The RICS Senior Professional Assessment (SPA) is a specialised qualification pathway designed for experienced practitioners who have already established a significant career in the built environment. If you have reached a senior level in your profession, this assessment allows you to bypass the standard Assessment of Professional Competence (APC) requirements and demonstrate your expertise through a leadership-focused lens.
Achieving the Chartered Surveyor (MRICS) designation through the SPA pathway confirms that you possess both the technical knowledge and the strategic management skills required to operate at the highest levels of the industry.
Navigating the Five Stages of the Assessment Process
The Senior Professional Assessment (SPA) is structured into five distinct phases to ensure you meet the rigorous standards set by RICS. Each stage must be completed sequentially, and it is your responsibility to remain committed to the timeline, which can span up to six years from the date of your initial enrolment.
- Eligibility: You must first confirm that your current qualifications and total years of professional experience align with the senior entry requirements.
- Vetting: RICS reviews your employment history and a 400-word statement to verify that your profile reflects a “senior” role within your organisation.
- Ethics: You are required to complete a professionalism module and an ethics test to ensure you understand the mandatory Rules of Conduct.
- Submission: This stage involves providing written evidence of your work, including detailed case studies and a record of your professional development.
- Final Assessment Interview: The process culminates in a 60-minute interview with a panel of chartered professionals to determine your competence.
Determining Your Eligibility and Senior Profile
To qualify for the SPA, you must have at least ten years of relevant professional experience. If you hold a relevant post-graduate degree (Master’s level or higher) in addition to an undergraduate degree or equivalent professional qualification, this requirement is reduced to five years.
Beyond mere years of service, you must fit the “Senior Profile,” which RICS defines as an individual with advanced responsibilities recognised for their impact and career progression. You must demonstrate leadership and management over people or resources.
Indicators of seniority include your position in the organisational structure, the scale of your decision-making impact, the type of client base you manage, and any recognition you have received from peers or industry stakeholders. You must also demonstrate specific behaviours, such as advocating for best practice standards or acting with integrity to promote responsible business.
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The RICS Competency Framework and Attainment Levels
Your assessment is based on a set of competencies that reflect the skills and attitudes required for your chosen pathway. You need to select a pathway based on your specific area of practice, such as Quantity Surveying, Project Management, or Valuation. These competencies are evaluated at three levels of attainment:
- Level 1 (Knowledge and Understanding)
- Level 2 (Application of knowledge)
- Level 3 (Reasoned advice and depth of knowledge)
| Competency Category | Definition and Requirement |
| Mandatory | Personal, interpersonal, and professional practice skills are common to all pathways. |
| Technical (Core) | The primary skills are specific to your chosen discipline. |
| Technical (Optional) | Additional skills relevant to your pathway that you select based on your experience. |
| Senior Professional | High-level leadership and management skills are specifically required for the SPA. |
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Understanding the Senior Professional Assessment (SPA) Competencies
For the RICS SPA, you must demonstrate proficiency in three specific senior professional competencies at Level 2.
- Leadership: You must demonstrate that you understand leadership styles and motivation theories, and can apply them to build high-performing teams.
- Managing People: This involves applying human resource management techniques and legislation to improve performance and organisational culture.
- Managing Resources: You are required to demonstrate how you manage financial and non-human resources, including budgeting, forecasting, and resource allocation.
Requirements for the Vetting and Written Submission
Once you pass the initial eligibility check, you enter the vetting stage, where you submit a formal application form on the RICS template. This application must include your employment history, an organisation chart showing your role’s context, and a 400-word statement explaining “what” you do and “how” you do it.
RICS assessors use a checklist to confirm that your career progression and responsibilities truly reflect senior-level impact. If vetting is successful, you have 12 months to submit your full documentation for the final assessment.
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Drafting RICS SPA Three Case Studies
The core of your submission consists of three case studies, each between 1,000 and 1,500 words. These must be based on projects where you played a leading role in strategy, decision-making, or problem-solving within the last three years.
- Case Study 1: This must demonstrate your senior professional competence, specifically covering leadership, people management, and resource management.
- Case Study 2: You must focus on a project that demonstrates at least 2 core technical competencies from your pathway, with at least 1 achieved at Level 3.
- Case Study 3: This covers at least two technical competencies (core or optional) that were not used in the second case study.
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Every case study should follow a structured format: a brief overview of key issues, an account of your specific role, an outline of the problems faced and how you resolved them using your experience, and the project’s outcome or impact.
Note: Download free RICS SPA Case Studies Samples to see our quality.
Recording Continuing Professional Development (CPD)
You must provide a record showing you have completed at least 20 hours of CPD in the 12 months leading up to your submission. This development must be relevant to your current work and support both your mandatory and technical competencies. At least 50% of these hours (10 hours) must be “formal” development, such as professional courses or seminars, while the remainder can be “informal” study or on-the-job training.
Adherence to the RICS Rules of Conduct
Professionalism is the foundation of the RICS qualification. You must familiarise yourself with the five Rules of Conduct, which mandate that members and firms must be honest, maintain professional competence, provide diligent service, treat others with respect, and act in the public interest.
Before your final interview, you must complete the RICS professionalism module, comprising four e-learning units and a test. This module remains valid for 12 months. RICS maintains a strict policy on plagiarism and the use of AI; all submissions are screened through Turnitin, and the use of generative AI software to create your submission content is strictly prohibited.
The Dynamics of the Final Assessment Interview
The final assessment is a 60-minute video call interview conducted by a panel of at least 2 RICS chartered professionals. The purpose is to verify that you are a senior professional who can apply theoretical knowledge to complex scenarios while upholding high ethical standards. The interview is high-stakes; you can be “referred” (fail) based solely on your performance in the ethics and professionalism section.
Structure of the 60-Minute Session
The panel chair manages time to ensure all areas are covered. The interview is divided as follows:
- Candidate Presentation (10 minutes): You must give a presentation on your senior profile. You may use slides or images, but you are not permitted to refer to your actual written submission during the interview.
- Discussion and Questioning (50 minutes): The panel will ask questions based on your case studies, your broader leadership experience, and wider professional or ethical issues.
You must ensure you are in a private, professional location for the call. The panel may ask for a 360-degree camera pan of your room or a screen share to ensure you do not have unauthorised aids or AI software open.
Interpreting Your Results and the Appeal Process
After the interview, the panel reviews your evidence. It reaches a decision based on a weighted priority: 50% on your senior professional competencies and profile, 25% on your technical pathway competencies, and 25% on ethics and professionalism. You will typically receive your result within seven days.
If you pass, you will be awarded the MRICS qualification immediately. If you receive a “referral,” you will be sent a report within 21 days that explains the assessor’s decision and provides guidance for a future attempt.
You have 21 days from the date of the referral report to appeal if you believe there was a procedural fault in how the assessment was conducted. An appeal panel only considers administrative or procedural matters and does not re-evaluate your technical competence.
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