Continuing Professional Development: Get compliant

1. Can I count my study towards my CPD requirements?

You can count study of any academic or professional qualifications towards your CILEx CPD requirement.

As a Practitioner, Fellow or Graduate member of CILEx, there is no limit on the number of entries you can log from academic study. It is, however, important to remember that the study acts as the CPD activity in order to meet your learning outcomes so it is necessary for you to reflect on what you have gained from studying the different modules. etc.

If you are an Associate member on the mixed CPD scheme then you are able to count up to 100% of your hours from study if it relates to your specialism or up to 50% of your hours if the area of study falls outside your area of specialism.

2. What is the difference between planned and unplanned CPD?

A planned activity is an activity that has been arranged in order to achieve a specific outcome. For example, you would like to update your knowledge of data protection (this is the outcome) and you find a course that covers this topic (this is the activity). As the reason you have decided to do the activity is set by your learning outcome, then this is planned.

You probably will find that most CPD you do is planned, mainly because you have an annual requirement that you know you need to meet. We do recognise, however, that some ad-hoc learning can be beneficial and therefore we allow members to rely on less structured activities such as reading of legal publications and general research as CPD also. As you cannot set out to achieve something specific through these ad-hoc activities, we ask you to log these types of activity as unplanned.

An example of an unplanned activity would be reading a legal publication, like the CILEx Journal. If you read through the Journal and came across an article on something that relates to changes in your area of practice, then you may wish to log this as CPD. While you have achieved a learning outcome, you did not set out to learn more about that particular issue by reading the CILEx Journal and therefore this is unplanned.

3. I’ve changed membership grade during the CPD year, do my requirements change too?

If you upgrade from one membership grade to another during the CPD year, this will not affect your CPD requirement for the CPD year you upgrade in. For example, if you completed the Level 3 exams and upgrade from Affiliate member to Associate in May 2017, you would not be required to complete CPD until the start of the next CPD year on 1 October 2018.

Similarly, when you upgrade from Associate to Graduate or Graduate to Fellow, you will be required to complete only CPD in accordance with the grade you were in on the first day of the CPD year. Your CPD requirements will not be affected until 1 October of the following CPD year.

4. I have been out of work for a lot of the CPD year – do I still need to do it?

We recognise that there will be occasions where you may be out of the workplace for an extended period of time: for example, maternity/paternity leave; unemployment; or sickness.

Where this absence from work is for over six months of a CPD year, you can apply for a dispensation to waive your requirements for that period.

If you have been out of the workplace for six months and would like to apply for a dispensation, then you should make contact with CILEx Regulation at cpd@cilexregulation.org.uk with the dates of your absence from work.

5. Where do I log my CPD?

All CPD should be logged online through myCILEx each year. The CPD online logging page can be accessed directly from the myCILEx homepage.

If you are a CILEx Practitioner, Fellow or Graduate member you should log all your CPD as outcomes and therefore this should go in the outcomes-based section of the recording page.

If you are an Associate, remember to log your hours separately to your Professionalism outcome. The hours go in the top recording section while Professionalism is logged in the outcomes-based record.

If you would like more information on CPD, or to seek clarification of your requirements for the year, please email us or call 01234 845 770.

Detailed information on the CPD requirements can be found on the CILEx Regulation ‘Help with your CPD‘ page.