How CPD credit values are decided

As a general principle, one hour of active educational participation corresponds to one CPD credit, excluding breaks, registration periods and purely social activities.

That principle is the starting point, not the whole answer. Accreditation considers the educational activity rather than assigning credits blindly on duration, so a reviewer may recommend a value below the clock time where participation is passive, or decline to award credit for parts of a programme that are not educational.

Educational hours

Educational hours are the periods in which participants are actively engaged in learning: taught sessions, facilitated discussion, practical and simulation work, supervised practice, and structured group activity. Time is counted in clock hours and rounded down to the nearest half credit.

Excluded time

• Registration, welcome administration and housekeeping
• Refreshment and meal breaks
• Travel and transitions between venues
• Exhibition visits, promotional and product-demonstration sessions
• Networking, dinners and the social programme

Asynchronous and online courses

For self-paced learning the length of the material is not a reliable measure. We ask for evidenced average completion time, from pilot cohorts or platform analytics, and we look for a mechanism that demonstrates genuine participation, such as progress tracking, interactive checkpoints or a completion assessment. Where no evidence of completion time exists, a provisional value can be issued for the first twelve months and reviewed at renewal.

Assessment time

Assessment counts towards credits where it is educational in itself, for example a structured case-based test with feedback, or an observed practical assessment. Purely administrative checks, such as an attendance confirmation or a two-question quiz, do not attract credit.

Reflective learning

Where an activity includes a structured reflective component with a defined output, up to one additional credit may be recommended. Unstructured reflection is left to the learner to record under their own regulator's arrangements and is not credited by CPD England.

What a credit value is not

There is no universal statutory UK CPD-point system, and CPD England does not claim to operate one. A CPD England credit value is a recommendation, based on a documented methodology, that a learner can record and justify. Responsibility for ensuring that CPD is relevant to their own scope of practice remains with the individual professional and their regulator or professional body.