Upgrade to MCIPS

To achieve MCIPS you must have completed one of the following:

• CIPS Qualifications (a minimum requirement of Diploma in Procurement and Supply, Advanced Diploma in Procurement and Supply and the Professional Diploma in Procurement and Supply)
• CIPS Accredited Degree or Programme
• CIPS Corporate Award Advanced Practitioner

You are eligible to apply for an upgrade within 5 years of having achieved your qualification determined by the date on the original certificate.

After this date you will have to consider an alternative route to MCIPS.

In addition to either of the qualification routes above, you must also have a minimum of three years’ in one of the following roles:

• Responsibility in a post that covers procurement and supply related activity. Responsibility can include budgets, inventory, human and physical resources, policies, procedures, processes and information.
• Responsibility for the provision of an advisory or consultative service at a senior management level, that relates to procurement and supply activity.
• Responsibility for delivering learning to others that is related to procurement and supply activities, and positioned at a UK graduate level or equivalent.
• Made a contribution to higher-level learning, or research, related to procurement and supply subject matter. Higher-level is defined as being contained within a PhD, or through published work in eminent higher level publications
• Have ultimate, but not necessarily direct, responsibility for the procurement and supply function in an organisation.

Please ensure your membership is up to date before applying, if your membership is in suspense we will not be able to proceed with your application.

Information required by those holding the CIPS Qualifications or CIPS Corporate Award Advanced Practitioner:

• A current CV detailing your procurement and supply roles.
• A checklist of which documents you have included in your application (template 1 below).
• And one of the following:
• Written confirmation from your line manager of your minimum of three years’ experience in a post of responsibility in the procurement and supply profession (Template 2A).
• Or Self-certification of three years’ experience in a post of responsibility in the procurement and supply profession, accompanied by details of two referees (Template 2B).
  The self-certification option is available to those who are self-employed, taking career breaks or who are currently unemployed.

Information required by those holding a CIPS Accredited Degree:

If you are applying based on a CIPS Accredited Degree you will need to provide:

• The documents identified above for application with CIPS qualifications
• A copy of your original qualification certificate
•  A copy of your academic transcript confirming the units that you have completed as part of the degree programme

Submit application

An application to upgrade to MCIPS is free of charge and should be sent to upgradetomcips@cips.org.

Notification of outcome

You will receive a response from a member of the team within 3 working days. If you have been asked for further information then please note that each email you send in will be responded to within a further 3 working days. There is no set time period that it takes to complete the application process, once we have all the information that we need we can advise of the outcome.

To make your upgrade to MCIPS process as simple and trouble-free as possible, we have set up three template letters to help members to apply, they are:

• Template 1: Document Checklist
• Template 2A: Line Manager's Letter
• Template 2B:  Self-Certified Application Letter

After Full Membership has been confirmed, you are able to use the designatory letters (MCIPS) after your name for as long as your membership remains current – should you fall in to suspense you will no longer be eligible to use them. Your new membership status will be referenced on CIPS Professional Register.

Chartered Professional status
Once you have achieved MCIPS, your designation will be recognised globally. MCIPS Chartered Procurement and Supply Professional status will provide assurance for your employer, peers and clients that you have continued to build on your academic achievements to stay relevant and up to date.