All members (AssocRICS, MRICS and FRICS) must record their CPD activity online. APC candidates should continue to record their activities on the APC templates.
All members must complete 20 hours of CPD activities by 31 December. You have until 31 January to record your completed activities online.
In certain circumstances it may be difficult to meet the minimum CPD requirements. This may include the following groups:
In these circumstances we would ask that members keep up to date at least informally and that they consider their learning and development needs prior to returning so that they are ready and competent to return to work when able to do so. Members who feel that they may have difficulty in meeting the requirements should contact us as soon as possible Our Frequently Asked Questions may also help.
Formal CPD can be any form of structured learning that has clear learning objectives and outcomes, such as a professional course, structured online training, technical authorship, learning that includes an assessment measure. This can include self-managed learning as long as it has a clear learning outcome which is clearly linked to the member’s development needs. We may request to see evidence of any formal CPD activity; this may include demonstration of learning outcomes together with any supporting documentation.
Informal CPD is any self-managed learning that is relevant or related to your professional role. This could include activities such as private study, on-the-job training, attendance at informal seminars or events where the focus is on knowledge sharing.
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Any CPD activity, whether formal or informal, should be planned wherever possible and be relevant to your role or specialism. Any activity that does not have a clear learning objective that relates to your role and specialism cannot be considered as appropriate CPD. Activities such as networking, social events, informal team building or planning events and involvement on boards, committees or clubs that have little or no relevance to your professional role will not count towards your CPD requirements.
All members are required to undertake learning in relation to our Global Professional and Ethical Standards at least once every three years.
In keeping with current arrangements, members who are affiliated with statutory or RICS schemes are still required to comply with these schemes' specific CPD obligations. Scheme-specific CPD is counted as formal CPD.
Regulated firms have obligations to ensure that staff meets the following requirements. The requirements in the Rules of Conduct for Firms are as follows:
For their own benefit as well as to meet the requirements of the Rules of Conduct, firms are well advised to have an active involvement in the training of employees to ensure they remain competent. A good appraisal system will include the ability to identify and rectify gaps in knowledge and skills, and allow employees to record the learning activities that they have undertaken. A firm should also be supportive of employees' personal development, for example through allowing study and training time during working hours or through annual leave, or through helping employees financially to undertake learning.
Ensuring staff keep their skills and knowledge up to date and that they remain competent to perform their duties is vital for firms. A comprehensive training programme benefits not only the firm, but also its members of staff and customers. A comprehensive training policy is important for the following reasons:
As part of their annual return, firms are currently asked whether they have procedures in place to comply with this rule. It's important that your firm can answer 'yes'. There are many ways that firms can fulfil their training obligations to ensure employees remain competent.
Employees should be supported in their personal learning: this is an important part of being a responsible employer. Members of staff may be offered financial support for learning, allowed time off work in order to study or attend courses, or allowed study time in work.
It is best practice to have a policy in place to offer training and development to employees. This might be through providing in-house training or through sourcing courses externally. Members should consider different ways of providing training. It need not be limited to technical skills, but may also include 'soft' skills such as report writing or IT. Apart from courses, effective training methods might include lunchtime seminars provided by expert members of staff, mentoring or online learning.
The firm should have a procedure in place to identify any gaps in performance at a corporate, departmental or individual level. Managers should identify areas in which individuals require training and this should be linked to the firms' appraisal process as part of their training and development policy.
Our market research reveals that a quarter of members use their firm's system to record their CPD. A firm-wide recording system is a valuable tool for staff to record their learning, appraisals and development, as well as allowing firms to keep track of what training has been provided. You may wish to allow individuals to record their own personal learning as well as corporately provided learning. A recording system should enable individuals to plan learning goals, state actions taken, assess results of their learning, and consider what other skills need to be improved.
If you have encouraged staff to use the firm's learning recording system, you should allow them access to their records upon request and ensure that those who have left the firm have copies of their learning records.
RICS Regulation can use the online CPD management portal to check compliance statistics and CPD records. This information may be shared with your employer if they are a regulated firm. Each year RICS Regulation will select a random sample of CPD records for comprehensive review.
Your CPD activities should be recorded on the online CPD management portal on an ongoing basis. If you have difficulties undertaking CPD or recording your activities online, please inform RICS Regulation at the earliest opportunity:
If you have failed to record sufficient CPD in a year to meet the requirements of the rule, you will receive a caution in accordance with Rule 4(c) of the Disciplinary, Registration and Appeal Panel Rules 2009. The caution (called a Fixed Penalty caution) will remain on your disciplinary record for 10 years. Should further breaches of the CPD requirements occur, you will face further disciplinary action as follows:
