CORU CPD Audit: Response Deadlines, Deferrals and Non-Compliance

How are registrants selected for a CORU CPD audit?

Every CORU registrant must achieve at least 30 CPD credits in every 12-month period, with one hour of new or enhanced learning counted as one credit. That applies equally to full-time and part-time registrants, and to people on the register who are not currently practising. The audit checks that you have a working system for keeping your knowledge and skills up to date, and rests on registration boards' statutory CPD function. For a summary of CORU's wider CPD requirements, see our page on CORU CPD requirements and courses.

Three ways your name can come up

All three routes are set out in section 7 of the CPD Audit Policy (Version 3, approved 4 November 2025). If you have not been contacted, you have not been selected.

The automatic route matters. Of 462 registrants called in CORU's 2025 audits (physiotherapists, social workers, occupational therapists and optical professions), 86 were selected automatically. In 2024, 245 radiographers and radiation therapists, dietitians and speech and language therapists were selected.

Audit dates published for 2026 and 2027

Each profession's audit date lines up with its registration renewal date. The first audit after a register's transitional period covers 12 months, and later audits cover 24 months, with at least 30 credits needed in each 12-month block.

If you are a social care worker facing the first audit for your register, our guide to CPD for social care workers and the first CORU audit covers preparation in detail.

How long do you have to respond to a CORU CPD audit?

The policy counts in working days, not calendar days. Thirty working days is roughly six weeks, so use the deadline in your notification. CORU's FAQ page still says "30 days" in one answer; the newer policy says 30 working days, which the timeline follows.

1. Audit date: the selection email

   CORU emails selected registrants on the audit date. You do not need to reply to acknowledge it. Log in to the Registrant Portal through the link in that email and open the "CPD Audit" tab, where you choose "Yes" to proceed or "No" to request a deferral.

2. By working day 10: the first reminder

   If you have not acknowledged selection or submitted within 10 working days, CORU sends a reminder by email and by registered letter.

3. Working day 30: the deadline

   Your CPD record, or your deferral request, must be submitted by now. Nothing counts until you press "Submit" and see the confirmation. CORU emails an acknowledgement of each successful submission.

4. After the deadline: the final 10 working days

   If nothing has been submitted, a further notice by email and registered letter gives you a final 10 working days. If that passes too, the outcome is non-compliance or non-engagement.

5. Review: up to 30 working days

   Outcome decisions can take up to 30 working days. If your record is incomplete or incorrect, it is returned and you have 5 working days from the notification to resubmit it.

Can you defer a CORU CPD audit? What qualifies and what is refused

CORU's policy sorts deferral requests into three groups. Standard requests rest on a listed circumstance. Non-standard requests are considered on their individual facts. A third group is normally refused.

"Close family member" follows the meaning of "immediate relative" in a Government circular referenced in the policy. Other points to know:

• You do not upload evidence. Supporting documents are not required, and any you do submit are destroyed and not shown to the Board.
• Limits apply. No more than one deferral request can be submitted within an audit period, and no more than two consecutive deferral requests from a registrant will be approved.
• Who decides. The CORU Executive reviews every request. A request it is minded to refuse goes to the Registrar, or a person appointed to act for them, for a second review before a decision, with input from a professional panel member where needed. Outcomes are notified within 2 working days of the decision.
• How long it takes. CORU's deferral FAQ still says a decision may take up to eight weeks because requests go to the Board's next meeting. The November 2025 policy describes an Executive-led review instead. Either way, do not assume you will hear back quickly.

The 30-credit requirement itself continues during statutory leave and career breaks. Deferral is used often and usually granted. Across the four 2025 audits, the profession tables record 122 deferral requests, of which 111 were approved and 11 refused. Social workers alone made 63 requests out of 167 called.

What an approved deferral really means

A deferral moves you into your profession's next audit automatically. CORU's FAQ says you will then be audited on the new audit period, not the one you deferred. So the credits you need are the ones earned in that new period, and CORU expects you to keep doing CPD in the meantime, whether through work-based learning or online CPD courses that match your learning needs. If you are coming back after a long break, a structured plan for re-entry, such as our Return to Practice: Competence and Confidence course, can help you rebuild your learning record from the start of that new period.

If you cannot meet the deadline: the decision fork

Most registrants who struggle are short of time to write up, not short of learning. Find the branch that matches your situation; for your own case, contact CORU directly.

What the reviewers check, and what they do not

Records are screened by the CORU Executive, which checks for identifying information about third parties and carries out a quantitative review. The record is assessed only for whether the required process is evident, and CORU gives no qualitative feedback; you are told whether you are compliant. Four elements must be present:

1. Implementation of learning activities that achieved 30 CPD credits of new or enhanced learning (per 12-month period)
2. Evaluation and reflection on the learning achieved
3. A review of learning needs for the next 12 months
4. Planned learning activities for the next 12 months

Three rules catch people out. If a record includes identifying details about service users, colleagues or other third parties, it is destroyed and you must resubmit. Where a record raises a concern about your fitness to practise, it receives a second review by a panel member from your own profession. A proposed non-compliance outcome is decided by your Registration Board, not by the Executive alone. You do not attach certificates: CORU's FAQ says supporting documents are not required, although you should keep your own evidence.

For counting credits and writing reflection, see CORU CPD credits: what counts and what does not and our annotated CORU CPD reflection examples.

What happens if you are non-compliant in a CORU CPD audit?

The policy has three outcomes. Compliant means a record was submitted within the window and meets the requirements. Non-compliant and non-engagement are defined more precisely than most people realise.

Either outcome is notified to you in writing. The notice sets out the reason, your appeal options, the fact that your Registration Board has been informed, your automatic selection for the next audit, and the possible fitness to practise implications. That last item reflects the rule on repeated outcomes below, not an automatic referral.

Non-compliance is rare. In 2025, after excluding approved deferrals, voluntary removals and ineligible registrants, 99.1% of registrants were compliant and 0.9% were non-compliant. The profession tables show 323 compliant and 3 non-compliant records.

When a CPD problem can become a fitness to practise matter

The policy draws the line clearly. If a registrant receives a non-compliance or non-engagement outcome in more than one audit, the Executive or a Registration Board may raise a fitness to practise complaint of professional misconduct. Note "may", not "will": a discretion, triggered by a pattern across audits.

Two pieces of law sit behind this. The Act lists professional misconduct, and a contravention of the Act, rules or bye-laws, among the grounds for a complaint, and it allows a registration board itself to make a complaint. And each profession's Code of Professional Conduct and Ethics, made as a bye-law, contains a CPD standard. For example, section 10 of the Occupational Therapists Registration Board's 2019 Code says you must "participate in continuing professional development (CPD) on an ongoing basis" and should keep a record of what you have completed.

A complaint, if one were made, would follow CORU's normal fitness to practise route. The Preliminary Proceedings Committee considers it first and may conclude no further action is needed. Otherwise it may go to mediation (only if both sides agree) or a Committee of Inquiry, and sanctions run from admonishment or censure up to cancellation. When we reviewed CORU's published findings and decisions in October 2026, none of the listed cases was about CPD audit non-compliance.

If a CPD issue does reach that stage, the questions shift to insight and remediation. Our CORU remediation courses guide explains that process, and Reflection for Fitness to Practise focuses on writing reflection that shows genuine understanding rather than excuses. If you need to respond to a complaint itself, Dealing With a Complaint or Investigation Professionally covers responding calmly and factually to fitness to practise inquiries.

Can you appeal a CORU CPD audit outcome?

You can appeal three decisions: a refused deferral, a non-compliance outcome and a non-engagement outcome. The test is narrow. An appeal will be considered if there is evidence of an apparent substantive procedural irregularity by the Executive that may have affected the outcome. Appeals are decided by the Registrar, or a person appointed to act for them, and you are told the result within 2 working days of the decision.

The policy states no deadline for lodging an appeal, so act promptly. Ask about the process at [email protected] and keep your submission acknowledgement emails as evidence of what you sent and when.

Common mistakes after the selection email

• Treating 30 working days as a month. It is longer than a month, but people who count calendar days often start too late or panic too early. Use the date in your notification.
• Deferring for workload or study. Normally refused, and the refusal starts a new 30-working-day window, often at a busier time.
• Saving but not submitting. "Save & Continue" is not the same as "Submit". Wait for the confirmation.
• Naming people. Identifying details of service users or colleagues mean your record is destroyed and must be redone.
• Uploading certificates. They are not required. Keep them in your own records for as long as you are on the register.
• Counting learning from outside the period. Only activities within the audit period count, and surplus credits from an earlier period do not carry forward.
• Ignoring the registered letter. Non-response is what turns an audit into a non-engagement outcome.

Your first-week checklist after being selected

A clear plan by the end of week one removes most of the stress.

• Note the exact deadline from the email, and the date 10 working days in, when the reminder would be triggered.
• Log in to the Registrant Portal, open "CPD Audit" and read the instructions. Reset your password now if needed.
• Decide "Yes" (submit) or "No" (defer) using the decision fork above. If deferring, do it this week.
• List your activities within the audit period and total the credits for each 12-month block.
• Draft your evaluation and reflection, removing any identifying details.
• Draft your learning-needs review and planned learning for the next 12 months.
• Flag any access needs to CORU early so the Access Officer can help.
• Book a final session to paste everything in, press "Submit" and file the acknowledgement email.

The learning-needs review and the 12-month plan are often the weakest parts of a record because they look forward rather than back. If supervision or appraisal is part of your work, it is a natural source for both. Clinical Supervision and Professional Development Planning shows how to turn supervision conversations into a measurable development plan. CORU's FAQs are clear that supervision is optional, not a Board requirement.

Checked against the official sources above in October 2026. Rules and fees change, so confirm current requirements with your regulator or scheme.