Preparing for your CPD Record Keeping

If you work in certain sectors, such as accounting, education, medicine and law, you will be required to keep a record of your CPD. This can be done in different ways, but it is important that you know what to do if you are going to meet your CPD requirements. The purpose of this article is to provide information on the requirements for record keeping, as well as some tips on how best to achieve this. In addition, we will look at some of the ways that a online system can help with this process

What is CPD?

Continuing Professional Development (CPD) is a way of keeping your professional skills up to date. It’s required by many professional bodies and organisations.

You can get CPD points for completing courses, attending conferences or seminars as well as reading relevant literature and articles in journals. As well as being good for your career prospects and helping you gain more qualifications, CPD helps keep your mind healthy too!

How do I record my CPD?

You can record your CPD in any way you please, the most common are:

• You can record your CPD activities yourself by using paper forms or spreadsheets and then inputting the data into the system manually at the end of each month. This method is fairly simple but does require some time investment from yourself each month when entering information into the system manually.
• Alternatively, if you want something simpler than this approach then you can use an online system, where all of this information will be stored electronically for you automatically and tracks your training course/event etc..

The advantages of CPD record keeping

The advantages of CPD recording are:

• You can see how you are progressing.
• You can see what you have done.
• You can see what you need to do next
• See where there are gaps in your knowledge or skills that need addressing.
• It will help with reflection on practice, which is an important part of developing as a practitioner

How can a Record Keeper help me with my CPD Record Keeping?

The CPD record keeping process can be a little overwhelming, but it’s important to keep track of your progress. The first step is to obtain and maintain a list of all the activities that count towards your CPD requirements. This should include:

• Identifying the activities you will need to record, and what evidence you will need in order to submit it.
• The activity name, date and duration;
• Keeping track of your hours in line with the details of your activity. For example, if it was delivered to you as part of a face-to-face course, or via an online platform.
• Sharing this evidence with any relevant organisations such as employers or professional bodies so that they can verify it on their own systems.

Keep track of your hours in line with the details of your activity

• Record the date, time and duration of each CPD activity.
• Record the name of your CPD activity. This can be a generic title such as “training” or more specific like “CPD lecture on financial planning”.
• Record your CPD provider (the person or organisation that provided the learning). For example, if it’s an online course then the website address will suffice; if it was delivered by an external trainer then their contact details should be recorded here too.
• Keep track of where you did your CPD activity: this could be at home or work or somewhere else entirely! If necessary add any additional information about location (e.g., room number).
• Finally, remember to note down how much money was spent on this particular piece of training/learning – don’t forget about travel costs either if applicable!

Share your evidence with any relevant organisations

You may need to share your evidence with a regulator or other body. If so, make sure you keep a copy of the evidence for yourself.

If you are not sure what evidence you need to provide, ask the relevant organisation.

With the right approach, recording your CPD is straightforward.

We hope that this article has given you a better understanding of the CPD record keeping process and the benefits it can bring.