Same as pxl8 I've had profound doubts about the SWPP for a number of years. The icing on the cake for me was last year when they renewed my membership without even consulting me and issued me a bill for over a hundred pounds I think it was. When I refused to pay (I had no intention of continuing membership based on not one single referral) they started getting heavy and threatening court action. So I looked into the matter myself only to find they were using unlawful contractual terms to tie me in for another year, and had the nerve to question my integrity by stating I had signed to those terms, regardless of their lawfulness (the terms incidentally were unenforceable in an English Court) so I told them the membership was best placed where the sun doesn't shine.
Onto the actual value of their organisation and its so called qualifications: If Joe Bloggs the plumber puts down his spanners and picks up a camera, by joining SWPP he is entitled to use their initials after his name as some kind of quality mark or measure of his professionalism, simply by paying a joining fee. This, to my mind, certainly does not make the plumber an overnight photographer and is basically highly misleading to the market.It has also undermined faith by the public in such qualifications and has caused untold harm to the industry they purport to support.
I made an enquiry about SWPP's programmes of qualification via the L, A and F grades of professionalism, with nothing but a pointer to my website. Having tackled the RPS' grading structures before I expected to have to produce at least 10 final prints to be judged by a Board. To my astonishment my L 'qualification' by way of certificate arrived by post a few days later. They had never so much as seen a single photograph of mine, apart from my website. I concluded very quickly that it wasn't worth the paper written on, because to my mind, wedding photography more so than perhaps any other types of photography, is based on absolute trust and getting the job right first time (the wedding party cannot exactly come back next week if you get it wrong). So to present such a 'qualification' to my customers I felt would be less than trustworthy knowing what I knew, and I have long since discarded it.
I would strongly recommend SWPP is disregarded by anyone seeking to operate honestly and with integrity. I would also recommend going down the BIPP or MPA routes instead, or even the RPS route, all of which have value and meaning unlike SWPP qualifications or initials that can simply be purchased via annual membership. It is hardly suprising the market is in such flux still with weekend warriors operating and presenting themselves as professionals using SWPP's initials and presenting them as some kind of merit based system which they are clearly not. Sooner or later someone will initiate a legal action against them under the Misrepresentation Act and will wipe the floor with them.
In my oppinion they have done serious damage to the credibility of the industry and I would actively discourage anyone from going down their route.:bang:
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