The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) has announced a new funding scheme for regulators and professional bodies, which aims to make it easier for UK professionals to work abroad.

The Recognition Arrangements Grants Programme will provide grants of up to £75,000 to UK regulators. The funds are to be used to develop recognition arrangements with international counterparts, ensuring that professionals have their qualifications recognised overseas without the need to requalify with additional qualifications.

“The UK’s professional qualifications are rightly widely recognised as a gold standard for diligence, professionalism and proficiency around the world,” says business minister Lord Callanan. “By creating our Recognition Arrangements Grants Programme, we are supporting regulators to build on this well-deserved reputation for excellence by agreeing recognition of professional qualifications with countries across the EU, ultimately making it easier for our lawyers, surveyors, accountants and others to work in the EU and elsewhere.”

The new funding could be used, for example, to agree deals to ensure that UK-qualified accountants will have their credentials recognised by regulators in Australia and New Zealand.

Jonathan Jones, ICAEW’s Director, Policy and Strategy, welcomes the announcement. “It will prove extremely useful for UK professional bodies working towards international recognition arrangements as part of the ‘Global Britain’ agenda. BEIS’s pilot scheme was very helpful supporting aspects of ICAEW’s international recognition work and because of this we intend to bid again.”