Brenoch - not if you have an autothrottle as well (eg) B737. I just tend to monitor TCAS on approaching the cleared level. If a target is 1000' feet above the cleared level, then I will endeavor to put it in VS, and use 1000 fpm. Honeywell recommend 1500 fpm or less in its pilots manual, although I find 1500 fpm can still trigger a TA.
The problem is if you have a very rapid ROC of say 4000 fpm or more, then ALT ACQ will occur at possibly 2000' or more below the level. It is then not possible to engage VS. The only option is to over-ride the A/P and reduce the pitch using Control wheel steering.
RAT 5 - I don't thing crew intervention is a problem in the last 1000', in fact it actually encourages people to pay attention to what they are doing. Before TCAS some people had there head buried in a newspaper as soon as reaching FL100, and didn't bother monitoring the climb too much. At least this raises the awareness of the cleared level.
Our SOPs are the same as Denti's, which I think is sensible. If there's nobody else about, there's not really any need.