CORU CPD Credits: What Counts for Training, Leave and Part-Time Work

How are CORU CPD credits calculated?

CORU's general CPD questions set the rule in one sentence: credits are self-determined, on the basis that one hour of new or enhanced learning is equal to one CPD credit. You, not CORU, decide what a piece of learning is worth, and any fraction of an hour can be claimed: CORU's example is a 15-minute discussion recorded as 0.25 of a credit.

Section 27(3)(c) of the Health and Social Care Professionals Act 2005 gives each Registration Board the function of guiding and supporting registrants on CPD. The duty itself sits in your Board's Code of Professional Conduct and Ethics: keep your knowledge and skills up to date, participate in CPD on an ongoing basis and keep a record of what you complete.

"New or enhanced" is the whole test

The Board support documents stress that CPD is not the same as continuing education: one is about acquiring knowledge, the other about applying it in practice. So clock time does not settle the count. An hour with nothing new is zero credits; a 20-minute conversation that changed how you assess a service user can be a third of a credit. The Boards give four reference points:

In the last row credits exceed clock time, because the reflection and application after the conversation are part of the learning. CORU's FAQs also say the focus should not be accruing credits but what was learned and how it was used for the benefit of service users.

What counts as CPD for CORU? The 24-activity sorter

CORU answers these edge cases in different documents. "Counts" means its guidance names the activity as suitable (you still claim only the learning it produced); "does not count" means time alone earns nothing; "depends" turns on what you learned.

The Boards' lists are examples, not exhaustive. CORU sets no mandatory CPD activities and expects your choices to match your own learning needs and work; if you work in management, your CPD should reflect that.

Does mandatory training count for CORU CPD?

Manual handling, fire safety, hand hygiene, safeguarding and basic life support are employment requirements; CORU's CPD is a registration requirement. Mandatory training neither counts automatically nor is excluded automatically.

CORU's FAQ puts the line in one clause: attendance at the same mandatory training "may not facilitate any new or enhanced learning". The Board support documents illustrate it with two colleagues at the same mandatory health and safety training. The senior colleague has done it several times and gains little new learning; for the colleague in a new role, all the learning is new or enhanced. Same room, same hours, very different credits.

The Board's physiotherapist exemplar includes a 90-minute HSELanD Children First module, mandatory for all staff, recorded as 1.5 credits with a learning statement about the steps to take if a concern arises.

How to judge a repeat session honestly

• Has the content changed? New legislation, policy or local procedure can make a familiar course partly new. Claim that part.
• Has your role changed? Background knowledge in one post can be applied learning in a new one.
• Did it change anything you do? If you cannot name a change in practice, the honest figure may be zero.

Why hours and credits rarely match

Most registrants underclaim some activities and overclaim others. The Board guidance shows both directions.

In the Social Workers Registration Board's example, a placement supervisor with a plan from past experience supervises a new student for three weeks at 37 hours a week. The student challenges them on a number of occasions, and they judge this to be five hours of new learning. CORU's FAQ adds that frequent supervision is likely to be part of your role, and that new learning might come from challenging or high-performing students, preparing resources or developing teaching skills. The physiotherapist exemplar logs a two-and-a-half-hour Airvo in-service as 2 credits.

A gap like this is normal. What matters at audit is that each figure is explained by the learning you record. Our guide to CORU CPD reflection examples shows how to write that reasoning in the portal's evaluation and reflection fields.

Do part-time CORU registrants still need 30 CPD credits?

There is no pro-rata reduction. CORU's FAQ says the requirement of at least 30 CPD credits for every 12-month period applies to everyone on the register regardless of their work situation, "working fulltime or part-time". The CPD Audit Policy repeats that the same requirement applies to full-time and part-time registrants.

The public is entitled to the same competence from someone working two days a week as five. Thirty credits over 12 months averages two and a half a month, and many recognised activities take minutes rather than days.

• Capture short learning. Fractions are allowed, so a 15-minute discussion or a protocol read before a new procedure can be recorded.
• Use work you already do. The Boards urge you not to underestimate everyday learning from projects, research within your role or a secondment.
• Do not rely on one study day. Under the "new or enhanced" test, a single day will rarely reach 30.

Workload is no excuse: CORU says workload-based deferral requests will be refused.

CORU CPD during maternity leave, career breaks and illness

Leave does not reduce the requirement. CORU's FAQ on maternity leave, career breaks and statutory leave applies the same 30 credits every 12-month period to everyone on the register. Leave can change the audit, not the target: if called for audit, you can request a deferral if more than six months of your leave fell within the audit period, decided case by case.

These grounds come from the CPD Audit Policy (Version 3, approved November 2025), which also says a deferral request must relate to a full audit period and that, if it is approved, you are automatically included in the next audit. There is no guarantee a request will succeed. How to apply, the deadlines and what follows a refusal are covered in our guide to CORU CPD audit deadlines, deferrals and non-compliance.

CORU CPD when you are not practising or work abroad

CORU is direct about this: if you are on a register with CORU and do not practise, you are still required to complete and keep records of your CPD, because you remain subject to your Code of Professional Conduct and Ethics while you are on the register, and that Code sets the Board's CPD requirements. Read with the FAQ that the 30 credits apply to everyone on the register regardless of work situation, there is no lower figure for non-practising registrants.

Without service users, the learning need not be clinical in the narrow sense: keeping up with evidence, professional reading, webinars and professional networks are all on the Boards' example lists, and they make a later return easier.

The alternative: coming off the register

Some long-term non-practising registrants choose voluntary removal instead. Returning then means applying for restoration, and CORU's restoration procedure says applicants may have to meet return-to-practice requirements if more than two years have passed since they last practised. CORU's return-to-practice page sets a minimum of 210 hours of updating for two to five years out of practice and 420 hours for more than five years, through supervised practice, formal study or private study, completed no more than two years before applying. Relevant CPD done within that two-year window may be submitted. The page words the trigger both as "more than two years" and "two years or more", so confirm with CORU if you are close to that line.

Planning a return after a long gap? Our Return to Practice: Competence and Confidence course covers practice-gap analysis and a learning plan; whether it can form part of a formal updating period is for CORU to say.

Can CORU CPD credits be carried forward?

Each profession has its own audit period, aligned with its registration renewal date. A profession's first audit after the transitional period covers 12 months; later audits use a 24-month cycle, in which you need at least 60 credits over 24 months, with at least 30 in each 12-month period. Sixty credits earned only in the second year would not meet it.

Credits "cannot be transferred or carried forward to the next time period": an extra 15 in a 45-credit year do not reduce next year's 30.

CORU's audit page lists each profession's period: dietitians, radiographers and speech and language therapists, for example, are in 1 November 2024 to 31 October 2026, while social care workers' first audit covers 1 December 2025 to 30 November 2026 only. Social care workers should read our guide to CPD for social care workers and the first CORU audit.

Common credit-claiming mistakes

The audit policy confirms the CORU Executive screens records for third-party identifying information. Another mistake is waiting for an "approved" course: CORU has no role in developing, delivering or accrediting CPD, and that applies to every provider, including our own online CPD courses.

Checking your own 12 months: a short routine

An audit record shows learning that achieved 30 credits, evaluation and reflection, a review of learning needs and a plan for the next 12 months. Certificates are not submitted, but keep your documentation for as long as you are registered. Run this check at any point in the year:

• I know my profession's current audit period and where each 12-month window starts and ends.
• Every entry has a credit figure I can justify by the new or enhanced learning, not by clock time.
• Repeat mandatory training is claimed only for what was genuinely new, or not at all.
• Student supervision is claimed for specific learning, with an example of what I learned.
• I have recorded unplanned learning, not just courses.
• Each 12-month window shows at least 30 credits on its own.
• If I had more than six months of leave in the audit period, I know a deferral is an option if I am selected.
• My reflections contain no names or identifying details.
• My annual renewal CPD declaration matches what my record shows.

If your log is thin because everyday learning goes unrecorded, Work-Based Learning and Professional Competence shows how to turn routine work into recorded learning with reflection; it is framed around the Medical Council's domains, so treat it as a method rather than a CORU template. If you supervise students or colleagues and want to turn that work into recorded learning, Clinical Supervision and Professional Development Planning covers reflective supervision and learning plans. For the wider picture of CORU's requirements and our courses for CORU registrants, see the CORU CPD courses and requirements page.

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