The majority of the Society's members are practising state registered chiropodists/podiatrists working in both the public and private health care sectors in clinical, educational or managerial capacities in the United Kingdom.

A smaller number of members practise overseas or are non-practising. At the end of their careers members are eligible to be placed on the retired members roll. A small number of members are Fellows of the Society. This is a higher grade of membership and following a rigorous educational programme and examination either in general podiatric medicine or surgery.

The Society has a very active student body and approximately 90% of students graduating from the 14 recognised universities and colleges join the Society on completion of three or four years of study. A qualification appropriate to state registration (or EU equivalent) remains a pre-requisite for Society membership.

HISTORY

The Society came into being in 1945 when five British chiropody organisations amalgamated. The oldest of the constituent bodies and the first in Europe was founded in 1912.

In 1954 the examinations of the Society were approved by the Ministry of Health for National Health Service appointments. The Society continued as the examining body for the purposes of State Registration under the Professions Supplementary to Medicine Act 1960 until the advent of degrees in the late 1980s.

In 1948 the Society was included in the Whitley Council for Health Services (Great Britain) to represent chiropodists in the NHS, and became a trade union in 1978, affiliating to the TUC in 1997.

In 1993 the Society of Chiropodists added the name 'Podiatrists' to its title reflecting the use of this term throughout the English speaking world and with the objective of securing protection of this title for the State Registered profession.

In 1995 the Society celebrated its Golden Jubilee by hosting the XV World Congress of the International Federation of Podologists and Podiatrists (FIPP) of which the Society is an active member and currently holds the Presidency.

In 1998 the Association of Chief Chiropody Officers and the Podiatry Association amalgamated with the Society to form a single body representing the State Registered profession.