Will NPTA make PROMPT membership compulsory?

Speaking at the National Pest Technicians Association (NPTA) roadshow at Eastwood Hall on Wednesday 25 May, Lucy Cottingham from BASIS PROMPT, the register of professional pest managers, showed how membership of the pest management register has grown in recent years. Indeed it is poised to take over as the most numerous register of professionals administered by BASIS.

Lucy Cottingham showed how PROMPT, which was set-up in 2000, has grown. As of end April 2017, the PROMPT register comprised 4,177 pest professionals; making it the second biggest register administered by BASIS. BASIS believes that there are around 9,000 active pest professionals in the UK so this is approaching half of the total active pest professionals.

This growth has been particularly noticeable in more recent years, and, especially since the British Pest Control Association (BPCA) made it a condition of membership that all technicians in member companies were signed up to PROMPT. That rule came in from1 January 2015.

Is NPTA being left behind?
With BPCA taking the initiative to ensure all its members are on the register, NPTA, in the words of NPTA’s Iain Turner, is in danger of being left behind.

Iain explained how the Board has been considering making membership of a Continuing Professional Development (CPD) scheme a requirement of membership. This was raised at the NPTA AGM in January but, because the consultation prior to the AGM had resulted in so few responses NPTA has been taking the opportunity to canvass opinions at the various road show events this year.

Part of Iain Turner’s presentation during the road show focused on this topic as he revisited the arguments, for and against, compulsory CPD scheme membership.

Delegates were asked to make their views known by adding their name and membership number under the ‘for’ or ‘against’ column on a document on the NPTA stand at the event.

Not a scientific poll, but the consensus of those Pest asked at the Eastwood Hall event was that yes, it should be a condition of membership – although, of course, the members who attend such events are generally those who are most switched-on so their view is not necessarily representative!

Active PR campiagn
But, back to Lucy who also explained how BASIS has been conducting an active PR campaign to promote the PROMPT professional register among the general public. Over the past 12 months this has resulted in editorial coverage which would have cost over £80,000 had it been purchased as advertising.

Age and gender profile revealed
She also revealed some interesting statistics on the age profile of PROMPT members, 94% of whom are men. The average age is almost 46 with 29% in the age band 51 to 60 and 28% in the age band 41 to 50.

Lucy Cottingham from BASIS PROMPT