Honorary president: Judith Butcher Honorary vice-president: David Crystal OBE

Registration in proofreading: Prospectus

• Requirements for Registration
• Referees and evidence for Registration
• Appeals, complaints and registered status
• Making an application for Registration
• Referee nomination forms and application forms

Requirements for Registration

• You must be a paid-up member of the SfEP and must have gained Accreditation in proofreading.
• You must have spent at least 500 hours during the past three years in paid work in proofreading. The hours may have been completed in house or freelance, but they must have been worked for at least two separate clients or employers. The work must have been done on paper proofs. Proof collation is inadmissible.
• You must have permission from two of your clients to nominate them as referees. Referees must have paid you for a substantial amount of work as a proofreader in the past three years, and must be able to assess your work.

If you meet these requirements, you can approach your referees and start preparing your evidence.

For Registration by NVQ

• You must be a paid-up member of the SfEP.
• Proofreading: you must have achieved Unit 1 of NVQ Book Editing Level 3.
• Copy-editing: you must have achieved Unit 2 of NVQ Book Editing Level 3.
• Proofreading and copy-editing: you must have achieved Units 1 and 2 of NVQ Book Editing Level 3 or a full Book Editing NVQ at Level 3 or 4.

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Referees and evidence for Registration

Referees

1. Select two clients for whom you have done a substantial amount of work in the past three years to nominate as referees.

   Referees must be willing to fill in an approval form (a questionnaire about your work). You may not use two referees from the same company unless they work in completely separate divisions or for two distinct imprints.

   In choosing which of your clients to name as your referees, bear in mind that:

   • you must secure your referees' permission before sending your application
   • although there is no set minimum of hours worked for each referee, your referees must be able to give an informed assessment of your work (the Accreditation and Registration Board must be satisfied that the referee has examined a substantial amount of your work and is able to evaluate it).

2. When you have permission from your chosen referees, complete a referee nomination form for each.

   On each nomination form, give the full name, present address and telephone number of the referee. If you have any queries about the eligibility of clients you wish to nominate, please contact the Accreditation Administrator by email or post before sending your application.

   Referees are asked to confirm the applicant's claim. If a claim has been deliberately falsified in any respect, the application will automatically fail. Reapplication will be at the Accreditation and Registration Board's discretion.

Evidence

1. Prepare a word-processed or typed work statement to show that you have completed the required 500 hours of proofreading within the qualifying period (the past three years). Make sure your name is on every sheet.

   The statement should consist of a list of titles with the time spent on each. As long as the statement covers at least 500 hours, you need not list every job done in the past three years.

   • For books, include basic bibliographical details: author or editor, title, date of your work on it, publisher's name and present address (the address need not be repeated for each project).
   • For journals, state the title of the publication, the date of your work on it, volume and issue numbers, publisher's name and present address.

   Please double-check the total number of hours in your application.

   If you have evidence to back up your work statement (e.g. your accounts show your time as invoiced to the client), you should mention it in the statement, but do not include your accounts or other documentary evidence with your application. The Accreditation and Registration Board will also consider estimates of hours worked if they are backed up by other measures of work done (e.g. jobs paid by page rate or lump sum). Again, mention any documentary evidence you have, but do not send it with your application.

2. Prepare separate lists, extracted from your work statement, of titles and actual or estimated hours that you have worked in the past three years for each of your two referees. A separate word-processed or typed list is required for each referee, and must have the referee's name as well as your own on each page.

   The SfEP will send the appropriate list, an approval form and a covering letter to each referee.

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Appeals, complaints and registered status

Appeals

If you wish to appeal against a decision of the Accreditation and Registration Board, you should request an appeal form from the Accreditation administrator either by email or by post.

Completed appeal forms must be received by the SfEP within three months of your notification of the Accreditation and Registration Board's decision. The appropriate appeal fee should be enclosed with the appeal; this payment will be refunded if the appeal is upheld. Appeals will be handled in accordance with regulation 7 of the Accreditation and Registration Regulations (see By-Laws of Society for Editors and Proofreaders Ltd) (104 KB pdf).

Complaints

If the Accreditation and Registration Board receives a complaint about the work of a member with registered status, the complaint will be dealt with in accordance with regulation 6.4 of the Accreditation and Registration Regulations (By-Laws of Society for Editors and Proofreaders Ltd).

Registered status

Registered status automatically lapses if your subscription to the SfEP is not maintained. Lapsed members are not entitled to claim registered status, use the registered status logo on their stationery or websites, or use their Registration certificate to promote their business.

Registered status may be withdrawn in accordance with regulation 2.7 of the General Regulations, part of the Society's by-laws (By-Laws of Society for Editors and Proofreaders Ltd).

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Making an application for Registration

If you live outside the UK but in Europe, you must pay a surcharge to cover the additional postage and administration charges. If you live elsewhere abroad, please contact the Accreditation Administrator by email or post before making an application.

• Make sure that you are eligible.
• Contact two clients to act as referees.
• Complete the referee nomination forms.
• Prepare your general work statement with your name on every page.
• Prepare referee work lists with your name and your referee's name on every page.
• Complete the application form for Registration in proofreading.
• Take a photocopy of your application in case of loss.

Send the forms with the work statement and lists plus a cheque for the appropriate Registration fee (payable to SfEP), to the Accreditation Administrator (Applications) at the SfEP Office. Please allow 21 days for acknowledgement of receipt. The work statement and lists will not be returned to you. Do not send any original documents.

If you have any queries, please write to or email the SfEP Office. Do not telephone.

Registration by NVQ

• Make sure that you are eligible.
• Complete the application form for Registration (NVQ) in proofreading.
• Take a photocopy of your application in case of loss.

Send the form plus a cheque for the appropriate Registration fee (payable to SfEP), to the Accreditation Administrator (Applications) at the SfEP Office. Please allow 21 days for acknowledgement of receipt. The copies of your qualifications will not be returned to you.

Do not send any original documents.

If you have any queries, please email the SfEP Office. Do not telephone.

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Referee nomination and application forms

These forms can be found at the end of the PDF version of this prospectus. Download the PDF, print it, fill in the appropriate forms and send them with the specified fee to the SfEP. Full details are on the forms.

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