OISC fundamentally revises Commissioner's Standards in content, scope and approach
The Office of the Immigration Services Commissioner (OISC) has announced that the new edition of the OISC Code of Standards will take effect on 1 April.
You can read the new Code of Standards here. The OISC says it fundamentally revises the Commissioner's Standards in terms of content, scope and approach.
The OISC's press release announcing the implementation of the new Code of Standards is below:
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NEW OISC CODE OF STANDARDS GOES LIVE
The Office of the Immigration Services Commissioner (OISC) regulates people that provide immigration advice and services, excluding specific legal professionals, across the UK. On 1 April 2016 the new edition of the OISC Code of Standards will be implemented after two public consultations that spanned two years. This new version fundamentally revises the Commissioner's Standards in terms of content, scope and approach. The Code now takes into account advisers' duties before someone becomes a client to after they have ceased to be one.
Organisations and advisers will find the following:
• The new Code of Standards incorporates the Commissioner's Rules into one document that sets the standards concerning professional practice, conduct and discipline across the whole of the immigration advice sector. .
• There is a more principle-based approach. Advisers and advice organisations will now have greater power to develop their businesses as best suits them. This is in recognition of the greater maturity and professionalism of the sector. Though some prescriptive rules remain, how policies and procedures are implemented is for each organisation to determine, as long as they remain within the principles laid out in the Code of Standards
• A shorter document. There are 85 Codes as opposed to the last iteration that contained 95 Codes and 24 Rules. This is a product of the factors above.
• In support of the Code of Standards there is a set of "Guidance Notes". The "Guidance Notes" do not form part of the Code of Standards but amplify and explain certain codes and provide indicative behaviours that the regulated sector and the OISC will use to ensure compliance with the Code.
The new Code of Standards was published on 7 September 2015 and the OISC is offering a series of seminars and has published a number of newsletters to help ensure advice organisations fully understand changes made to the Code and the new requirements.
The OISC currently regulates 1622 organisations and 3489 individual advisers nationally.