The Institution of Professionals, Managers and Specialists (IPMS) was a trade union representing managers and other people with professional qualifications in the United Kingdom, with a majority of members working in the civil service.
History The union was founded in 1919 as the Institution of Professional Civil Servants (IPCS), bringing together seventeen associations based in individual departments of the civil service. The spur for its formation was the creation of the Whitley Council system, on which the new union qualified for two seats. Membership grew rapidly, from 1,534 on formation, to 2,917 the following year, reaching 99,000 by 1980.Arthur Marsh and Victoria Ryan, Historical Directory of British Trade Unions, vol.1, p.108
The union initially operated only as a loose confederation, but in 1946 it established its own National Executive Committee and headquarters, and in 1951, the remaining constituents became branches of the union. At this point, it had strong representation in the Post Office, and it worked as part of the Council of Post Office Unions from 1969 until 1977.
The union absorbed the Society of Technical Civil Servants in 1969.Rodney Lowe, The Official History of the British Civil Service: Reforming the Civil Service By Rodney Lowe, p.284] In 1976, after many attempts to get its members to agree, it joined the Trades Union Congress.Michael P. Kelly, White-collar Proletariat: The Industrial Behaviour of British Civil Servants In 1984, the Association of Government Supervisors and Radio Operators (AGSRO) joined IPCS.
Following privatisation of the jobs of many of its members, IPCS changed its name to the Institution of Professionals, Managers and Specialists, in 1989.Modern Records Centre, University of Warwick, "Institution of Professionals, Managers and Specialists, earlier the Institution of Professional Civil Servants, 1921-1986" In 2001, it merged with the Engineers' and Managers' Association to form Prospect.Neela Bettridge and Philip Whiteley, New Normal, Radical Shift, p.51
Leadership General Secretaries 1945: Leslie Herbert 1948: Stanley Mayne 1961: Richard Nunn 1963: Bill McCall 1989: Bill Brett 1999: Paul Noon
Honorary Secretaries 1919: R. C. Bristow 1920: J. H. Salmon 1925: Frederick A. A. Menzler 1928: S. H. Bales and H. W. Monroe 1929: S. H. Bales, A. O. Gibbon and H. W. Monroe 1930: S. H. Bales and H. W. Monroe 1935: S. H. Bales 1936: S. H. Bales and H. R. Lintern 1938: Ivor Bowen 1938: H. Whittaker 1939: O. C. Watson 1941: L. Lanham 1942: J. Fraser 1943: G. C. Allfrey 1945: J. A. Nicol 1947: Position abolished
Honorary Presidents 1921: Richard Redmayne 1957: Graham Sutton 1961: Verney Stott 1963: Position abolished
References
External links Catalogue of the IPMS archives, held at the Modern Records Centre, University of Warwick