CPD FAQs

Good CPD is not just about clocking hours. Consider the following principles in your approach to professional development – Reflection, Planning, Action and Evaluation. Sometimes learning can occur unexpectedly through experience; it may start at the Action stage rather with Reflection, but it is essential that all members regularly reflect on how their knowledge and skills need to be updated, and plan how they will achieve this. A personal development plan may assist you in this.

A good starting point is to review your existing personal and professional experience. In particular, you should analyse where your skills or knowledge may be lacking and define areas for improvement. How is your current role changing? Have there been technological developments since you qualified? Have any new specialisms or legislative changes emerged? Once you have a clear idea of your areas of weakness you can start to look at potential CPD activities.

A wide range of activities qualify as CPD. While attendance at formal training courses may be most effective for many members, ICF recognises that professional development may also be achieved through other activities like unstructured learning. Our assessors look for evidence of diversity in your CPD activities and how the learning outcomes have been employed in your work.

Yes. The Institute would like to see its members benefit from its own training events (national and regional) and those run in conjunction with others, but this is not mandatory.

Yes. CPD outside the workplace and other professional activities are becoming more attractive and useful options for professional development. It is important that this form of development is structured, for example, through structured reading and private study, or through voluntary work. This form of CPD can be efficient and cost-effective and can enhance the practitioner’s skills and knowledge, both at general and specialist level.

Yes. If you do any reading or private research that you find beneficial to your job, you should write reflective notes and record this as CPD.

The Institute hopes that through our communications, employers will become aware of the substantial benefits of supporting their staff in undertaking CPD. It benefits employers in terms of service delivery, recruitment and retention. Most employers are aware that CPD is compulsory for their chartered staff and will make time available to support their obligations. However, the responsibility to comply with your CPD obligations is ultimately your own and not your employer’s.

It is your responsibility to comply with your CPD obligations. Your employer is not obliged to pay for CPD courses or events. Cost-effective CPD events can be found on the ICF Events Calendar.

Log in to the Members’ Area of the website using your membership number and password. Click on the My CPD tab in the top-level menu and visit My CPD Summary Report.

Any information that you enter into the online recording system will be stored securely and only ICF administrative staff and members of the Professional & Educational Standards Committee will have access to the information. While staff will have full access to your CPD records for monitoring purposes, this information will never be shared with a third party.