CPD requirements by profession

Bar Standards Board CPD requirements for barristers

Last reviewed 31 October 2026

The Bar Standards Board runs one of the more unusual CPD shapes among UK regulators: a strict, numeric requirement for your first three years at the Bar, followed by no numeric requirement at all. That combination makes sense once you see the reasoning — new practitioners need a floor under their early development, while experienced barristers are trusted to judge their own learning needs, provided they can still show their working.

Two schemes, one qualifying line

The NPP begins on 1 January of the calendar year after you first hold a practising certificate following pupillage, and runs for three calendar years from that date. Once it ends, you move onto the EPP, which applies for the rest of your career at the Bar.

The New Practitioners Programme in detail

The 45-hour figure is a minimum across the full three years, not an annual target, so new barristers have some flexibility in how they spread it. Two elements are fixed regardless of how you distribute the rest:

• At least 9 hours of advocacy training. Typically delivered through the Inns of Court or the Circuits.
• At least 3 hours of ethics training. Also usually provided through the same route.

The BSB's guidance notes that the four-stage reflective process (below) is only encouraged, not required, during the NPP — though doing it anyway builds the habit the EPP will require immediately afterwards.

The Established Practitioners Programme: no hours, more reflection

This is where the BSB's approach becomes genuinely unusual. It states plainly that it does not prescribe what CPD activities an established barrister needs to complete, or how much. In place of a number, it requires a four-stage process:

1. Review — assess your practice and identify your learning needs.
2. Record — keep a written CPD Plan and a record of the activities you complete.
3. Reflect — consider what each activity achieved against your learning objectives.
4. Report — declare, as part of your annual Authorisation to Practise, that you are up to date.

A learning objective, in the BSB's own terms, is a statement of what you intend to achieve through your CPD activities. The absence of a prescribed activity list means the plan and the objectives carry the weight that an hours figure carries for other regulators — which makes a thin or vague plan the single biggest risk under the EPP.

Records, spot checks and declaration

Whether you are on the NPP or the EPP, you declare each year, as part of the annual Authorisation to Practise process, whether you are meeting the applicable requirement. The BSB may check your plan and record as part of a spot check of compliance, and you must be able to produce both if asked. Records and plans should be retained for three years. Because the EPP sets no numeric target, a spot check is likely to focus on whether the plan, the record and the reflection hang together, rather than on a hours total.

Exemptions and circumstances

The two schemes treat flexibility differently. On the NPP, extensions and waivers are available to those who are eligible — useful if parental leave, illness or a career interruption falls within your first three years. On the EPP, the BSB is explicit that it does not operate an extension, waiver or exemption process. Instead, if circumstances such as parental leave or ill health reduce what you can complete, you record that in your CPD plan rather than applying for a formal exemption. The expectation shifts from seeking permission to documenting the reason.

Where CPD accreditation fits — and where it doesn’t

The BSB's own guidance does not describe a scheme for accrediting external CPD providers or courses; it names the Inns of Court and the Circuits as the usual route for NPP advocacy and ethics training. An AssuredCPD-accredited course is not approved or endorsed by the BSB, and we have no affiliation with it.

What independent accreditation offers a barrister is most useful on the EPP, where there is no prescribed activity list to rely on. An AssuredCPD-accredited course has written, measurable learning outcomes assessed under our Standards Framework, a credible check of learning, and a justified hours figure — exactly the raw material a BSB-style learning objective needs. The outcomes give you something specific to set against your CPD plan; the hours figure gives you a defensible number for your record; and a verifiable certificate reference gives you something concrete to produce at a spot check.

If you train barristers or other legal professionals, design to this structure: state what a participant should be able to do differently afterwards, not just what the session covers, since that is what both the NPP log and the EPP reflection are built to capture. Our guide to writing learning outcomes that pass covers the same point from the provider side.

How the UK bodies compare

CPD requirements are set independently by each body, and they differ far more than most people expect. Across the nineteen below, several set no hours target at all; several count records, pieces or outcomes rather than time; several fix a share of the total as structured, verifiable or participatory; and two tie around half or more of the requirement to named subject areas. The BSB is the only one of these to switch model entirely partway through a career — strict hours for new entrants, then none at all.

Three practical points fall out of that table. First, a figure from one body tells you nothing about another — the BSB's 45 hours over three years for new practitioners and the CII's 35 hours every single year measure very different things. Second, bodies that drop hours, including the BSB's EPP, ARB and HCPC, replace the number with a heavier documentation burden, not a lighter one. Third, a scheme that changes partway through a career, as the BSB's does, catches people off guard exactly at the transition — check your own leave date from the NPP before assuming last year's rules still apply.

Five mistakes that cost barristers their CPD compliance

1. Treating the EPP like the NPP. Once you move onto the EPP, counting hours is no longer the test. A thin reflective plan fails where a full hours log would have passed on the NPP.
2. Missing the mandatory NPP minimums. 45 hours overall does not automatically include the required 9 advocacy and 3 ethics hours. Track those two separately.
3. Assuming the EPP has an exemption process. It doesn't. Record the circumstances in your plan instead of looking for a waiver that isn't there.
4. Letting the written plan lapse. The EPP's whole structure rests on the plan and record existing and being current, not on activity alone.
5. Declaring compliance without the record to back it up. The annual declaration is only as safe as the record behind it, and a spot check can ask for both at any time.

Common questions

How many CPD hours do barristers need?

It depends on how long you have been practising. New practitioners, in their first three calendar years after pupillage, must complete at least 45 hours of CPD under the New Practitioners Programme (NPP), including at least 9 hours of advocacy and 3 hours of ethics. Once you move onto the Established Practitioners Programme (EPP), the BSB does not prescribe any number of hours or specific activities.

What is the New Practitioners Programme?

A three-year CPD scheme that starts on 1 January of the calendar year after you first hold a practising certificate following pupillage. It requires at least 45 hours of CPD over the three years, with mandatory minimums of 9 hours advocacy and 3 hours ethics.

What is the Established Practitioners Programme?

The scheme that applies once you have completed the NPP. The BSB does not prescribe what CPD activities you need to complete or how much CPD you need to complete. It is built around a four-stage reflective process instead: Review, Record, Reflect, Report.

Do established barristers have to do any CPD at all?

The BSB does not set a minimum, but barristers are still expected to maintain a written CPD Plan, keep a record of what they do, reflect on it, and declare each year that they are meeting the requirement. The absence of an hours target is not the absence of a requirement.

How do barristers declare their CPD?

As part of the annual Authorisation to Practise process, you declare whether you are up to date with your NPP or EPP requirements, as applicable.

Does the BSB check CPD records?

It can. The BSB's guidance says it may check records as part of a spot check of compliance, and you must produce your plan and records if asked.

Are there exemptions from BSB CPD requirements?

For the NPP, extensions and waivers are available for those who are eligible. For the EPP, the BSB does not operate an extension, waiver or exemption process; if parental leave, ill health or similar circumstances mean you complete less CPD, you record this in your CPD plan rather than applying for an exemption.

Does the BSB accredit CPD courses for barristers?

The BSB's own CPD guidance does not describe a scheme for accrediting external providers or courses. It notes that the Inns of Court and the Circuits provide the NPP's advocacy and ethics courses, and that public access training must be separately authorised.

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AssuredCPD is an independent CPD accreditation body. We are not a government or regulatory body and do not award regulated qualifications. AssuredCPD accreditation is not endorsement, approval or recognition by any professional body named on this page, and we have no affiliation with them. Requirements are summarised from each body’s own published guidance and were checked on 31 October 2026; those bodies change their rules from time to time, so always confirm against the official source linked above before relying on it.