Regulating the regulators: the rise of the United Kingdom Professional Standards Authority

Abstract

In the United Kingdom reforms to professional regulation have been introduced to enhance public protection. This chapter accounts for changes from 2002 to 2016 with the introduction of a meta-regulator to oversee nine statutory professional Councils. It examines the expansion of the role of the meta-regulator and reforms within the professional councils themselves. It draws on data collected to show increases in costs and activity and explains the shift from self-regulation to top-down governance using corporate management techniques of audit and review. It demonstrates that the reforms have been evolutionary and that further reform is ongoing.