For professionals
How to record your CPD and build a portfolio that holds up
Published 24 October 2026 · 8 min read
In short: record every CPD activity with the date, the hours, what you learned and — the part most people skip — how it changed your practice, and keep the evidence (certificate and verification reference) with it. Most UK regulators can audit your CPD, so keep records for the full cycle. A certificate proves the activity happened; your reflection is what makes it count.
Collecting CPD is the easy part. Recording it so it stands up — at revalidation, at renewal, or in a random audit — is where people come unstuck. This guide is for the individual professional building a CPD record, whatever your field. It covers what a good record contains, the reflection auditors actually look for, how long to keep things, and the mistakes that turn a year of genuine learning into an audit headache.
Why recording matters as much as doing
Most regulators don’t take your CPD on trust. They sample it. The HCPC audits a percentage of each profession at every renewal; the NMC requires records at revalidation; the GDC, RICS, IOSH and others expect a documented trail. If you’re selected and your records are thin, the problem isn’t usually that you didn’t do the learning — it’s that you can’t show it. A good record is insurance against that.
What a good CPD record contains
For each activity, capture these seven things. They map onto what almost every regulator asks for, so a record built this way travels across whatever scheme you’re in.
| Field | What to write |
|---|---|
| Date | When you did the activity (not when you logged it). |
| Activity | What it was — course title, webinar, reading, mentoring, conference. |
| Type | Verifiable / participatory, or non-verifiable / self-directed (see below). |
| Hours | Time spent on the learning itself, honestly counted. |
| Learning outcome | What you now know or can do that you couldn’t before. |
| Reflection & impact | How it changed your practice — a decision, a technique, something you’ll do differently. |
| Evidence | Certificate, verification reference/URL, agenda, or notes. |
The reflection most people skip
If there is one thing that separates a record that passes from one that gets queried, it’s the reflection. Logging “attended fire-safety webinar, 1 hour” records attendance, not development. What an auditor wants is the “so what”: what did you take from it, and what are you doing differently because of it? Two honest sentences — “I realised our evacuation plan didn’t account for the new mezzanine; I’ve raised it with the facilities lead and we’re revising the drill” — are worth more than a pile of certificates with no reflection attached. Write the reflection while it’s fresh, not at renewal when you’ve forgotten the detail.
How much to keep, and for how long
Keep records for at least the length of your scheme’s cycle, and ideally one cycle beyond. The cycle varies by body:
| Body | Cycle & headline requirement |
|---|---|
| NMC | 3-year cycle; 35 hours CPD (20 participatory) plus 450 practice hours. |
| GDC | 5-year cycle; hours vary by role (100 for dentists, less for DCPs). |
| HCPC | No set hours; standards-based, 2.5% audited each renewal. |
| RICS | Annual; 20 hours (10 structured), recorded each calendar year. |
| IOSH | Annual; 30 hours for Chartered members, recorded in Blueprint. |
| CIPD | Outputs-based; no mandatory hours, minimum three records a year. |
These are summaries — each linked page has the detail, and we cover the general principle in CPD hours explained. The safe rule: if you could still be audited for a year, keep that year’s records.
Verifiable vs non-verifiable CPD
Many schemes split CPD into two kinds, and your record should mark which is which:
- Verifiable / participatory / structured — learning you can prove happened and that someone else can confirm: an accredited course with a certificate, a webinar with an attendance record, a conference with an agenda. This is the kind that usually has a minimum requirement, because it’s auditable.
- Non-verifiable / self-directed — reading, private study, informal learning. It still counts, but the evidence is your own notes and reflection rather than a third-party certificate.
An independently verifiable certificate is the strongest evidence you can file — which is exactly why checking one matters. Our guide on how to check a CPD certificate is genuine shows what good evidence looks like from the other side.
Where to keep it
Use whatever you’ll actually maintain. In order of least to most effort:
- Your body’s own portal — if you have one (IOSH Blueprint, the NMC’s revalidation templates), use it; it’s already shaped to the requirement.
- A single spreadsheet with the seven columns above — simple, portable, searchable.
- A folder for evidence — save every certificate as a PDF the moment you get it, with the verification link noted. Certificates are the thing people most often lose.
The tool matters far less than the habit: log the activity and its reflection within a day or two, not in a panic at renewal.
A weak entry and a strong one, side by side
The difference is easiest to see with the same activity logged two ways.
Weak: “12 March — Manual handling refresher, 2 hours. Completed.” It records that something happened, but an auditor learns nothing about what you got from it or whether it was relevant, and there’s no evidence attached.
Strong: “12 March — Manual handling refresher (verifiable, 2 hours; AssuredCPD certificate ref ACM-…, verifiable online). Learning: updated on the current risk-assessment approach for team lifts. Impact: I’d been signing off two-person transfers by habit; I’ve since introduced a quick written check for anything over 25kg and briefed the team on it. Relevance: directly supports my role as a care-team lead.” Same two hours — but this entry shows learning, change, relevance and evidence. That is what a record that passes looks like.
If you’re early-career or between schemes
You don’t need to be on a formal CPD scheme to benefit from recording. If you’re newly qualified, changing fields, or in a role with no mandated CPD, a simple running log of what you learn and apply does two jobs: it builds the habit before a regulator ever requires it, and it gives you a ready-made portfolio the day you join a professional body or apply for a role that asks for one. Start with the same seven fields; the structure scales from a single spreadsheet to a full revalidation portfolio without you having to relearn anything.
Five mistakes that sink a CPD record
- Hours with no reflection. The most common audit query — attendance logged, learning not shown.
- Lost certificates. Download and file evidence immediately; don’t rely on being able to re-request it years later.
- Leaving it all to renewal. Reconstructing a year from memory is where detail — and credibility — gets lost.
- Counting unverifiable claims as verifiable. If you can’t evidence it, log it honestly as self-directed.
- Irrelevant padding. CPD is judged on relevance to your practice; volume of unrelated activity doesn’t help.
Record CPD the way you’d want to read it back under audit — dated, honest, reflective, and evidenced — and the renewal takes care of itself.
Common questions
What should a CPD record include?
For each activity: the date, what it was, whether it is verifiable or self-directed, the hours, what you learned, how it changed your practice (reflection), and the evidence — certificate and verification reference. That structure maps onto almost every regulator’s requirement.
How long should I keep my CPD records?
At least the length of your scheme’s cycle, and ideally one cycle beyond — for example three years for the NMC, five for the GDC, each calendar year for RICS. If you could still be audited for a period, keep that period’s records.
What is the difference between verifiable and non-verifiable CPD?
Verifiable (also called participatory or structured) CPD can be proved and confirmed by someone else — an accredited course with a certificate, a webinar with an attendance record. Non-verifiable or self-directed CPD, such as reading, counts too but is evidenced by your own notes and reflection.
Do I really need to write reflections?
Yes — it is the part auditors focus on. Logging hours records attendance; reflection shows development. A couple of honest sentences on what you took from the activity and what you will do differently is what makes a record stand up.
Does a CPD certificate count as evidence on its own?
A certificate is strong evidence that an activity happened, especially if it is independently verifiable. But most schemes also want to see your reflection and how the learning applies to your practice, so file the certificate and write the reflection alongside it.