B-a-n. All those months ago we were all still learning about the implications of the BR amendment. But even back then I fully supported regulation of the industry whilst being unconvinced that the proposals would necessarily achieve that aim. Few, if any, self-cert schemes had been launched at that stage and the idea of being forced to join a 'club' seemed heavy-handed. The existence of five such clubs only added to the confusion.
Since then I have followed the arguments and, as a reasonable person, been persuaded of certain things: Trading without the ability to self-certify was not a realistic option for me, so I signed up. The cost is not so high and compares favourably with that of joining many such organisations in various trades. And hey, the legislation was in place; a decision had to be made.
Of course, being in an organisation is available to both honest and dishonest tradesmen and could be seen by some as legitimising the occasional bad apple, but the wailing and gnashing of teeth from those afraid of assessment won't stop that. At least joining a scheme offers some consumer confidence. Those who don't join are making a decision to limit their ability to trade and will in time be seen as the cowboys.
The choice is fairly clear-cut. Swallow pride, sign up, be assessed and continue trading, or... keep trying to read more (or less) between the lines of the official documents, keep bleating on about how unfair it all is, become sidelined and perhaps end up losing your income. To me, it was an easy decision when it came to it. No fuss.