Rules of Membership
Your Membership
Proficiency membership belongs to the individual member. The benefits of proficiency membership are not transferable and cannot be shared with others.
Members must not permit anyone else to access any of the benefits to which the member is entitled. Should they do so, their membership may be revoked and any remaining period of membership will be lost without any refund of fees paid. Such remedial action may be taken at the sole discretion of the Directors and acceptance of this is a condition of membership.
An individual’s membership of Proficiency does not give any right for a business to state or imply that it is a member of Proficiency save in the context of a sole trader or limited company where the member is the sole director and employee.
Company Limited by Guarantee
CLGs are ideal for organisations that aim to serve a public or community benefit rather than generate profit for owners. Common examples include:
Proficiency is a Company Limited by Guarantee (CLG).
Unlike a company limited by shares, which distributes profits to shareholders, a CLG has no share capital or shareholders. Instead, it is owned by its members, known as guarantors, who agree to contribute a nominal amount, in the case of Proficienct this is £1 towards the company’s debts if it is wound up. This structure limits the liability of members while ensuring the organisation’s focus remains on its objectives rather than profit distribution.
Key Features
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No Share Capital: A CLG does not issue shares, and any profits generated are reinvested into the organisation to further its mission.
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Limited Liability: Guarantors’ liability is capped at the amount they agree to contribute (usually a small, nominal sum).
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Governance: Governed by a board of directors or trustees, with members having voting rights similar to shareholders in a traditional company.
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Regulation: Registered with Companies House and subject to the Companies Act 2006, CLGs must file annual accounts and returns, ensuring transparency.
CLGs are ideal for organisations that aim to serve a public or community benefit rather than generate profit for owners. Common examples include:
- Charities: Many UK charities adopt the CLG structure to manage funds and activities while maintaining a clear non-profit focus.
- Membership Organisations: Professional bodies, trade associations, and clubs often use CLGs to represent their members’ interests.
- Social Enterprises: Organisations addressing social or environmental issues may choose a CLG to balance mission-driven work with financial sustainability.
- Community Groups: Local initiatives, such as sports clubs or arts organisations, often use CLGs to formalise their structure.
- Oxfam GB: One of the UK’s largest charities, Oxfam GB operates as a CLG to deliver humanitarian aid and tackle global poverty. Its structure ensures that all funds are directed towards its charitable objectives, such as disaster relief and advocacy.
- The National Trust: This well-known organisation, dedicated to preserving historic properties and natural landscapes, is a CLG and a registered charity. Its members act as guarantors, supporting its mission to protect the UK’s heritage for future generations.
- The Football Association (FA): The governing body of English football is a CLG, reinvesting its revenue into developing the sport at all levels, from grassroots to professional leagues.
Use of the Website
The member’s area of the website is confidential and for the exclusive use of current members. Members must not provide access to this area to anyone who does not have a legitimate right to access it.
Members must not take any content contained within the member’s area and make it available to non members unless they have been granted permission to do so specific to that content by the Directors.
Your profile page is for you to sell the benefits you and your business offer for potential clients. You must do so in a professional manner, not make any unreasonable claims about what you do and do not include any prices.
Members can link to your own website where you can display your prices but members must not show prices on any Proficiency hosted page.
Any member making inaccurate statements or potentially unrealistic claims on ther listing or profile page will be in breach of the terms of membership. Depending upon the seriousness the member may either be:
a) asked to correct the relevant statement(s)
b) asled to correct the relevant statement(s) and have some or all access rights reduced or withdrawn until they do
c) Have their membership permanently suspended
Members must not take any content contained within the member’s area and make it available to non members unless they have been granted permission to do so specific to that content by the Directors.
Your profile page is for you to sell the benefits you and your business offer for potential clients. You must do so in a professional manner, not make any unreasonable claims about what you do and do not include any prices.
Members can link to your own website where you can display your prices but members must not show prices on any Proficiency hosted page.
Any member making inaccurate statements or potentially unrealistic claims on ther listing or profile page will be in breach of the terms of membership. Depending upon the seriousness the member may either be:
a) asked to correct the relevant statement(s)
b) asled to correct the relevant statement(s) and have some or all access rights reduced or withdrawn until they do
c) Have their membership permanently suspended
Access to member benefits
Any benefit links or discount codes made accessible to members within the member’s area are for the exclusive use of Standard and Pro Proficiency members. Base bembers are not included in members who get discounts due to the value of the discounts. Passing them (or in any other way making them available to) anyone who is not a Standard or Pro Proficiency member is NOT PERMITTED. This includes sharing codes on the forum where Base members may see the code. This also includes obtaining a member ticket for an event for a non-member.
Doing so is a breach of trust, contravention of the rules of membership and defrauds Proficiency and/or the organisation that has offered the benefit to Proficiency members.
Any member who facilitates access to a member benefit for a non-member will have their membership terminated with immediate effect. There will be no refund of membership fees paid. If applicable, the partner organisation will also be informed of the identity of the member who has breached their trust, and if known, the identity of anyone who has been given access to the benefit but is not entitled to use it.
On occasion Proficiency may offer promotional discount codes or enable access to events or other benefits to non-members. Only those specifically intended for non-members can be shared with non-members.
Membership benefits are non-transferable and a member is only entitled to a single access to a benefit. A member who is not using a single (or limited) use benefit themselves must not use it to enable another member to access more of the benefit than they ere entitled to themselves.
The rights to member benefits are limited to the period of active membership. Should your membership cease, you must not use any member benefit that you have not already used. You must also cease to use any ongoing benefit that has been available to you because of your membership. Specifically, but not exclusively, you must cease to accept any discount from any third party that is a discount for Proficiency members.
Doing so is a breach of trust, contravention of the rules of membership and defrauds Proficiency and/or the organisation that has offered the benefit to Proficiency members.
Any member who facilitates access to a member benefit for a non-member will have their membership terminated with immediate effect. There will be no refund of membership fees paid. If applicable, the partner organisation will also be informed of the identity of the member who has breached their trust, and if known, the identity of anyone who has been given access to the benefit but is not entitled to use it.
On occasion Proficiency may offer promotional discount codes or enable access to events or other benefits to non-members. Only those specifically intended for non-members can be shared with non-members.
Membership benefits are non-transferable and a member is only entitled to a single access to a benefit. A member who is not using a single (or limited) use benefit themselves must not use it to enable another member to access more of the benefit than they ere entitled to themselves.
The rights to member benefits are limited to the period of active membership. Should your membership cease, you must not use any member benefit that you have not already used. You must also cease to use any ongoing benefit that has been available to you because of your membership. Specifically, but not exclusively, you must cease to accept any discount from any third party that is a discount for Proficiency members.
Use of the forum
The forum is for confidential discussions between members on subjects relevant to their Proficiency membership. What is said on the forum may not be shared elsewhere except in the specific contexts listed below.
- Content from conversations on the forum will be used by suitably authorised representatives to support discussion of conventions and similar discussions with other stakeholders.
- Content from conversations on the forum may be used by suitably authorised representatives to support activities defending a member or members rights where it is appropriate to do so. This may for example include supporting an appeal against an audit failure or other action deemed to be unfair or unreasonable.
- Suitably authorised representatives will on occasion summarise a forum discussion in order to further the cause of Proficiency or a Proficiency member. Such summary may include limited amounts of specifically quoted text from a forum discussion.
- Opinions on the forum are the opinion of the poster, at the time they make the post. No opinions posted by individual members on the forum may be considered as being the opinion of members collectively or of Proficiency.
In all instances, the name(s) of the poster will not be divulged and any posts referring to individuals will have the individual’s identity removed.
Inappropriate language or behaviour will not be tolerated on the forum. It is not a social media platform, it is a place for polite and constructive discussion of industry related topics between professionals.
Posts which are considered by the forum moderators to be inappropriate will be amended or removed. Members who repeatedly need to be moderated will have their forum access removed and serious offenders may at the discretion of the Directors have their membership revoked. There will be no refund of membership fees for members whose behaviour has resulted in withdrawal of forum access or revocation of their membership.
The following specific rules apply
Your identity
Everyone is accountable for their own behaviour on the forum and must use their true identity. The use of nicknames or any other means of disguising the identity of a person accessing or posting on the forum is not permitted.
Your identity
Everyone is accountable for their own behaviour on the forum and must use their true identity. The use of nicknames or any other means of disguising the identity of a person accessing or posting on the forum is not permitted.
Communication standards
The use of swear words will not be permitted (except in the specific instance of a direct quote where the original included a swear word and the relevance will be lost if it is omitted).
Rudeness or intolerance will not be permitted. The right of other members to have a different opinion is to be respected at all times.
Limited use of all upper case words is acceptable for emphasis but this should be kept to a minimum. All upper case is considered to be shouting and is not appropriate on a professional forum.
Rudeness or intolerance will not be permitted. The right of other members to have a different opinion is to be respected at all times.
Limited use of all upper case words is acceptable for emphasis but this should be kept to a minimum. All upper case is considered to be shouting and is not appropriate on a professional forum.
There may be instances when prices need to be mentioned, however discussion of pricing levels on the forum is not permitted. Price fixing is illegal and communication suggesting (or appearing to suggest) any arrangement which may be construed as price fixing is not permitted.
Creation of new threads
Where possible, members should continue an existing thread rather than creating a new one if there is already one on the same or a very similar subject. However, a new thread should be started if a post will change the subject away from it’s original context.
Lead referral
Care must be taken to ensure that confidential (or potentially confidential) information is not shared on the forum. This includes, but is not limited to, the sharing of contact details.
Specifically, where enquiries or opportunities are being passed on, unless the person concerned has requested their contact details be put on the forum (or they would otherwise be readily available in the public domain) they must not be posted on the forum. The member should post the details of the enquiry or opportunity and invite interested members to contact them for more information and the contact details.
Under no circumstances can a situation be allowed to occur where more members contact a potential client than the potential client is comfortable to have contact them. It is the responsibility of the member making the post to ensure contact details are only passed on to an appropriate number of other members.
Moderation
The forum has always been mostly self moderating. Provided members continue to be professional and respectful in their use of the forum a light touch moderation should be all that is required.
Moderation will be undertaken by the Directors or other moderators appointed by the directors. The standards and principles against which the forum is moderated will be set by the directors. For the avoidance of doubt, members will be held to higher standards than many other forums. This is a ‘professional’ forum and will be moderated against the expected standards for ‘professional behaviour’.
Use of logos
Members may use the Proficiency logo in the context of articles or references to Proficiency. Such use of the logo is only permitted where the associated content is specific to Proficiency and wherever practical should be accompanied by a link to the Proficiency website or the website address be stated. The Proficiency logo may not be used in any context where it could be detrimental to the perception of Proficiency.
Members have limited rights to use the Proficiency Member logo in relation to their own business. It is available to be used on a member’s website, stationery, business cards etc. should the member choose to.
The Proficiency Member logo may only be used while the membership remains valid. Should a membership be permitted to lapse, or for any reason be revoked, the use of the logo must cease. No further use of the logo is permitted from the date the membership ceases, save that a grace period of 30 days is permitted for removal of the logo from websites and replacement of business stationery.
Under no circumstances may the Proficiency or Proficiency Member logo be altered. Nor may a similar logo design be adopted. In this context similar means has sufficient similarities that an independent observer could believe there to be a connection between the businesses using the logos.
Under no circumstances may the Proficiency or Proficiency Member logo be used in a way that implies, or could appear to indicate, any connection between the member or the member’s business and Proficiency other than that the member is a member of Proficiency. The logo must not be used to imply that Proficiency carries any responsibility for the actions of the member.