CORU's first CPD audit of social care workers takes place on 1 December 2026 and covers CPD completed between 1 December 2025 and 30 November 2026. Only registrants on the register for that whole period can be randomly selected. If chosen, you have 30 working days to submit, through the Registrant Portal, at least 30 credits of learning with reflection, a learning-needs review and a 12-month plan.
Key points
- The audit date is 1 December 2026, and only learning done from 1 December 2025 to 30 November 2026 counts towards this audit.
- You can only be picked for this routine audit if you were on the register for the full period. If you registered during 2026, you still need to do CPD, but you cannot be randomly selected this time.
- Selection is a random sample, not everyone. If you are chosen, CORU emails you on the audit date.
- The audit checks that you have a system: 30 credits, reflection on what changed, a review of your learning needs and a plan for the next 12 months.
- You type your record into the portal. The CPD Record Template is a working tool, not something you upload, and you must not identify any service user.
- Credits cannot be carried forward, and later audits of the profession move to a 24-month cycle.
When is the first CORU CPD audit for social care workers?
The Social Care Workers Register opened on 30 November 2023. That started a two-year transitional period for existing practitioners to apply, and the transitional period closed on 30 November 2025. From 1 December 2025, "social care worker" became a protected title and registration became a legal requirement. CORU's annual report records more than 20,000 applications by the end of 2025 and 4,501 social care workers on the register at the end of 2025, up from 1,141 a year earlier.
CORU's CPD Audit Policy sets the timing. A profession's first audit uses a 12-month audit cycle following the close of its transitional period, and all later audits use a 24-month cycle. For social care workers, that 12-month window runs from 1 December 2025 to 30 November 2026, and the audit date is 1 December 2026. CORU's audit page lists it alongside the other professions.
The CPD duty itself is not new
The audit is new for social care workers, but the duty behind it is not. Standard 10 of the Social Care Workers Code of Professional Conduct and Ethics says you must keep your knowledge, skills and performance "of a high standard, up to date and relevant to your practice" and "participate in continuing professional development (CPD) on an ongoing basis". It also says you should consider the Board's CPD guidance and keep a record of the activities you have completed. The Code came into operation on 28 February 2019 as a bye-law, S.I. No. 52 of 2019.
Social care worker or social worker?
These are two different registers with two different boards. Social workers are regulated by the Social Workers Registration Board. Their current audit period runs from 1 June 2025 to 31 May 2027. Some older CPD documents that rank in search results are for social workers, not social care workers. Use the Social Care Workers Registration Board (SCWRB) documents named in this guide.
Who can be selected for the 1 December 2026 audit?
Not every social care worker will be audited. CORU picks a random sample of eligible registrants. The policy states that "only those who have been on the register for the full audit period are eligible for selection for routine CPD audit." The audit FAQs add that people who join part-way through a period should still do CPD, but cannot be chosen for the random audit. If you have not been contacted, you have not been selected.
Because so many social care workers applied close to the transitional deadline, registration dates vary a lot. Many applicants were still waiting for a decision on 1 December 2025. Use the table below to work out where you probably stand. Your registration date is shown on your CORU record.
| Your situation | Random selection on 1 Dec 2026? | What to do now |
|---|---|---|
| On the register for the whole period, 1 December 2025 to 30 November 2026 | Eligible. You may or may not be chosen. | Get your record audit-ready. Assume you could be selected. |
| Registered at some point after 1 December 2025, for example after a pending Section 91 or Section 38 application was decided | Not eligible for this routine audit, because you were not on the register for the full period | Keep doing and recording CPD. You will be eligible for a later audit period that you are registered for in full. |
| Any registrant | Registration Boards can target a group or an individual at any time | Keep an ongoing record, not one built the week before an audit. |
Two more checks happen outside the random sample. CORU automatically selects anyone who had a deferral, was non-compliant or did not engage in a previous audit. Separately, every registrant completes a CPD declaration at annual renewal (our comparison of annual registration renewal in Ireland sets out how each regulator handles it). Declaring that you have not engaged in CPD does not stop you renewing, but CORU will contact you, and you will be selected automatically in the next audit once you have re-engaged with CPD.
Countdown to 1 December 2026, and what happens after
Milestones marked "CORU" come from CORU's policy and audit pages; those marked "Suggested" are our preparation suggestions, not requirements.
- 1 Dec 2025 · CORU
The audit period opens
The title becomes protected, and learning from this date onwards can count. Learning you did before 1 December 2025 does not count, however useful it was. Only CPD completed within the audit period counts towards the 30 credits.
- Now to end of October 2026 · Suggested
Take stock of what you already have
Gather what you have done since 1 December 2025: training records, supervision dates, team learning sessions, reading and online modules. Total the hours honestly.
- November 2026 · Suggested
Fill real gaps, not just the number
If you are short of 30 credits, plan learning that matches a real need in your role, such as safeguarding updates, de-escalation or supervision skills; our online CPD courses for Irish health and social care professionals are one independent option. Do not squeeze in hours just for the total. Write a short reflection within a day or two of each activity, while it is still fresh.
- By 30 Nov 2026 · CORU
The audit period closes
This is the last day that learning counts towards this audit. Credits cannot be carried forward into the next period.
- 1 Dec 2026 · CORU
Audit date: selected registrants are emailed
The invitation email links to the Registrant Portal. Make sure the email address on your CORU account is current, and check your junk folder in early December.
- Within 10 working days · CORU
One reminder
If you have not acknowledged the audit or submitted within 10 working days of the first notice, CORU sends one reminder.
- Within 30 working days · CORU
Submit your record or a deferral request
No extensions are available. The Christmas period falls inside this window. By our count, excluding weekends and public holidays, the 30th working day lands around mid-January 2027. The date in your email is the one that applies.
- Up to 30 working days later · CORU
Outcome
Allow up to 30 working days for a decision: compliant or non-compliant. No qualitative feedback is given.
The notice, reminder, submission and outcome periods are set out in sections 8 and 21 of the policy. One of CORU's FAQ answers says "30 days", but the policy, approved in November 2025, says 30 working days. Plan to the shorter reading if you are unsure. Deferral rules, refusals and what non-compliance leads to are covered in our guide to CORU CPD audit deadlines, deferrals and non-compliance.
What does a CORU CPD record need to show?
The audit assesses a record as compliant or non-compliant against four requirements. The policy describes the audit as a check that you have a system and process for keeping your knowledge and skills current. It is not a judgement on the quality of each course you chose.
Learning activities
Learning that achieved at least 30 credits of new or enhanced learning, with the date, time spent, type and name of each activity.
Outcome and impact
What you learned, and how it changed your practice with service users, colleagues or the service.
Learning needs
What you need or want to learn in the next 12 months, and why.
Planned activities
The learning you intend to do in the next 12 months to meet those needs.
How the SCWRB exemplar lays it out
The Board has published a worked CPD record for a social care team leader with more than ten years' experience. Each activity row has an "Implement" group (date and time spent, type of activity, name of activity, CPD credits) and an "Evaluate & Reflect" group ("Learning Outcome" and "Impact on practice"). It logs eight activities totalling 38 credits (more than required, for illustration), including a five-credit motivational interviewing course and two credits for drafting a revised policy on behaviours that challenge.
Its "Review Plan" answers two questions: "What do I want or need to learn in the next 12 months?" and "What learning activities will I do to achieve this?", with practical examples such as care planning in supported temporary accommodation and time management.
Regulator requirement
Thirty credits of new or enhanced learning in the period, evaluation and reflection, a review of learning needs, and a 12-month plan. Entered in the portal, with no supporting documents and no information that identifies a third party or service user.
Good practice (our suggestion)
Keep certificates, supervision notes and session agendas in your own file, even though you do not upload them. Aim a little above 30 credits, so one doubtful entry does not leave you short. Link each plan item to a need you named.
Reflection is where first-time records are most often thin. If you want to see how a single activity becomes a strong "Learning Outcome" and "Impact on practice" entry, our CORU CPD reflection examples work through several.
How to submit your CPD record on the CORU Registrant Portal
You do not upload the CPD Record Template. The portal fields follow the same structure, so you can draft in the template and copy your entries across. CORU's registrant guide sets out the steps.
Open the invitation email
Log in to the Registrant Portal using the link in the email. Use "Reset Password" if you need to.
Go to "CPD Audit"
Choose CPD Audit in the left-hand menu, read the instructions and click "Continue".
Acknowledge, or request a deferral
Select "Yes" to go ahead. Select "No" only if you are requesting a deferral for a valid reason. Read the deferral FAQ first: workload, work commitments and further study are not sufficient reasons.
Add each learning activity
Use "Add New Records", enter each activity with its reflection, then "Save & Continue".
Complete the review and plan
Enter your priority learning needs, the outcomes you want and the activities you plan. The guide mentions planning for "Months 13 to 24", which relates to two-year cycles. Follow the on-screen fields for your audit.
Submit
Click "Submit" and wait for the confirmation message. Records are not returned, and CORU deletes them after the audit under its data retention policy, so keep your own copy.
Never identify a service user
The exemplar is direct: "Do not, under any circumstances, provide information that would enable the identification of a service user." The policy also bars identifying information about third parties. In a small service, a unit name, an age and a diagnosis together can be enough to identify someone. Describe the situation in general terms.
First-audit pitfalls for social care workers
These are the slips most likely to weaken a genuine record of learning.
- Counting learning from before 1 December 2025. A QQI module or training course from 2024 may have shaped your practice, but it sits outside this audit period.
- Treating attendance as reflection. "Attended safeguarding training, 3 hours" is an activity. The record also needs what you learned and what you now do differently. Our Reflection for Fitness to Practise course works through models such as Gibbs, Rolfe and Johns.
- Logging repeated content as new credits. The SCWRB says repeating an activity with no new content earns no additional credits.
- Leaving out informal learning. Supervision, structured debriefs and policy work all count when they produced new learning. Many social care workers under-record these. The Work-Based Learning and Professional Competence course shows a method for turning routine work into recorded learning with reflection (it is framed around the Medical Council's domains, but the method transfers).
- A plan that doesn't link to the review. Each planned activity should answer a learning need you named, not be a generic list of courses.
- Missing the email. Selection happens by email on 1 December. An out-of-date address or a junk folder can cost you days of a 30-working-day window.
The outcome is compliant or non-compliant. Non-compliance includes failing to submit, failing to submit after a refused deferral, or a record that does not meet the requirements. Anyone non-compliant is automatically selected for the next audit. A fitness to practise complaint becomes possible only where non-compliance or non-engagement happens in more than one audit; our CORU remediation courses guide explains that route. CORU's 2025 audits of five other professions called 462 registrants, and 99.1% of those assessed were compliant. A careful, honest record is the norm, not the exception.
Your readiness checklist before 30 November 2026
Tick items off as you go. Your ticks are not saved; this is a working aid for this visit only. Items 1 to 9 reflect CORU requirements; items 10 to 12 are our good-practice suggestions.
If you are on statutory leave, on a career break, or seriously ill during the response window, read the deferral criteria before 1 December rather than after. Approval is never automatic. More detail on CORU's wider requirements sits on our CORU CPD requirements and courses hub.
CPD that fits a social care worker's first audit
Short, reflective courses on themes that come up in social care practice and in an audit record.
- CORU CPD: Building an Audit-Ready Portfolio2 hrs est. learning · Turn your credits into a reflective record with impact, learning needs and a 12-month planCourse details
- Safeguarding Adults and Children2 hrs est. learning · Spotting abuse and neglect, responding to disclosures, mandated reporting to Tusla and adult safeguardingCourse details
- Professional Boundaries Course3 hrs est. learning · Boundary drift, gifts, personal approaches, social media and power imbalance under Irish codesCourse details
- Clinical Supervision and Professional Development Planning3 hrs est. learning · Reflective supervision, hard feedback and turning learning needs into a measurable planCourse details
You decide what to record as CPD under the Board's guidance; check with CORU if you are unsure.
Frequently asked questions
I registered in March 2026. Could I be audited on 1 December 2026?
Not in the routine random audit. CORU's policy says only those on the register for the full audit period, here 1 December 2025 to 30 November 2026, are eligible for selection. You should still do and record CPD. Registration Boards can also target an individual or group at any time.
Does every social care worker get audited?
No. CORU selects a random sample of eligible registrants and contacts them directly by email on the audit date. If you have not been contacted, you have not been selected. You can still be selected again in future audits.
Does the training I did for my QQI or degree qualification count?
Only learning completed within the audit period counts. Study you finished before 1 December 2025 is outside this audit. Postgraduate study undertaken during the period is a learning activity type the SCWRB lists.
Do I need to upload certificates?
No. CORU does not want supporting documents with the record. Keep your own evidence, such as certificates or supervision dates, in case you need it for your own reference.
What if I have only 25 credits by 30 November?
The requirement is a minimum of 30 credits within the audit period, and credits cannot be carried forward or backdated. A record that does not meet the requirements is assessed as non-compliant, and you would be automatically selected in the next audit. If you are short now, plan genuine learning before 30 November.
Will the second social care audit also cover 12 months?
The policy says a profession's first audit uses a 12-month cycle and all subsequent audits use a 24-month cycle, with at least 30 credits in each 12-month period within it. CORU had not published the next social care audit dates when this guide was reviewed.
Does mandatory training count as CPD for social care workers?
It can, where it gave you new or enhanced learning, recorded with reflection on what changed in your practice. A refresher that repeated content you already knew earns no additional credits, according to the SCWRB support document.
Who can I contact with questions about the social care audit?
CORU lists [email protected] for CPD audit questions and [email protected] for social care workers, as well as its general number, 01 293 3160.
Official sources used in this guide (14)
- CORU, CPD Audit: audit periods and dates by profession (2026)
- CORU, Continuing Professional Development Audit Policy, V3 (November 2025)
- CORU, Continuing Professional Development Audit Policy, V2 (February 2025)
- CORU, CPD Audit FAQs and CPD Audit Deferral FAQs (2026)
- CORU, Registrant Guide to Completing a CPD Audit (current version, accessed 2026)
- CORU, CPD Record Template (March 2025)
- CORU, CPD for Social Care Workers (2026)
- Social Care Workers Registration Board, Guidance on Continuing Professional Development (2020)
- Social Care Workers Registration Board, Support for Continuing Professional Development (2020)
- Social Care Workers Registration Board, Social Care Workers CPD Record Exemplar (2024)
- Social Care Workers Registration Board, Code of Professional Conduct and Ethics (2019)
- Irish Statute Book, S.I. No. 52 of 2019, Social Care Workers Registration Board Code of Professional Conduct and Ethics Bye-Law (2019)
- CORU, Frequently Asked Questions for Social Care Workers (2025)
- CORU, Annual Report 2025 (2026)
Checked against the official sources above in October 2026. Rules and fees change, so confirm current requirements with your regulator or scheme.
How social care workers earn 30 CPD credits from everyday work
CORU's rule is that one hour of new or enhanced learning equals one CPD credit. Credits cannot be carried forward to the next 12-month period. The SCWRB support document says credits are self-determined, and that repeating an activity with no new content earns no additional credits. It gives examples: one hour reviewing a journal article is one credit, and a committee role that meets four times a year is eight credits.
The same document lists learning activities it recognises, and notes that the list is not exhaustive. Many of them happen in ordinary social care work:
Mandatory employer training is a common question for social care workers. Whether a refresher counts depends on whether it gave you new or enhanced learning, not on whether it was required. Our article on CORU CPD credits and what counts covers mandatory training, part-time work and leave in detail. If your log is light on core social care themes, courses such as Safeguarding Adults and Children or the Professional Boundaries Course can be recorded as learning, as long as they give you new learning and you reflect on them honestly.
Aoife, a hypothetical social care worker in a children's residential centre, joined the register in 2024, so she is eligible for the December 2026 audit. In mid-October she totals her log: 6 hours of supervision in which she worked on specific practice issues, a 4-hour trauma-informed practice workshop, 3 hours of online data protection learning, 2 hours helping to revise the centre's missing-child protocol, and 5 hours of reading and team learning sessions. That is 20 credits.
She leaves out a fire safety refresher she has done every year with the same content, because it gave her no new learning. Her supervision notes show that she struggles with recording after incidents. So for November she plans a safeguarding update and a record-keeping module, about 5 hours, and a team session where she shares what she learned, about 2 hours. With some further reading, she expects to finish above 30 credits, and each entry ties back to a need she can name.
Short of time to pull your record together?Our two-hour CORU portfolio course walks through reflection, impact, learning needs and a 12-month plan, in the same four-part structure the audit uses.
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