CPD scheme rules

Who needs to complete the CII CPD scheme?

It is a requirement of membership that all CII and PFS qualified members, whether based in the UK or outside the UK, comply with the CII CPD scheme. Qualified is defined as those members entitled to use any of the following qualification designations and titles:

Insurance:

• Cert CII (including those entitled to use discipline or sector specific suffixes: London Market; Claims; Health and Protection; MP; MP & ER or Life and Pensions)
• Dip CII (including those entitled to use discipline specific suffix: Claims)
• ACII
• FCII
• Chartered Insurance Broker/Insurer/Insurance Practitioner

Financial planning:

• CertPFS (including those entitled to use discipline or sector specific suffixes:Paraplanning or DM)
• DipPFS
• APFS
• FPFS
• Chartered Financial Planner

Part-time workers

Members who are working in part-time roles have the same CPD requirements as those in full-time employment. Members on a career break, e.g. maternity leave or long-term sickness will have their CPD requirements are suspended during a career break. Where a CPD record is selected for validation purposes, the CII will ask for evidence confirming the break in work.

Retired members

Retired members belonging to the Retired members scheme who are no longer engaged in any insurance or financial advice business are not required to complete CPD. Partially retired members who perform consultancy or expert witness roles must comply with the CII CPD scheme in full.

What does the scheme involve?

The scheme caters for all qualified members, irrespective of their specialism, discipline or geographical location. It caters for the fact that development needs vary from individual to individual. All CII/PFS qualified members, whether based in the UK or outside the UK, need to:

• Complete a minimum of 35 hours' compulsory CPD each year of which at least 21 hours must be structured CPD
• This figure of 35 hours is the minimum required by the CII; in practice, the figure may exceed this as the actual requirement will be determined by an individual's development needs in any 12-month period
• For an activity to be eligible as CPD it must be a minimum of 30 minutes in duration (a batch of different activities of less than 30 minutes each undertaken to meet a specific learning outcome can be combined and recorded together)

Types of CPD

Structured CPD is the undertaking of any formal learning activity designed to meet a specific learning outcome (this is what an individual is expected to know, understand or do as a result of his or her learning). An example would be attending a technical lecture to understand the risk of exchange traded funds.

Structured learning activities include but are not limited to:

• Studying for an examination
• Participating in seminars (web-based or in person)
• Lectures
• Conferences
• Workshops
• Courses
• E-learning

In a minority of cases, activity might also include educational reading, where high quality reading material has been produced to meet the required learning outcome. Unstructured CPD is any activity an individual considers has met a learning outcome, but which may not have been specifically designed to meet their development needs. This might include reading a trade publication that includes a technical article on a topic for which they have a development need, which the individual has read as part of their normal day to day activities, rather than specifically reading this to meet a specific learning need. See suitable CPD activities for a full listing of typical structured and unstructured activities.

To qualify within the parameters of the scheme, all CPD activity must address an individual's personal development needs. It is up to the individual member to determine what these are. The process by which a development need is met involves four stages:

• Identifying learning and development needs and planning activities to address them
• Carrying out activities to meet these needs
• Recording the time spent for each activity and maintaining a verifiable audit trail of these activities
• Reflecting on the outcomes of the CPD activity (answering the question: "did the activity meet my learning needs?")

Notes:

• CPD activities should always be measurable, with 'time spent' being accurately recorded and your reflections documented
• Verifiable means that, if you are specifically asked by the CII to substantiate a particular activity undertaken, you can provide corroborative evidence, e.g. a training provider's certificate of attendance and the corresponding course syllabus

You only need to submit your CPD record if the CII requests to see it. Typically the CII will randomly sample about 10% of members' records each year to check these have been fully and correctly completed.