I'm so sick of ARB fee increases! It's a total rip-off. I mean, seriously, £199? For what?? The privilege of being registered with an organization that does nothing but make it harder for us to do our jobs?
I'm all for regulation, but the ARB has gone too far. They keep adding new requirements and hoops for us to jump through, and all for the sake of "public protection." But let's be honest, the ARB doesn't protect the public. It only protects itself!
The ARB is a self-serving bureaucracy that's more interested in lining its own pockets than in helping architects. And now, they're raising the fee again?! It's just another way for them to stick it to us.
I'm so tired of being taken advantage of. I'm tired of paying for an organization that does nothing for me. I'm tired of being treated like a cash cow.
ARB is becoming more and more a greedy, incompetent organization that needs to be reformed. This fee is nothing more than a tax that we have to pay in order to keep using the title "Architect." It's a protection racket, plain and simple.
I just had a bit of a shock looking at the ARB retention fee for next year, it’s not like I can stop paying it!
I never worried about the increases in the ARB registration as I was paying an annual fee of £107 up until 2018. The increase in 2019/20 was £4 to £111 (3.7%) and this is reasonable as an increase after so many years. The increase of £8 in 2021 was also not as bad to £119 (7.2%).
The shock I think was in 2022 when the fee went up by £30 (25.2%) and the same amount again in 2023 and now for 2024 the fee is £199 which is a 79% increase in the last four years and as stated above is extortionate.
Apart from calling myself an architect, I’m not sure what else the ARB are offering for the privilege!
The fees IMO have increased too fast and with the current climate we are all feeling the pinch. We have all worked too hard to not pay the yearly fee to keep our status.
We need to understand that the increases in fees have all come about with the Building Safety Act and government pressure. This has resulted in the ARB having to take on CPD regulation as well as education of architects, so that means more staff, upgrades in digital technologies etc. Not an excuse though does explain the increases.
I’m not defending the ARB just trying to be rational.
This is picking up steam… 610 signatures!
Not sure how this will help but it’s worth a shot, just remember there are 42,000+ registered architects.
Petition is over 1,000 mark!
https://www.change.org/p/halt-the-annual-fee-increase-by-the-architects-registration-board
A year has gone by and just got the email about the ARB retention fees…looks like the petition hasn’t worked as the fee has gone up to £205.00!
The sad fact is that ARB made about £5M in reserves this year, you would think that they would not increase the fee!
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