Membership Grade Changes
Our membership grades have stood us in good stead. As part of the organisation’s strategic review, we had feedback from some members that our grade structure, naming conventions and routes to access and progression could be clearer.
Rolling out the changes
At our recent AGM, members voted to accept the proposal to change our membership grades. These changes will gradually be rolled out as each member renews.
We plan for the new structure to take effect starting January 2025 for renewing members. Renewal notices will be sent 60 days in advance, beginning in November 2024.For new members, the changes will also apply from January 2025.
You can help inform this process by updating your employer and length of employment information in your member profile.
Working with our members we have reviewed our current grades of Student, Technician, Associate, Corporate, Fellow and Honorary and as January 2025 (November 2024 notifications of renewal) all new and existing members will become one of the following:
Emerging Professional (EmIWater)
Fee: £35 for students and apprentices; £120 for others
This grade and new name recognises that regardless of what type of role someone may have within the sector, these members are people who are in the early stages of their professional careers.
Who can apply: Anyone who has joined the water sector and is within the first five years of their career. Anyone who is studying on a related undergraduate, postgraduate, graduate placement scheme or apprenticeship scheme.
Emerging Professionals who are under the age of 35 will automatically become part of our Young Professional’s Network and, unless they are in full-time education, are eligible to apply for our Rising Stars programme.
Members at this level will be able start their professional registration journey at the first two registration levels.
After five years, these members would become eligible to move up to professional.
Professional (MIWater)
Fee: £135
This will replace our current corporate grade. Some of our current associate and technician members will be invited to move up to this grade depending on where they are in their career.
The previous name of corporate member caused some confusion for people outside of IWater. It was frequently mis-interpreted as being a form of group or company membership.
The new name aims to reflect that a member has reached a certain level of professionalisation within their career. We propose keeping the MIWater post-nominals to ease the transition from corporate to professional.
Who can apply: Anyone who has between five and ten years of experience. It allows for some flexibility to cover people who have moved from a different sector into the water sector and brings transferrable skills with them. OR anyone who has gained professional registration at technician, incorporated/registered level.
Members at this level will be eligible to start or continue their professional registration journey at the upper two registration levels, incorporated/registered, and chartered.
After ten years, these members will then become eligible to move up to experienced professional.
Experienced Professional (EIWater)
Fee: £160
This new extra level is in recognition that a small number of Fellows will continue to be appointed each year and we wanted to offer something in between Professional and Fellow for our many highly experienced members to be eligible for. We are aligning this grade explicitly to professional registration at chartership level. This grade will fulfil a similar function to chartered membership of those institutions who hold a Royal Charter.
People at this grade are professionals with substantial experience and demonstrated expertise in the water sector.
Some of our current corporate members will be invited to move up to this grade depending on where they are in their career.
Who can apply: Anyone who has ten years+ of experience. OR anyone who has gained professional registration at Chartered level.
These members would then become eligible for Fellow, subject to IWater peer nomination.
Fellow (FIWater)
Fee: £185
This will be our highest level of membership awarded to people who are recognised leaders and experts in the water sector who have made substantial contributions to the field.
This will be by nomination only from:
- The Board
- Professional Standards Committee
- Professional Registration Panels
- Area Committees
To be eligible for nomination and consideration members will need to a minimum of 10 years of experience. Nominees do not need to have been IWater members beforehand or for a fixed number of years.
Honorary (HIWater)
Fee: £0
Qualification for this level will be more explicitly linked to an individual’s contribution to the Institute. People who attain this would be IWater members who have made outstanding lifetime contributions to the sector and the Institute.
The awarding of this grade would remain at the discretion of the Board.
Any IWater member who has both ten years+ experience and demonstrable ongoing contribution to supporting the Institute deliver its purpose and uphold our code of conduct and values could be considered for nomination through the existing routes, e.g. area committees, professional panels, the Professional Standards Committee and the Board.
Reduced Rates and Retirees
Under the current system we offer a fixed rate of £50 as a reduced rate for members who retired, on a career break, or not in paid employment for all grades whose fees are currently higher than £50.
This would change to a 50% discount.
We will continue to offer a membership ‘pause’/‘freeze’ for up to a year in certain circumstances.
Retired Life Membership
We will phase this membership out for new applications or transfers. Existing Retired Life Members will keep this membership. Other members who are paying the retiree reduced rate on their named grade (e.g. Associate, Corporate or Fellow) will be able to transfer over to Retired Life Member at their next renewal during the 2024/2025 transition.
Membership Grade Changes FAQs
We’re here to support your understanding of these membership grade changes, so we’ve answered some FAQs below. When you receive your renewal information, if you still have questions about the membership grade you are renewing at, please contact us at membership@instituteofwater.org.uk or phone 0191 422 0088.
Our membership grades have stood us in good stead. As part of the organisation’s strategic review, we had feedback from some members that our grade structure, naming conventions and routes to access and progression could be clearer.
A working group of IWater members and volunteers looked at our grade structure and fees in comparison to other organisations, our Professional Registration routes and our values to co-create the new structure.
The working group members were involved at every stage. We asked all members to give their views on the proposals back in May 2024. We also asked for the feedback of employer organisations. Both the draft and final versions were also shared with our Professional Standards Committee, the Finance Committee and our Board.
Your grade will change when you next renew. All IWater members renew their membership on the anniversary of when they joined.
We are currently working on it taking affect for people renewing from January 2025 onwards. Those members will start to receive their renewal notices 60 days beforehand, from November 2024. It will take affect for anyone joining our IWater family as a new member from January 2025.
For renewing members, the IWater Central Team will use ‘best guess’ to assign your new grade. Where the grade to move you to is clear, such as Student to Emerging Professional (Student), Fellow and Honorary this will be a ‘like for like’ move. Where you could move to one or two grades, we will make a ‘best guess’ based on things like your membership profile.
We hope members will see the value and benefit of their new grade as a means of demonstrating the level of experience they hold as a water professional. But if you believe you should be moved either up or down a grade, we will honour that request. Please contact the Central Team at membership@instituteofwater.org.uk or phone 0191 422 0088.
We have always had multiple levels of grades. We believe moving through the grades should be about demonstrating professionalism and experience to support members’ career development.
Yes, you will. This is changing from a flat rate across all grades of £50 to a 50% discount. It was felt to be unfair that a member on a higher paying grade would effectively get a higher percentage of discount to those on a lower paying grade.
We will be offering all our members who are currently paying the retiree reduced rate the opportunity to transfer over to the Retired Life Member rate. This will only apply to members renewing during the transition period of 2024/2025
Yes, we are keeping these.