CPD requirements by profession

CIOB CPD requirements for construction professionals

Last reviewed 20 October 2026

If you have been a CIOB member for a few years, the number in your head is probably wrong. CIOB moved from counting points to counting hours, and it also fixed part of the requirement to specific subject areas — which is the change that catches people out, because you can hit the hours total and still fall short.

The 25 hours, and the 12 inside them

The four core themes are not a suggested balance. Each carries its own 3-hour floor, so a year of 25 hours concentrated in one subject area fails the requirement even though the total is met.

Note the arithmetic: the four themes account for 12 of the 25. If you do more than 3 hours on a theme, the surplus counts toward your open 13 — it does not create a shortfall elsewhere.

Formal and self-directed

CIOB suggests a split of roughly 15 hours formal learning and 10 hours self-directed, but that split is a suggestion, not a rule. You can meet the 25 however the mix suits your role, provided the four themes are covered.

The reflective statement

Alongside the hours, members submit a short reflective statement on their overall learning for the year. It is brief, but it is the part that turns a list of activity into evidence of development — and it is far easier to write if your course certificates state what the learning was meant to achieve.

What changed, and why your old number is wrong

CIOB previously ran a points-based system with a minimum of 10 points a year. The move to 25 hours brought it into line with how most built-environment and professional bodies measure CPD, and it is a materially different requirement — not a relabelling.

If you are working from guidance, a template, or a colleague's recollection that mentions points, it predates the current policy. Check your own member record rather than assuming the conversion.

Building safety

Building safety has been a mandatory CPD focus for CIOB members, introduced under the earlier points-based system where it accounted for a defined share of the annual requirement. It sits naturally within the health, safety and wellbeing theme under the current structure. How CIOB expects it to be recorded against the four themes is not something we can state definitively from published guidance, so if building safety forms a significant part of your year, confirm the treatment against CIOB's current CPD policy rather than relying on this page.

Subscription year, not calendar year

The requirement runs across your subscription year. If you are planning against January to December while your subscription renews mid-year, your activity will straddle two assessment periods — and the four theme minimums apply to each of them separately. Check your renewal date before you plan.

Where CPD accreditation fits — and where it doesn't

This is the part most training providers get wrong, so it is worth being blunt about it.

CIOB does not approve, endorse or pre-authorise external CPD providers. Neither we nor any other CPD accreditation body can make a course “CIOB-approved”. Any provider telling you otherwise is overstating what they hold, and members who repeat that claim in a record are the ones exposed if it is questioned.

What independent accreditation actually does is narrower and more useful: it gives members evidence that the learning was assessed against a published standard, with stated outcomes, a justified hour claim, and a certificate anyone can check. When your record is reviewed, that evidence is what turns “I did a course” into something defensible.

An AssuredCPD-accredited course carries stated learning outcomes, a CPD-hour figure assessed as proportionate rather than self-declared, and a unique verification code. We are explicit in our own rules about what providers may and may not claim — see what you can and can't claim once a course is CPD accredited.

What to look for in a course

Whatever body you report to, the same four questions separate learning that will stand up from learning that won't:

• Are the learning outcomes written down? You cannot reflect on what a course changed if it never said what it intended to teach.
• Is the hour claim justified, or just asserted? An inflated figure is the single most common reason a course fails our assessment, and it is the figure you will be putting your name to.
• Was anything actually assessed? A completion certificate for watching a video is not evidence of learning.
• Can the certificate be checked by someone else? A PDF proves nothing on its own. A reference a third party can verify does.

For CIOB specifically, the first of those does double duty: a course that states its learning outcomes also tells you which core theme it credibly counts toward.

How the UK bodies compare

CPD requirements are set independently by each body, and they differ far more than most people expect. Across the twelve below, three set no hours target at all; three count records or outcomes rather than time; two require a set share of the total to be verifiable; one fixes nearly half the requirement to named subject areas. Knowing which model you are under matters more than knowing any single number.

Three practical points fall out of that table. First, a figure from one body tells you nothing about another — 40 ACCA units, 35 NMC hours over three years and nine CILEX outcomes are not comparable quantities. Second, several bodies now specify not just how much CPD but what kind: verifiable units for ACCA and the GDC, named themes for CIOB, participatory hours for the NMC, planned outcomes for CILEX. Third, if you hold dual registration you are under both regimes at once, and the stricter one governs your planning.

Five mistakes that cost people their CPD year

These come up across every regime, and all five are avoidable at no cost.

1. Planning against the wrong year. Some bodies run January to December, some from your own renewal, registration or subscription date. Diarise your date, not a colleague's.
2. Leaving the interactive part until last. Participatory hours, peer discussions and facilitated sessions all need another person's time. They are the components most likely to slip, and the least possible to do in a hurry.
3. Collecting certificates that prove attendance but not learning. If the certificate does not state learning outcomes and hours, you are reconstructing the detail from memory months later — and under a verifiable-CPD regime you may not be able to count it at all.
4. Recording activity but not impact. Every records-based and standards-based regime asks what changed in your practice. A list of course titles answers a different question.
5. Believing a provider's claim of regulator approval. None of the bodies above approve or endorse external CPD providers. A course advertised as “approved” by your regulator is misdescribed, and repeating that claim in your own record is your exposure, not the provider's.

Common questions

How many CPD hours do CIOB members need?

A minimum of 25 hours in each subscription year, for all members except retired grades. At least 12 of those hours must cover four core themes, with a minimum of 3 hours on each, and the remaining 13 hours are chosen by the member.

What are the CIOB core CPD themes?

Health, safety and wellbeing; sustainability; quality; and professionalism. Each requires a minimum of 3 hours, accounting for 12 of the 25 annual hours.

Does CIOB still use CPD points?

No. CIOB previously required a minimum of 10 points a year and has moved to an hours-based system of 25 hours per subscription year. Guidance referring to points predates the current policy.

Is there a formal and self-directed split for CIOB CPD?

CIOB suggests roughly 15 hours of formal learning and 10 hours of self-directed learning, but this split is a suggestion rather than a requirement. The binding elements are the 25-hour total and the four core theme minimums.

Does the CIOB CPD year run January to December?

No. The requirement runs across your subscription year, which depends on your renewal date rather than the calendar. Planning against the calendar year can split your activity across two assessment periods.

Does CIOB approve CPD courses or providers?

No. CIOB does not approve, endorse or pre-authorise external CPD providers or courses. Members are responsible for judging relevance and recording activity against the correct theme.

Do CPD hours from one professional body count for another?

Usually yes, if the learning is relevant to your practice under both, but the arithmetic does not transfer. Each body sets its own requirement, period and recording rules, so the same activity may need to be logged twice in different formats. If you hold dual registration, plan against the stricter regime.

Can any training provider be approved by my regulator?

Generally no. The UK professional bodies covered here do not approve, endorse or pre-authorise external CPD providers or courses. A provider advertising itself as regulator-approved is misdescribing what it holds, and repeating that claim in your own CPD record is your exposure.

What should a good CPD certificate show?

The provider, the date, the hours claimed, the learning outcomes covered, and a reference someone else can check independently. A certificate stating only that you attended is the most common reason people struggle to evidence an activity later.

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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 20 October 2026; those bodies change their rules from time to time, so always confirm against the official source linked above before relying on it.