The HCPC audits a random sample of registrants at every renewal. If your number comes up, you need a CPD profile within weeks - here is how to stay permanently ready.
If you are registered with the Health and Care Professions Council - as a paramedic, physiotherapist, occupational therapist, radiographer, dietitian, or one of the other regulated professions - your CPD is not optional. It is a condition of registration. And unlike some regulators, the HCPC audits: at every renewal, a random sample of each profession has to submit a full CPD profile.
Most registrants are never audited. But if your renewal lands in the sample, you have a matter of weeks to produce your evidence. That is a terrible time to start a CPD log.
The HCPC's five CPD standards
Your CPD record needs to demonstrate that you:
- Keep a continuous, up-to-date and accurate record of your CPD activities
- Show a mix of learning activities relevant to current or future practice
- Show that your CPD has contributed to the quality of your practice and service delivery
- Show that your CPD benefits the service user
- Present a written profile, with evidence, explaining how your CPD meets the standards
Two things stand out. First, the emphasis is on quality and impact, not hours. The HCPC does not set a minimum number of hours - it wants to see that your learning actually changed what you do. Second, the standards assume an ongoing record, not a retrospective write-up.
What the HCPC means by "a mix of activities"
Auditors look for variety. A profile made entirely of e-learning certificates looks thin. Aim to include a spread across:
- Work-based learning - supervision, secondments, case reviews, mentoring, audit participation
- Professional activity - conferences, professional body events, committee work
- Formal education - courses, qualifications, accredited training
- Self-directed learning - reading journals, research, webinars
- Other - anything relevant, including volunteering or public involvement work
What to capture for each entry
For every activity, record the date, what you did, and - crucially - a short note on how it affected your practice or benefited service users. That impact sentence is what turns a list of activities into a profile that satisfies standard 3 and 4. It is also the part that is impossible to write convincingly two years after the event.
Keep your evidence too - certificates, notes, reflections. The HCPC accepts a summary with supporting evidence; it does not want a shoebox of certificates with no commentary.
Stay ready, permanently
The audit process is random, so the only sensible approach is to be ready all the time. Log activities as they happen, add one line about impact, and review the running record every few months for gaps or a lopsided mix of activities.
Our free CPD tracker does exactly this: quick entries, running totals, space for your impact notes, and a PDF export you can use as the backbone of a CPD profile if the audit letter arrives. It is free for life for individuals, and it belongs to you - not your trust, not your last employer.
Read this next
- What happens if you're audited for CPD?CPD audit is a paperwork exercise, not an investigation - unless you have nothing to show. Here is what happens, what is asked for, and what to do if you are short.
- How to write a CPD reflection - with three worked examplesA CPD reflection needs four things: what you did, what you learned, what you changed, and what is next. Here is the structure plus three worked examples.
- Formal vs informal CPD: what the difference actually meansFormal, structured, verifiable, participatory - different bodies use different words for broadly the same split. Here is what each means and why it matters.
Or skip the reading and start your free CPD log - free for life for individuals.
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