Continuing Professional Development (CPD) requirements for UK tax advisers

Continuing Professional Development (CPD) is an important element all individuals practising UK Taxation. Continuing Professional Development is one of the main methods used to ensure you are keeping up to date with the latest information, skills and techniques within the tax industry, and a comprehensive record needs to be kept to demonstrate adherence to professional standards.

In this article we aim to outline CPD requirements for UK tax advisors, professional bodies in the tax industry, how to record and manage your CPD, as well as the benefits of completing regular Continuing Professional Development.

Professional bodies in the UK tax industry

There are a multiple of professional bodies in the UK tax industry, each having a varying remit and significance. Typically, the professional bodies will try to represent their members’ interests while helping to uphold industry professional standards. This is achieved by enhancing members’ professional knowledge through monitoring ongoing CPD as well as providing educational and technical advice.

The larger (often Chartered) professional bodies can sometimes provide qualifications and where resource is available, will run their own member-based examination systems. To practice as a tax professional in the UK it is expected that you would complete these types of training courses as part of your recognition in the industry. The UK government has a list of professional associations approved for tax purposes, and there is a separate list of more general regulators in the United Kingdom rather than professional associations.

CPD requirements for CIOT and ATT Members

CPD requirements for UK tax advisers at the Chartered Institute of Taxation (CIOT) are 90 CPD hours each calendar year and the Association of Taxation Technicians (ATT) members are required to undertake 45 CPD hours. All members must meet the CPD requirements over the year. In order to become a qualified tax advisors, we would recommend starting the year with a clear plan of the new CPD activities that you need to undertake, whilst taking into account your existing knowledge and skills that need to be maintained.

How to record and manage your CPD

To meet annual CPD hours requirement, it is important to keep a record of the learning and development activities that you are undertaking throughout the year. It can be part of a Continuing Professional Development plan, activities that you've done on your own, or development linked directly to your professional duties. Your CPD record can be used to prove to current and future employers that you are serious about updating your knowledge and skills.

CPD activities where possible should be relevant to your role and remit, here are a few examples of different learning activities you can complete as part of your Continuing Professional Development:

• Attending conferences, seminars, workshops, and training events
• Learning at work, including internal development, coaching and mentoring
• Studying for relevant further qualifications
• Reading technical journals such as Tax Adviser
  
• Learning skills relevant to your role
• Reading professional standards materials 

Reading technical research, mentoring and coaching, and training on professional standards can all constitute CPD. If you attend any sort of CPD training courses or events, your CPD certificate of attendance will state how many CPD hours you have gained. You can add this to your CPD record and show you have been keeping up to date with industry requirements.

Benefits of completing regular CPD

The benefits of completing Continuing Professional Development is it provides a clear, structured and methodical framework to learning that helps individuals focus on improving their workplace skills and knowledge. CPD can improve your skills in your current role and future career. Completing regular CPD helps:

• Keep your knowledge and skills up-to-date
• Your confidence and credibility should be built and enhanced
• It will help to promote your career advancement and progression
• You’ll have the ability to showcase your achievements and professional development with a recognised qualification

 Whatever your motivation is to better yourself CPD training courses are an effective way of doing so.

How to find CPD courses for tax advisors

If you are looking for learning to support your Continuing Professional Development please go to the CPD Courses Catalogue. There are thousands of different training courses, events, e-learning programs, conferences, workshops and seminars that have been formally CPD certified.

How to become a CPD accredited training provider

We hope this article was helpful. Established in 1996, The CPD Certification Service has over 27 years’ experience providing CPD accreditation. With members in over 100 countries, our CPD providers benefit from the ability to promote themselves as part of an international community where quality is both recognised and assured.

If you are interested in offering training courses, seminars, workshops, eLearning, or educational events suitable for Continuing Professional Development, please visit the Become a CPD Provider page or contact our team to discuss in more detail. Alternatively, if you are looking for a free online CPD record tool to help manage, track and log your ongoing learning, as well as store your professional training records and attendance certificates in one simple place, go to the myCPD Portal page.