CPD

HOURS
Your guide to CIPS CPD

Leading global excellence in procurement and supply

CIPS CPD guide

Contents
03 Introduction to CPD
What is CPD?
Who is CPD for?

03 CPD benefits
How CPD benefits you
How CPD benefits your organisation
CIPS support for your CPD

04 CIPS activities
What activities can be recorded as CPD?
What are CPD hours?
What is a CPD year?
How many CPD hours should I aim for each CPD year?
How many CPD hours can I claim for a learning activity?
Can I backdate or carry over CPD hours?

05 Updating my CPD account

How are CPD hours allocated to my CPD record?
Which learning activities are automatically added to my CPD account?
How to I manually enter my CPD learning activities?
Learning statements

06 Incentives and recognition

Are there any incentives for undertaking CPD?
Do I receive recognition for my CPD learning?
How can I achieve silver or gold CPD status?

07 My circumstances
As a studying member can my studies be recorded as CPD?
I’m a volunteer with a CIPS branch or Special Interest Group (SIG);
does CPD recognise this?

07 Auditing of CIPS CPD

How is CIPS CPD monitored?

08 What counts as CPD

Many of the jobs we do today will continue to change at an increasing rate,

meaning that current knowledge is effectively a perishable good. The people
best equipped to succeed will be those who display ‘learning agility’, the ability
to learn and acquire new behaviours rapidly and effectively. Your future
prosperity and career success, therefore, depends on your willingness to renew
your portfolio of knowledge, skills and competences.

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 CIPS CPD guide

Introduction to CPD
What is CPD?
Continuing Professional Development (CPD) is a lifelong process of improvement
through recognising, recording and reflecting on learning experiences. It is the
means by which professionals maintain and enhance their knowledge and skills to
complement both their current job role and career progression.

All CIPS Members are already likely to be participating in learning activities which
contribute towards their CPD without realising it. Almost everything that improves
your knowledge and skills is considered as CPD. CPD involves taking responsibility
for your own learning throughout your working life to ensure you remain
competent.

Who is CIPS CPD for?

CIPS CPD is for every CIPS member. Whether you are a studying member, Affiliate,
full Member or Fellow, whether you are studying, working full- or part-time, or
undertaking a career-break, CIPS CPD helps you stand out and stay ahead.

CPD benefits
How CIPS CPD benefits you
By taking a planned and structured approach to continuous learning throughout
your career you’re more likely to:
> Perform better in your current job
> Gain a competitive advantage over peers
> Achieve greater choice, employment mobility and earning potential
> Boost your self-confidence
> Develop your professional capability and enhance your reputation

How CIPS CPD benefits your organisation

The organisation you work for can benefit from your commitment to Continuing
Professional Development. Your hard work can lead to:
> Higher workplace performance
> Up skilling of staff
> Improved morale and staff motivation
> Development that can be linked to the needs of the organisation
> Unlocking of talent and potential within the organisation
> Prove to employers your commitment to professionalism

CIPS support for your CPD

You are already likely to be participating in CPD activities without realising it.
Your personalised CIPS CPD account, accessible from www.cips.org/cpd provides
you with:
> Online tools to record your CPD activities, produce reports and encourage
reflection on your learning.
> Automatic updating of your CPD account when you:
attend CIPS events including branch events, member events, training courses
and MasterClasses
complete CIPS assessments including exams, e-tests and work-based
assessments
complete CIPS e-learning courses.

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CPD activities
What activities can be recorded as CPD?
Almost everything that improves your knowledge and skills is considered as
CPD. To help you structure your development, learning activities fall into three
categories: knowledge, skills and personal development. It is not possible to list
all learning activities which you can record but here are some examples:

Category What it means Example of activities

Knowledge Improving your theoretical and Formal training and tuition, reading books and journals
practical knowledge of procurement online research, e-learning, webinars, podcasts, CIPS
qualifications and other educational studies.
Skills Improving your ability to do your Attendance at short courses and training events (CIPS
job as a procurement professional and non CIPS). On the job development, receiving
coaching or mentoring.
Personal Improving non-procurement related Giving presentations, coaching or hosting a webinar to
development knowledge and skills impart knowledge to others. Learning a language, non-
procurement related training. Voluntary work.

For more detail please refer to “What counts as CPD?”

What are CPD hours?

CPD hours reflect the amount of time you have spent on your learning activity.
All learning is recorded as CPD hours and CIPS defines how many hours can be
claimed for each learning category.

What is a CPD year?

All members can record learning activities during their CPD year on their
personalised online CPD account. Your CPD year runs from your membership
commencement to renewal date.

How many CPD hours should I aim for each CPD year?
CIPS recommends you undertake at least 30 CPD hours per year as a minimum
in order to keep up-to-date and be able to respond competently to changes in
the business environment, organisational requirements or client needs. This is
a modest amount given the range of activities which qualify.

However, in order to help you perform at a higher standard and support your
career progression; CIPS recommends you undertake at least 45 CPD hours
each year.

How many CPD hours can I claim for a learning activity?

Find out how many hours you can claim for a CIPS learning activity by referring
to the following “What counts as CPD”.

Can I backdate or carry over CPD hours?

No. CIPS CPD is about regular, ongoing development each year. Therefore we
cannot accept backdated hours and you cannot carry over hours into the next
CPD year.

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Updating my CPD account

How are CPD hours allocated to my CPD record?
Some learning activities are automatically uploaded to your CPD account. For
these activities, the number of CPD hours that can be claimed are also
recorded.

Important: Don’t forget to log in to your CPD account and complete a learning
statement as CPD hours are only added to your learning total once you have
completed your learning statement.

For other learning activities which are not automatically uploaded to your CPD
account, you can update your CPD account manually. Refer to “What counts as
CPD” to determine how many hours you can claim.

Which learning activities are automatically added to my CPD account?

The following learning activities are automatically uploaded to your CPD
account:

Attending:
> CIPS branch events
> CIPS member events such as Fellows events
> CIPS Special Interest Group events

Participating on:
> CIPS training courses
> CIPS e-learning courses
> CIPS MasterClasses

All CIPS Assessments*

> CIPS work-based assessments or projects
> CIPS exams
> CIPS e-tests

* Note that CIPS Assessments are automatically added to members' CPD

accounts on the date that results are released.

Learning statements
For any and every learning activity you do you need to complete a learning
statement. Only CPD activities which have a learning statement are added to
your total CPD hours which contribute towards your CPD status. A learning
statement reflects on the learning you have gained from the activity and
considers how the learning has helped you achieve your desired learning
outcomes.

As long as you can evidence your learning and complete the learning
statement on the system then the hours will count towards your total for your
CPD year.

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Incentives and recognition

Are there any incentives for undertaking CPD?
The main incentive for undertaking CPD is keeping up-to-date in terms of
knowledge and practice, thus remaining competitive in the job market. By
recording and reflecting upon your CPD you may qualify for silver or gold
CPD status.

Do I receive recognition for my CPD learning?

Yes. By recording and reflecting upon your CPD you may qualify for silver or
gold CPD status.

How can I achieve silver or gold CPD Status?

There are three categories of CPD activity:
> Knowledge – improving your theoretical and practical knowledge of
procurement
> Skills – improving your ability to do your job as a procurement professional
> Personal development – improving non-procurement related knowledge and
skills

To achieve silver or gold CPD status, you must record CPD hours in every category
during your CPD year. However there are both a minimum and a maximum
number of CPD hours for the personal development category which can
contribute towards your CPD status.

CPD category Knowledge Skills Personal development

CPD Status Minimum Maximum Minimum Maximum Minimum Maximum
recorded recorded recorded recorded recorded recorded
CPD Hours CPD Hours CPD Hours CPD Hours CPD Hours CPD Hours
Silver
(≥ 30 CPD hours) 1 hour No max 1 hour No max 5 hours 10 hours
Gold
(≥ 45 CPD hours) 1 hour No max 1 hour No max 5 hours 15 hours

Simply ensure you record your learning within your CPD account and the CPD
tool will do the rest. The CPD tool will calculate how many CPD hours you have
recorded in each CPD category and it will show you a summary of how many CPD
hours you have recorded in each CPD category, and a summary of how many CPD
hours contribute towards your CPD status.

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My circumstances
As a studying member can my studies be recorded as CPD?
Yes, as a studying member, there will be many opportunities for you to add
learning activities to your CPD account. These may include reading or listening
to a podcast, attending tutorials or lectures or attending a CIPS course. As long
as you can evidence your learning and complete a learning statement for each
learning activity, these will be recorded within your CPD account.

Additionally, for each CIPS assessment (for example an exam, work-based

assessment, e-test) your CPD account will automatically be updated with a
learning activity worth 5 CPD hours. This is because we recognise the learning
commitment you have made in order to undertake the assessment, regardless
of whether you pass or fail that assessment. This learning activity will be
shown within your CPD account when assessment results are released as this
is when CIPS confirms candidate attendance. You will need to log in and
complete your learning statement for the learning activity in order for the CPD
hours to be included within your total for your CPD year.

As a volunteer with a CIPS branch or Special Interest Group (SIG) can this be
recognised as CPD?
Events run by branches and SIGs that have a significant element of learning
and development are eligible as CPD. For example, members attending a
branch event will have their CPD accounts automatically updated with a
learning activity worth two CPD hours.

Don’t forget to complete your learning statement for the learning activity in
order for the CPD hours to be included within the total for their CPD year.

Voluntary activities can be added manually to your CPD account as learning

activities within the personal development category.

Auditing of CIPS CPD

How is CIPS CPD monitored?
CIPS expects its members to conduct themselves in accordance with the
standards laid out in our Code of Professional Ethics. Where an individual has
achieved silver or gold CPD status, CIPS will audit your CPD account by
reviewing learning statements and evidence that has been uploaded. CIPS
reserves the right to contact members about the content of their CPD account
if necessary.

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What counts as CPD

CPD category Learning Acvity Examples Examples of evidence required when How many CPD hours can I claim?
Type adding to CPD record

Knowledge Conference Aending a conference with a theme related to the Cerficate or confirmaon of 1 CPD hour for each hour at a
procurement profession aendance conference (do not include breaks)

Job shadowing Observing someone in a different role in order to develop Company name, department, job tle 1 CPD hour for each hour on job
knowledge and descripon of training shadowing*

Non-CIPS e-learning Compleng an e-learning course outside of the CIPS Cerficate or confirmaon of 1 CPD hour for each hour of the e-
academy site compleon learning course

Non-CIPS award or Achieveing a non-CIPS qualificaon or award which will Award or qualificaon cerficate Up to 30 CPD hours for each
qualificaon improve your knowledge related to the procurement qualificaon or award achieved
profession

Reading Reading a book, magazine, journal, research report or Title and author(s) of arcle / journal / 1 CPD hour for each hour reading*
reading online resources such as an e-journal or CIPS book / podcast / webinar
Knowledge download or listening to a podcast or webinar

Seminar Aending a seminar with a theme related to the Cerficate or confirmaon of 1 CPD hour for each hour at a seminar
procurement profession aendance (do not include breaks)

Skills CIPS qualificaons Aending lectures or tutorials while studying a CIPS unit, Cerficate or confirmaon of 1 CPD hour for each hour at a lecture
training award or qualificaon aendance or tutorial (do not include breaks)

Job role change Gaining a promoon or new job role Job or promoon offer leer Up to 5 CPD hours for promoon or
new job role

On the job learning On the job development - learning undertaken as part of Company name, department, job tle 1 CPD hour for each hour undertaking
your own role, or one you have been contracted to and descripon of training on the job learning*
undertake.

Receiving coaching/ Receiving coaching or mentoring to improve skills or Confirmaon leer from line manager, 1 CPD hour for each hour being
mentoring behaviours coach or mentor coached or mentored

Training Aending a training course or workshop related to the Cerficate or confirmaon of 1 CPD hour for each hour at training
course/workshop procurement profession including CIPS EPN events or aendance course/workshop (do not include
Corporate Award training breaks)

Personal Conference Aending a conference with a theme not related to the Cerficate or confirmaon of 1 CPD hour for each hour at a
development procurement profession aendance conference (do not include breaks)

Imparng Coaching or mentoring another, giving a presentaon or Descripon of the situaon, audience, 1 CPD hour for each hour imparng
knowledge wring an arcle or report topic knowledge*

Non-CIPS award or Achieving a non-CIPS qualificaon or award which is not Award or qualificaon cerficate Up to 30 CPD hours for each
qualificaon related to the procurement profession qualificaon or award achieved

Other Other learning acvies not listed in this guide Descripon of your learning acvity 1 CPD hour for each hour of learning*
with evidence of parcipaon

Seminar Aending a seminar with a theme not related to the Cerficate or confirmaon of 1 CPD hour for each hour at a seminar
procurement profession aendance (do not include breaks)

Training course/ Aending a training course or workshop not related to Cerficate or confirmaon of 1 CPD hour for each hour at a training
workshop the procurement profession aendance course (do not include breaks)

Voluntary work Contribung to the community including work Descripon of your voluntary role and 1 CPD hour for each hour volunteering
undertaken by CIPS branch commiee or board of acvity
management members, or charity work

* Reading, on the job learning, imparng knowledge, job shadowing and 'other' CPD acvity types have a maximum number of CPD hours that each can contribute towards your CPD status for a given CPD year.
Up to 5 CPD hours from each of these learning acvity types can contribute. Any excess hours will not contribute towards your CPD status; however they will be shown in your CPD statements.
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