What does CPD mean?

CPD stands for Continuing Professional Development.

It describes learning undertaken to maintain, improve or develop a person’s professional knowledge and skills.

CPD can take many forms, including:

• online training and eLearning
• classroom courses
• workshops and seminars
• conferences
• structured professional learning
• workplace development activities
• reflective learning

For people working in health and social care, CPD can support induction, refresher learning, professional development and the acquisition or maintenance of role-relevant knowledge.

Some professional bodies and regulators have their own CPD requirements. Employers may also use CPD activities as part of workforce development and training programmes.

CPD should therefore be viewed as an ongoing process rather than simply collecting certificates.

What does CPD accreditation mean?

CPD accreditation normally means that an independent CPD accreditation organisation has assessed a learning activity against its own criteria.

The CPD Standards Office, for example, describes CPD accreditation as independent recognition of learning and distinguishes it from a regulated qualification.

For employers, accreditation can provide additional reassurance that a course has been subjected to an external assessment rather than relying entirely on the training provider’s own description of its quality.

However, the word accredited should always prompt another question:

Accredited by whom?

There is no single UK government body that accredits every form of CPD training. Different independent organisations provide CPD accreditation services.

A credible provider should therefore clearly state the organisation responsible for its accreditation and enable buyers to verify the claim.

Who accredits CPD training?

CPD courses can be accredited or certified by independent CPD accreditation organisations.

These organisations establish their own assessment standards and processes. This differs from the statutory regulation of qualifications.

For example, Caredemy is listed by the CPD Standards Office as CPD Standards Office Provider Number 50269, and the directory identifies numerous Caredemy learning activities as accredited activities.

The important distinction is that an independent CPD accreditation organisation is not the same thing as Ofqual, an awarding organisation or a professional regulator.

When comparing providers, employers should check both who provides the accreditation and exactly what has been accredited.

Is CPD accreditation legally required for care training?

Not generally.

There is no blanket legal requirement stating that every training course completed by a care worker must carry CPD accreditation.

What matters is whether an employer provides staff with training and development appropriate to their role and meets the relevant legislation, regulatory requirements and service-specific risks.

For CQC-regulated services in England, Regulation 18 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014 requires people employed in regulated activities to receive appropriate support, training, professional development, supervision and appraisal necessary for their duties.

CPD accreditation can provide useful independent quality assurance, but it should not be confused with the underlying employer’s legal responsibilities.

Does CQC require CPD accreditation?

CQC does not impose a general requirement that staff training must be CPD accredited.

CQC Regulation 18 focuses on whether staff are suitably qualified, competent, skilled and experienced and whether they receive the training and development necessary to perform their roles.

CQC’s guidance also states that providers should assess employees’ training, learning and development needs when they begin employment and review those needs at appropriate intervals.

This means employers should focus on whether training is:

• relevant to the person’s role
• appropriate to the service and people receiving care
• based on current requirements and guidance
• sufficient to develop the required knowledge and skills
• supported by practical training or competency assessment where necessary
• properly recorded and reviewed

A CPD certificate can form part of the evidence of learning, but a CPD logo or certificate does not by itself demonstrate that an employee is competent to perform a practical task or that an organisation is CQC compliant.

Does CPD accreditation mean a course is a qualification?

No.

This is one of the most important distinctions for buyers to understand.

A CPD-accredited course can provide valuable structured learning and evidence of professional development without being a regulated qualification.

Ofqual defines a regulated qualification as a qualification offered by a recognised awarding organisation within the scope of its recognition.

Regulated qualifications can be checked through the official Register of Regulated Qualifications.

A course should therefore not be described as an Ofqual-regulated qualification merely because it is CPD accredited.

CPD course vs regulated qualification

A CPD course is primarily designed to support continuing learning and professional development. It may cover a specific subject such as safeguarding, infection prevention and control, medication awareness, dementia, fire safety or moving and handling.

A regulated qualification operates within a formal qualifications framework and is awarded through a recognised awarding organisation.

The two can serve different purposes.

An employer may use CPD training for induction, awareness, knowledge development or refresher training while requiring a regulated qualification for a particular role, progression route or contractual requirement.

Employers should establish which form of learning is required before purchasing training.

CPD certificate vs qualification certificate

A certificate issued after successfully completing a CPD course provides evidence that the learner completed the specified learning activity and, where applicable, its assessment.

It should not automatically be interpreted as evidence that the learner holds a regulated qualification.

A qualification certificate relates to the successful achievement of a qualification awarded under the relevant awarding arrangements.

This distinction is particularly important on CVs, during recruitment and when maintaining workforce compliance records.

Learners and employers should describe certificates accurately rather than referring to every training certificate as a “qualification”.

CPD accreditation vs Skills for Care endorsement

CPD accreditation and Skills for Care quality assurance are separate concepts.

CPD accreditation is provided by CPD accreditation organisations and assesses learning against their CPD standards.

Skills for Care historically operated an Endorsed Provider scheme. Its guidance described the former scheme as taking a holistic view of whether a training provider had appropriate policies, procedures and processes.

Skills for Care’s current approach is the Quality Assured Care Learning Service (QACLS), delivered on behalf of the Department of Health and Social Care.

Under QACLS, training providers, courses and qualifications can be assessed against standards specifically developed for adult social care learning. Skills for Care maintains a current list of quality-assured providers, courses and qualifications.

This means buyers should pay attention to the date and scope of any Skills for Care claim rather than assuming an historic provider endorsement means that every course currently sold by that provider has been individually quality assured by Skills for Care.

CPD Accredited vs Skills for Care Endorsed vs CQC Compliant vs Regulated Qualification

Which terminology should care training providers use?

Accuracy matters.

“CPD accredited” is appropriate where the relevant training has genuinely been accredited by a named CPD accreditation organisation.

“Regulated qualification” should only be used where the learning genuinely leads to the relevant regulated qualification.

“Skills for Care endorsed” should be supported by the appropriate evidence and dates. Current claims should reflect Skills for Care’s present QACLS framework rather than relying indefinitely on historic provider endorsement.

Terms such as “CQC approved course” can be misleading unless there is a specific and verifiable approval mechanism supporting the claim.

Similarly, describing a course as “CQC compliant” requires care. CQC regulates providers and services; organisational compliance depends on much more than completing an online course.

A more precise description may be that training is designed to support relevant regulatory requirements, aligned with relevant guidance, or suitable for supporting an employer’s training obligations, where those statements can be evidenced.

How to check whether an online care course is credible

Accreditation is useful, but employers should not choose training based on a badge alone.

Before purchasing an online care course, check the following.

1. Verify the accreditation

Identify the organisation providing the accreditation and, where possible, check the accreditor’s own directory rather than relying solely on a logo displayed by the training provider.

2. Check the learning outcomes

A credible course should clearly explain what learners should know or be able to understand after completing it.

The outcomes should be relevant to the learner’s actual role.

3. Look at the course content

Check whether the syllabus covers the areas required for your service and workforce.

A course with an impressive title may not necessarily contain the depth of learning required for a particular role.

4. Check legislation and guidance

Care training should reflect current legislation, regulatory guidance and recognised sector standards where applicable.

Outdated references can undermine otherwise useful training.

5. Check who develops and reviews the training

Look for information about subject expertise, course review processes and how content is kept current.

6. Check how learning is assessed

Completion alone is not always enough.

Consider whether the course contains meaningful assessments that allow the learner to demonstrate understanding.

7. Identify practical competency requirements

Some subjects cannot be evidenced adequately through eLearning alone.

Moving and handling, clinical procedures, practical first aid skills and other workplace activities may require practical instruction, observation, supervision or competency assessment depending on the role and circumstances.

8. Check the certificate and training records

Employers should be able to identify:

• who completed the training
• the course completed
• completion date
• assessment or completion status
• appropriate CPD information where relevant

For organisations with multiple employees, reporting and training records can be as important as the individual certificate.

9. Check sector-specific quality assurance

For adult social care training in England, employers can also check Skills for Care’s current Quality Assured Care Learning Service information and published list of quality-assured training.

10. Check whether the course actually meets your requirement

The most important question is not simply:

“Is this course accredited?”

It is:

“Is this the right training, at the right level, for this employee’s role and responsibilities?”

Can CPD care courses be completed online?

Yes.

Online learning is widely used for CPD and can be particularly effective for knowledge-based subjects, awareness training, induction and refresher learning.

It also enables employers to provide consistent training across teams and maintain central records of course completion.

However, online learning is not automatically sufficient for every subject.

Where a role requires practical skills, employers may need to supplement online learning with practical instruction, workplace observation, supervision and formal competency assessment.

The appropriate training method should be determined by the subject, employee’s role, workplace risks and relevant guidance.

Do CPD certificates expire?

A CPD certificate records learning completed at a particular point in time. That does not necessarily mean the underlying knowledge remains current indefinitely.

There is no universal expiry period that applies to every CPD care course.

Instead, refresher requirements may be determined by:

• legislation
• regulatory or statutory guidance
• recognised sector frameworks
• professional-body requirements
• organisational policy
• risk assessment
• changes to an employee’s role
• changes to legislation or guidance
• evidence of competence
• incidents or identified learning needs

Employers should therefore avoid assuming that every course must be repeated annually or, conversely, that a certificate remains sufficient indefinitely.

How does refresher training work?

Refresher training helps employees maintain or update knowledge and skills after initial training.

The appropriate interval varies by subject and role.

Some training may have a specific recommended or required renewal period. In other cases, employers need to decide the appropriate frequency based on regulatory guidance, risk and individual learning needs.

Training may also need to be repeated earlier when:

• legislation or guidance changes
• workplace procedures change
• an employee changes role
• new equipment or systems are introduced
• competence concerns are identified
• an incident highlights a training need
• the employee has not used a skill for a significant period

A strong training system therefore combines scheduled refresher learning with ongoing assessment of workforce competence and development needs.

Caredemy’s CPD accreditation and Skills for Care position

Caredemy provides online training across health, social care and related workplace subjects.

Caredemy is currently listed in the CPD Standards Office directory as CPD Standards Office Provider Number 50269. The directory lists numerous Caredemy courses as accredited activities, including safeguarding, infection prevention and control, moving and handling, basic life support, medication-related learning and other care subjects.

Caredemy also has documented historic Skills for Care Endorsed Provider status. Its published certificate confirms that Caredemy was a Skills for Care Endorsed Provider from 28 July 2023 to 28 July 2024, following an earlier endorsement period.

Skills for Care has since introduced the Quality Assured Care Learning Service, which differs from the former endorsement scheme. Current Skills for Care quality-assurance claims should therefore be checked against the current QACLS list.

These forms of recognition should not be conflated.

CPD accreditation provides independent CPD quality assurance. Historic Skills for Care endorsement demonstrated that Caredemy met the requirements of the provider endorsement framework applicable at that time. Neither should be described as CQC approval or as making every course a regulated qualification.

For employers, these quality markers should form part of a broader assessment that also considers course content, learning outcomes, assessment, relevance to staff roles, practical competency requirements and the ability to maintain appropriate training records.

Choosing CPD-accredited care training

CPD accreditation is a useful indicator that learning has been independently assessed against the standards of a CPD accreditation organisation.

It is not, however, a substitute for employer due diligence.

When choosing care training, employers should consider the accreditation alongside the course syllabus, learning outcomes, current legislation and guidance, assessment method, practical competency requirements and suitability for each employee’s role.

The objective is not simply to accumulate certificates. It is to ensure staff have the knowledge, skills and competence they need to provide safe and effective care.

Frequently Asked Questions

What does CPD accredited mean in care?

CPD accredited generally means a care training activity has been independently assessed against the standards of a named CPD accreditation organisation. It provides evidence of external CPD quality assurance but does not automatically make the course a regulated qualification.

Are CPD courses recognised by CQC?

CQC expects providers to ensure staff receive appropriate training and development, but it does not generally operate a system of approving commercial CPD courses. Employers remain responsible for ensuring training is appropriate to staff roles and supports competence.

Is CPD certification a recognised qualification?

A CPD certificate and a regulated qualification are different. CPD records continuing professional development, while regulated qualifications are offered by recognised awarding organisations within the applicable regulatory framework.

Is CPD training mandatory for care workers?

There is no universal requirement for every care worker to complete courses carrying CPD accreditation. Employers must identify the training required by legislation, regulation, the employee’s role, workplace risks and the needs of people receiving care.

Can care workers complete CPD online?

Yes. Many knowledge-based CPD activities can be completed online. Practical subjects may additionally require face-to-face instruction, workplace observation or competency assessment.

How long is a CPD certificate valid?

There is no single expiry period covering every CPD certificate. Employers should determine refresher requirements using relevant legislation, guidance, risk, organisational policy and the employee’s competence and role.

Is CPD accreditation the same as Skills for Care endorsement?

No. They are separate forms of quality assurance. Skills for Care’s former Endorsed Provider scheme has also been superseded by its current Quality Assured Care Learning Service framework.

Is CPD accreditation the same as Ofqual accreditation?

No. Independent CPD accreditation and the regulation of formal qualifications are different systems. Ofqual maintains the Register of Regulated Qualifications for qualifications within its regulatory remit.

Does completing a CPD course prove competence?

Not necessarily. A course can demonstrate completion and assessed knowledge, but some workplace activities require practical assessment and observation before an employer can establish competence.

What should employers look for in online care training?

Check the provider’s accreditation evidence, syllabus, learning outcomes, assessment, subject expertise, update process, applicable legislation and guidance, practical competency requirements, certificates, training records and suitability for the learner’s role.