CPD activities that actually count (with examples)

"Does this count as CPD?" is the most asked question in professional development, and the most badly answered. The short answer: an activity counts as CPD if it involved deliberate learning and changed - or could change - how you work. That test rules out a lot of what people log, and rules in a lot of what they don't. This guide walks through which CPD activities count, which don't, and how to log the borderline ones so they hold up at appraisal or revalidation.

The one test that decides whether an activity counts

Regulators and appraisers use variations of the same three-part test. To count as CPD, an activity should:

1. Involve deliberate learning. You engaged with the content, not just attended.
2. Be relevant to your professional role, now or in the near future.
3. Produce a change in practice or capability, or a decision that it shouldn't.

The third condition is where most weak CPD entries fall down. If you can't say, in one sentence, what changed as a result, the activity is closer to information consumption than professional development.

Activities that clearly count

These are the easy ones. All three tests are usually met.

• Accredited courses, qualifications and workshops in your field.
• Conferences and webinars, counting active session time only.
• In-house training where the content is new to you.
• Structured coaching and clinical supervision.
• Mentoring, in both directions.
• Peer observation with a structured debrief.
• Post-project or post-incident reviews where a lesson is logged and acted on.
• Reflective practice sessions using a recognised model.

Activities that count if you log them properly

These pass the test, but only if you show the learning. Log them lazily and they look like padding.

• Reading journals, sector reports and professional books. Counts when you note the source, the time, and the specific insight you took. "Read HBR" is not evidence.
• Podcasts and long-form talks. Counts when actively listened to and reflected on. Background listening while cooking doesn't.
• E-learning and compliance modules. Counts the first time; after that, only when the content has genuinely changed.
• LinkedIn Learning, MOOCs and other online courses. Counts when you complete meaningful modules and record a reflection.
• Serving on a working group or committee. Counts when it exposes you to new content or decision-making, not when you're the note-taker.
• Delivering training to peers. Counts because the preparation forces you to organise your thinking.
• Writing for the profession. Blog posts, briefings, articles. Counts because writing tests understanding.

Activities that usually don't count

The uncomfortable list. These are often logged, and usually shouldn't be.

• Business-as-usual work at your normal standard. Doing your job well is not CPD. Doing it in a new way, based on deliberate learning, might be.
• Repeated mandatory training where the content hasn't changed and you already know it.
• General reading of the news, LinkedIn scrolling, or social media unless there is a specific, articulated professional insight.
• Networking events without a learning agenda, however useful they were commercially.
• Time spent booking or admin-ing training, as opposed to doing it.
• Travel time to and from CPD events, unless you were actively working on the learning during it.

How to log the borderline activities

Borderline activities are worth logging - a lot of real learning happens there - but they need a bit more discipline. Three rules:

1. Time it honestly. A one-hour podcast is one hour, not "half a day of learning". A journal article read on a lunch break might be 20 minutes.

2. Name the insight. Write the specific thing you learned in one sentence. If you can't, don't log it.

3. State the action. Write the one thing you will try, change, or stop doing as a result. If you can't, the activity was information consumption, not CPD.

Three sentences per entry. That's the difference between a CPD log that reads as evidence and one that reads as filler.

Matching activities to your framework

Different professions weight activities differently. Nursing under NMC requires at least 20 of 35 hours to be participatory - so peer discussion, coaching and structured group learning matter more than solo reading. ICAEW's approach is impact-led rather than hours-led, so a well-reflected reading week can outweigh a training day. Teaching and FE frameworks reward observation and peer coaching. Check your regulator's guidance before assuming an activity type "always counts".

Building an evidence trail as you go

The reason people end up unsure whether an activity counts is that they're deciding in retrospect, months later, when the evidence has evaporated. The fix is to log at the point of activity, not at the point of appraisal. Fifteen minutes each Friday to sweep your calendar and log what you learned that week is enough. Include the borderline activities with an honest reflection - a good appraiser would rather see 40 well-reflected entries than 80 padded ones.

If you don't already have a system, our free CPD diary gives you a picker for every activity type above, splits structured vs self-directed hours, and produces a read-only share link when it's time to prove it. It is free forever for individuals and moves with you between employers.

The bottom line

An activity counts as CPD when you engaged with it, it was relevant to your work, and something changed. Log those three things for every entry and you'll stop asking "does this count?" - you'll already have the answer, in the entry itself.