Frequently Asked Questions
Continuing Professional Development is defined as learning activity which maintains and extends a member’s occupational knowledge, skills and professionalism to improve competence. This may be based on any topic which members deem to be pertinent to their role.
For any occupation, applying ethics in practice is the hallmark of a true professional. This means that ethics should inform your decision making in everything you do in the workplace. Therefore, any occupational or technical learning or development activities must include ethical consideration for best practice. CPD in Ethical Practice requires that members reflect upon the ethical aspects of any learning they have undertaken and how they have applied those in practice.
As a member of the Institute, you currently agree to abide by Rule 10 of the Institute’s Rules and Regulations of Professional Competence and Conduct, by committing to undertake regular CPD.
This new policy simply puts a little more structure around the process and is requiring that you allocate some of that CPD time to examine ethical practice in particular as part of CIOB’s commitment to supporting ethical behaviours and culture change in the construction industry.
The Board of Trustees decided that a defining feature of a professional body, and of your membership of it, is a commitment to maintaining the highest standards of behaviour and in your approach to your work. This requires that you stay up to date on the latest advancements and knowledge within the sector but also that you reflect on the ethical aspects of your practice.
In signing up to membership, or renewing your membership for 2023, you will be asked to confirm that you agree to abide by the Institute’s Royal Charter & Bye-Laws and all associated Rules and Regulations and associated policies.
As with any CPD, you may record your CIOB CPD (points) in any way that works best for you. There is also a recording form available to download on this page that you can use, which you will also be able to submit if you are selected for audit under the CIOB’s CPD policy.
CIOB has introduced a points system for CPD for the first time as we have mandated that members undertake CPD in ethical practice. You will need to accrue 10 points in each subscription year.
Members can earn a set amount of CPD points, depending on what CPD activity they undertake. These points range from 1 point up to 10 points for a single activity and are based on the depth of learning undertaken. You can find how many points you can earn for an activity in the Institute’s CPD Policy.
CIOB does not ask that you record or submit your CPD in hours or with official accredited certificates. You may choose to log hours if this is helpful to you or required for another professional body to which you belong, but it is not part of the audit for CIOB.
No, there is no specific course or CPD activity that you need to undertake to meet the requirements. You will need to examine your practice and any CPD that you do to reflect upon the ethical aspects of it. However, this free CIOB Academy course is a good starting point.
From 2024, the Institute will commence an auditing process into members’ CPD in ethics. Members selected as part of this audit will be asked to complete a template detailing the CPD activity they undertook in the previous year, how these activities have helped their practice and how many CPD points this helped them earn. In addition to this, members will be asked whether they are complying with all other aspects of CPD, but you will not be asked for detailed evidence of this.
If you are asked to provide evidence of your CPD in ethics and have failed to reach the necessary 10 points, you will be asked to give an undertaking to complete the required CPD. Any further failure to comply may be considered as a breach of the Rules and Regulations of Professional Competence and Conduct.
Yes. The audit selection is random and you may be selected two years in a row, although this is unlikely to happen. Submitting CPD for audit in one year does not preclude you from being in the ‘audit pool’ in any following year.
No, you should still do CPD relevant to your role and ensure you take time to include a focus on ethical practice. You will be subject to selection for audit under slightly different rules, however, with all CIOB board and committee members being selected from their own ‘audit pool’, separate from the general membership, to ensure that those representing CIOB and making decisions on behalf of other members are undertaking their obligations under the rules and regulations.
For more background on our new CPD policy, please take a look at this blog by Rosalind Thorpe, Director of Education and Standards: The CPD Policy Review.
Unfortunately not at this time but we aim to provide this functionality in the future in both our app and our portal. However, you can use a recording form available on this webpage in the meantime.
It's a high priority for us to improve the user experience on our Members' Portal, in particular the logging and access of CPD. We have explored using existing solutions but felt that these did not provide what is needed and potentially would deliver an overly complicated CPD logging process. This is at odds with one of our goals, which is to “deliver a modern experience to all stakeholders”. Our plan, therefore, is to maintain the current portal’s CPD functionality and, as a priority, look to provide a new Members' Portal which offers the high-quality journey we want our members to experience.
