written evidence  
• Re-apply for an alternative category and/or alternative specialism 
• Invite for a Professional Discussion - please refer to Process A
• Go forward to the final assessment panel 

All decisions should be documented and well justified so that it is clear why the decision was made.

The final assessment panel are required to holistically review the all the evidence from the applicant and recommendations from the Assessors. The panel make the final decision on whether the applicant is awarded professional registration or not therefore Council approved, Technical Assessors are required.  

The Assessors are expected to understand the full career history and experience of the applicant. They are expected to assess whether the candidate received a fair and just assessment on their evidence. They are expected to consider the written evidence from the applicant, the written justifications from the Assessors as to decisions made, scoring applied and recommendation made for a final decision.  

The final assessment panel can make the following decisions: 

• Award professional registration category applied for. 
• Award alternative professional registration category 
• Decline professional registration category, further competence development required.  

If the applicant is awarded an alternative category or declined for the category applied, the panel are expected to provide a full justification and feedback that can be used to support the licensed body when writing the decision letter, to support further competence development of the applicant. The feedback must be constructive.