CPD for Therapy Professionals

• Clients and patients: practice stays safe and up to date with new evidence.
• Registration: regulators and professional bodies make CPD a condition of staying registered or accredited.
• You: learning keeps the work interesting, builds confidence and can open new areas of practice.

Practitioner psychologists, occupational therapists, physiotherapists, speech and language therapists, dietitians and arts therapists are all regulated by the HCPC. Its CPD standards ask you to keep a continuous, up-to-date and accurate record of your CPD, do a mix of learning relevant to current or future practice, try to make sure your CPD improves your practice and benefits service users, and, if asked, send a written profile with evidence.

The HCPC does not set a number of hours. At each two-yearly renewal it randomly selects 2.5 per cent of each profession for a CPD audit. See HCPC: our CPD requirements and HCPC: the CPD audit process.

Renewal dates for every HCPC profession, and what goes in a CPD profile: our free HCPC CPD audit and renewal guide and printable audit profile planner.

BACP: registered members must reflect on, plan, record and review their CPD, and send their record if selected for audit. BACP says it would normally expect at least 30 hours a year, with the focus on outcomes. It treats supervision as a separate requirement, not CPD. See BACP register requirements for CPD.

UKCP: at least 250 hours of CPD over each five-year reaccreditation period, normally including at least 20 hours each year. Your college or organisational member may ask for more. See UKCP: continuing professional development.

NCPS and ACTO: both expect members to keep up ongoing CPD relevant to their work. ACTO’s guidance focuses on online and phone practice. Check their current member requirements for any set amount.

Practitioner psychologists meet the HCPC CPD standards above. The BPS supports members with CPD guidance, events and learning, and encourages a planned, reflective approach. Check the BPS member area for current tools.

On top of the HCPC standards, each professional body offers guidance and tools: RCOT for occupational therapists, CSP for physiotherapists, RCSLT for speech and language therapists and BDA for dietitians. Most offer member e-learning, journals, webinars and a way to record CPD.

Art, music and drama therapists meet the HCPC CPD standards. Their professional bodies, BAAT, BAMT and BADth, run training, conferences and regional groups that many members use for CPD, including work with their own art form.

• Learning from supervision: turn a theme from supervision into a reading or practice goal. Some bodies count supervision itself and some do not.
• Peer groups: a monthly case discussion or journal club with colleagues.
• Reading: journals, books and research summaries, with a short note on what you will change.
• Professional body webinars: many bodies run free or member-included webinars and recordings.
• Reflective practice: written reflection on a session, a mistake or a new situation.
• Teaching and writing: giving a talk or writing a short article often counts.
• Free courses with certificates: see our checked list of free CPD for therapists, from suicide awareness training to NHS e-learning and OpenLearn.
• Our free resources: the practitioner toolkit, the private practice starter kit and guides.

For each activity, write a few lines under these headings:

1. What I did: the activity, date, time spent and type (course, reading, peer group and so on).
2. Why: the learning need or question it answered.
3. What I learned: two or three key points.
4. What changed: how it affects my work with clients or patients.
5. Next step: anything to follow up, and evidence kept (certificate, notes, link).

• Log as you go, not at renewal time.
• Keep a mix of activity types.
• Leave out client-identifying details.
• Review your plan once a year, ideally with your supervisor or a peer.

It depends on your regulator and professional body. The HCPC sets standards rather than a number of hours. BACP normally expects registered members to do at least 30 hours a year, with the focus on what you gained. UKCP asks for at least 250 hours over each five-year reaccreditation period, normally including at least 20 hours each year. Check your own body for the current rule.

It depends on the body. BACP treats supervision as a separate requirement and asks members not to submit it as CPD, while UKCP’s policy says CPD would typically include an element of clinical supervision. Check your own body’s guidance.

Usually, yes. Most bodies care about whether the learning is relevant and how it changed your practice, not what it cost. Reading, peer groups, webinars and reflective writing can all count when you record what you learned.

You are usually asked to send your CPD record and a short written profile showing how you meet the standards. HCPC, for example, randomly selects 2.5 per cent of each profession at renewal. Keeping your log up to date as you go makes this simple.

Certificates help but are rarely the whole story. Most bodies want to see what you did, why, what you learned and how it affected your work. Keep certificates, notes or links as supporting evidence.