Chartered Forensic Practitioner
What is a Chartered Forensic Practitioner (ChFP)?
ChFP is the Society's highest level of membership for current practitioners. It is aimed at experienced forensic practitioners with at least 5 years experience (gained immediately prior to application) who are already Members or Fellows of the Society and (currently) practice in UK/Eire*.
The process aims to assess the candidate’s competence to act as an expert/professional witness in their chosen forensic specialty as well as their breadth of knowledge across the profession. Once gained, the award of ChFP is valid for three years, prior to reassessment.
If you are considering applying please read Details for candidates , it should help to answer some of your questions, a brief overview is given below
*Although we do plan to offer ChFP to overseas members in the near future, at the moment, unfortunately, this is not possible so assessment is only available for those wishing to be assessed against the UK legal system. Overseas demand is currently extremely low and with the large range of disciplines to be covered the Society currently does not have the capacity to manage this expansion.
How do I apply to upgrade to ChFP?
You first MUST be an existing Members (MCSFS) or Fellows (FCSFS) with a MINIMUM of 5 years consecutive experience prior to their application are invited to apply.
Stage 1 - you must complete the required application forms and submit with appropriate evidence - these are then reviewed by an assessor. (PDF copies are available to download here ChFP Application Form - for info and here ChFP Portfolio Form - for info)
In order to enable us to continue with assessments during the current Covid situation - all assessments for Chartered Forensic Practioner will, until further notice, be carried out wholly remotely/online. Demand for this award is still low and the aim is to carry out assessments, 1-2 times per year. Since Forensic Science is such a huge range of disciplines it is only possible to carry out assessments when we have at least two candidates per discipline per assessment diet, we may not, therefore, always be able to assess everyone at the initial point of application. We would ask you to bear with us. This will be less of an issue as the interest and demand for the award grows, we hope this will enable us to assess everyone more quickly with more frequent assessment diets. Once the situation changes further assessment dates will be publicised on the website and in the newsletter, so please keep a look out for those.
Stage 2 - Following a successful review, the candidate is called forward to attend two formal panel interviews. The Expert panel is scenario-based with questions around your chosen specialist subject. The Professional panel aims to review your understanding of the system in which you work in the broader context and will look to test your understanding of, for example, the role of the Forensic Science Regulator, the content and application of the Regulators Codes of Practice and Conduct and current high level reviews ie the House of Lords Select Committee Report May 2019. Candidates often feel that the Professional panel is the harder of the two.
Once the marks have been collated and agreed you will be notified. You will not be told your individual marks only if you have passed or failed each element. We aim to give feedback on the areas of weakness for those who are unsuccessful.
Thank you for your continuing interest in the programme.
Costs?
- Initial non refundable application fee : £75 (payable on submission of Application/Portfolio forms)
- Stage 2 non refundable assessment fee: £225 (payable on successful Stage 1 review and BEFORE interviews are taken)
- On successful completion you will be awarded ChFP for 1 year from the date of notification
- Following 2 years: £300 p.a. subscription, with a retake due at the end of year
- Resits are possible within one year of the initial assessment and are charged at £125 per assessment - (there is no requirement to reapply)
How do we arrived at the charges ChFP Costs?
INTERESTED? For more detail, or if you considering applying please read Details for candidates , if you decide you then wish to go ahead please contact us on membership@csofs.org