Regulator guide: HCPC
HCPC: CPD standards, audit and fitness to practise
The five CPD standards, what a 2.5% audit asks of you, and how the tribunal service looks at impairment, with courses mapped to each.
HCPC CPD courses and the standards behind them
HCPC CPD courses are only useful if you can show how they meet the HCPC's five standards for continuing professional development. The HCPC does not count hours. It asks whether your learning improved your practice and benefited the people you work with. This page explains those standards, the 2.5% audit and the profile you would submit if selected. It also covers how the tribunal service approaches impairment, and which of our courses fit each part of the picture.
The Health and Care Professions Council regulates 15 professions, including paramedics, physiotherapists, occupational therapists, radiographers, biomedical scientists, practitioner psychologists, speech and language therapists and dietitians. The rules below apply to all of them. Use the free CPD tracker to build your record as you go. If you are facing a concern, the remediation pathway is the better starting point. Other regulators are listed on the regulators hub.
The HCPC standards you are measured against
Three sets of HCPC standards matter most day to day:
- Standards of conduct, performance and ethics: shared by every HCPC profession. They cover promoting service users' interests, communication, working within your scope, confidentiality, managing risk, reporting concerns, honesty and keeping records.
- Standards of proficiency: one set per profession, setting out what you must know and be able to do. Revised standards took effect in 2023, with added emphasis on equality, diversity and inclusion, on leadership, and on registrants looking after their own wellbeing.
- Standards of continuing professional development: the five standards described below.
In fitness to practise, decision makers refer back to these standards to decide whether a registrant fell short.
Recommended courses
Written for UK registrants and mapped to what HCPC guidance asks of you.
- HCPC
Professionalism and Professional Standards for HCPC Regulated Health and Care Professionals
HCPC registrants work in an unusually wide range of settings: paramedics in ambulances, physiotherapists in private clinics, radiographers in imaging departments, biomedical scientists in laboratories, practitioner psychologists in schools and…
- HCPC
Ethics and Ethical Standards for HCPC Regulated Health and Care Professionals
The Health and Care Professions Council regulates fifteen distinct professions, from paramedics working alone at the roadside to biomedical scientists who may never meet a patient, and from practitioner psychologists…
- All UK regulators
Module on Insight for Healthcare Professionals
This module explores insight: the self-awareness that lets healthcare professionals understand their actions, recognise their impact and learn from experience. It covers what insight is and why it matters, when…
- GMCNMCHCPC+5 more regulators
Reflection for Healthcare Professionals
This CPD module helps healthcare professionals in the UK understand and strengthen reflective practice. It explains what reflection is and why it matters, the UK regulatory context, structured models of…
- GMCNMCHCPC+2 more regulators
Remediation for Healthcare Professionals
This CPD module helps healthcare professionals in the UK understand and undertake effective remediation. It explains what remediation is and why it matters, the UK regulatory and employer context, the…
The five CPD standards and the 2.5% audit
Every HCPC profession renews its registration every two years. At each renewal the HCPC selects 2.5% of registrants in each profession at random for CPD audit. If you are chosen, you must show that you meet these standards:
| Standard | What it asks |
|---|---|
| 1 | Maintain a continuous, up-to-date and accurate record of your CPD activities |
| 2 | Show that your CPD is a mixture of learning activities relevant to current or future practice |
| 3 | Seek to ensure that your CPD has contributed to the quality of your practice and service delivery |
| 4 | Seek to ensure that your CPD benefits the service user |
| 5 | On request, present a written profile, your own work and supported by evidence, explaining how you have met the standards |
The profile. If you are audited, the profile contains a summary of your practice history (up to 500 words), a statement of how you have met the standards (up to 1,500 words), a dated list of your CPD from the last two years, and supporting evidence. There is no fixed number of hours.
Standards 3 and 4 are where most profiles are thin. A certificate proves standard 1 and helps with standard 2. To meet 3 and 4 you need a sentence or two on what changed and who benefited.
Using a course as evidence in your CPD profile
Here is a pattern that works for a self-paced course:
- Record it straight away. Note the date, title, time spent and certificate in your CPD log (standard 1).
- Say why you chose it. Link it to your current or planned role so that your mix of activities makes sense (standard 2). An occupational therapist moving into independent practice might choose the professionalism course for its section on private practice, for example.
- Describe the change. One specific change, such as a revised consent conversation, a new way of recording delegated tasks or a boundaries discussion with a student (standard 3).
- Name the benefit to service users. Clearer information, safer handover or better-protected confidentiality (standard 4).
- Keep the evidence together. Certificate, reflection and any before-and-after document, ready for a profile (standard 5).
The reflective statement builder has HCPC prompts for steps 3 and 4. It shows a running word count against the 1,500-word statement limit. You write the content; the tool only gives it structure.
Courses for HCPC registrants
Every course is self-paced, takes about 2 hours according to its course file, and ends with a guided reflective account and 15 scenario-based questions (pass mark 80%).
Professionalism and Professional Standards for HCPC Regulated Health and Care Professionals
Covers registration, CPD and returning to practice; the standards of conduct, performance and ethics; what changed in the 2023 standards of proficiency; professionalism in independent and private practice; interprofessional working, professional bodies and supporting learners; health, wellbeing and sustainable practice; and conduct online and outside work. It closes with breaches, regulatory action and remediation.
Ethics and Ethical Standards for HCPC Regulated Health and Care Professionals
Core ethical principles in health and care practice. It also covers protected titles and scope of practice, the duty of candour, record-keeping, conflicts of interest and commercial pressures, delegation and supervision of learners, boundaries, and health and character declarations.
Module on Insight
What insight means, how to develop it, and how tribunals assess it. Helpful for any HCPC registrant writing about a complaint or an incident.
Reflection for Healthcare Professionals
Structured reflective models, worked examples and sample reflections. Writing reflection that shows impact is exactly the skill that standards 3 and 4 test.
Remediation for Healthcare Professionals
Root cause analysis, remediation plans, evidence of sustained change, and returning to practice after restrictions.
Fitness to practise: how the HCPTS approaches impairment
Final hearings for HCPC registrants are run by the Health and Care Professions Tribunal Service (HCPTS). Its practice note on finding impairment, dated 7 August 2025, guides panels on deciding whether a registrant's fitness to practise is currently impaired. The main themes are:
- Looking forward, not back. Impairment is about current fitness to practise. Panels consider whether the failing is remediable, whether it has been remedied, and how likely it is to happen again.
- Insight. The note treats insight as being concerned with the future risk of repetition. A registrant who maintains their innocence is not, for that reason alone, treated as lacking insight. This matters if you dispute the facts.
- Remediation and reflection. Evidence of what you have done to address the concern, and reflection showing how your practice has changed, are particularly relevant.
- Public confidence. Even where the risk of repetition is low, panels also consider whether a finding is needed to uphold standards and public confidence.
If a panel finds impairment, it applies the HCPC's sanctions policy. The remediation readiness check helps you see which of these themes you already have evidence for. It is a self-assessment, not a prediction.
- InsightUnderstanding what went wrong, why, and its effect on others and on trust.
- RemediationPractical steps that address the concern, such as targeted learning and supervised practice.
- ReflectionShowing what you learned and how your practice has changed.
Why a course on its own is not enough
For an HCPC case, a certificate shows learning. Panels look for more than that:
- learning that targets the specific failing;
- reflection in your own words showing that you understand the impact on service users and on trust in your profession;
- evidence of changed practice, such as supervision records, audits or updated procedures;
- testimonials from colleagues who know about the concern;
- a clear account of how you will reduce the risk of repetition.
The remediation pathway organises these into a timeline. Your professional body, union or a solicitor should review your evidence before you submit it.
Healthcare Practise UK is an independent education provider. We are not affiliated with, approved or endorsed by the GMC, NMC, HCPC, GDC, GPhC, GOC, GOsC, GCC, Social Work England, MPTS or the PSA. Completing our courses or tools does not decide any regulatory outcome. Regulators decide each case on its own facts, so please take advice from your defence organisation, union or a solicitor before you submit anything to a regulator.
Free tools for HCPC registrants
Remediation pathway
All the tools in one guided flow: readiness check, course bundle, reflection, testimonials, timeline and an evidence portfolio you can save as a PDF.
Remediation readiness check
A self-assessment of your insight, remediation, reflection, testimonials, CPD and risk of repetition, with the gaps to work on.
Reflective statement builder
Regulator-specific prompts that help you structure a reflective statement in your own words.
Testimonial request letter
A clear, honest letter asking a colleague or manager for a testimonial that covers what panels look for.
CPD and revalidation tracker
Log CPD against your regulator's cycle and see what is still to do before renewal or revalidation.
Hearing timeline planner
Work back from a key date to a realistic plan for courses, reflection and testimonials, with a calendar file.
Which course do I need?
Four quick questions that point you to the courses that match your regulator and situation.
Frequently asked questions
How many CPD hours does the HCPC require?
None. The HCPC sets no fixed number of hours. It asks you to keep a continuous record and to show, if audited, that your CPD is a relevant mix of activities that improved your practice and benefited service users.
How likely am I to be audited?
At each two-year renewal the HCPC randomly selects 2.5% of registrants in each profession. Keep your record up to date so that you can put a profile together quickly if you are selected.
How long can my CPD profile be?
The practice summary is up to 500 words and the statement of how you meet the standards is up to 1,500 words. You also include a dated list of CPD from the last two years and supporting evidence.
Will the HCPC accept your certificates?
The HCPC does not approve individual courses or providers. It looks at whether your CPD meets its standards. A certificate with a reflection that shows changed practice is the kind of evidence a profile needs.
Do these courses work for every HCPC profession?
The two HCPC courses are written for all 15 professions and focus on the shared standards of conduct, performance and ethics. Profession-specific clinical skills are outside their scope.
I deny the allegation. Should I still work on insight?
Speak to your representative first. The HCPTS practice note recognises that maintaining your innocence is not, on its own, a lack of insight. You can still reflect on the wider issues and on how you would act in similar situations.
Not sure where to start?
Tell us your regulator and the concern. The pathway shows the courses that fit, helps you write your reflection and puts your evidence in order. It is free and nothing leaves your browser.