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CPD audit & feedback

Each year a SAMPLE is SELECTED for audit; RECORDING OF CPD IS MANDATORY FOR ALL REGISTERED ENGINEERS & TECHNICIANS.

 

Under the Engineering Council CPD policy the Institution conducts an annual audit on a sample representation of its registered Members and Fellows. Part of this process includes providing feedback to members on the development activities.

These requirements are intended to help you map and direct your CPD by asking you to tell us how you have recorded your CPD over the previous 12 months. Records of any earlier activities will not be required.

The audit is conducted using the CPD Tools in Career Developer. In addition to the Goal and Activities templates, the online CPD tools allow you to upload your own personal files containing your CPD records which can also be review as part of the audit.

Recording CPD is mandatory for all professionally registered and active engineers and technicians. Repeated failure to engage in the audit requirement on request from the institution will ultimately result in a loss of registration.

1. How members are selected

We randomly select 5% of Professionally Registered members (EngTech, IEng or CEng) for CPD audit each year. This includes those who are retired as they may still be professionally active as per our definition.


2. Select a statement

In the first instance, you will be asked to please select a statement that best applies to you and your CPD:

  1. My CPD records for the preceding year are up-to-date and available for audit.
  2. I will update my CPD records for the preceding year by the stated deadline and make them available for audit.

    3. If you select one of the following options the Institution may still contact you directly to provide additional information or records.

  3. I record my personal professional development with my employer and do not require additional feedback.
  4. I record my CPD with another Professional Engineering Institution, and do not require additional feedback.
  5. I have not been active in the profession over the previous 12 months (retired, maternity/paternity, career break, unemployed etc.)

Discover more about being a professionally active engineer

3. What CPD do I need to submit?

We provide the CPD Tools within Career Developer as a tool for you to record and plan your goals and activities.

If you select a statement which requires you to submit your CPD records for audit then your goals, activities and documents from the previous 12 months should be uploaded to the CPD Tools. If you record your CPD elsewhere, you can simply upload these documents into the ‘document vault’ with the Tools. Please ensure they are marked ‘Yes’ to allow our CPD assessors access for your review.

If you have completed a SWOT analysis or used the Benchmarking tool, then they will also be made available to the CPD assessors.

Alternatively, you can record your CPD using our CPD log which can be uploaded to the document vault in the CPD Tool and marked 'Yes' for to enable our assessors to review. To download the log, please click here.

4. Who sees and will review my CPD?

If you choose to receive feedback, your CPD submission will only be viewed by trained CPD assessors, who will all be full members of the Institution, and the Institution's CPD administration staff. It will have the same level of confidentiality as when you submitted your membership application.

You should not be submitting any commercially sensitive information or confidential documents, but as you are only asked to submit a summary of information for your CPD records, this should not cause any conflicts.

Assessors can only see and review CPD from the previous 12 months and provide ‘light touch’ feedback focusing on positive aspects and suggestions for enhancement.

Please note: if you are not providing records for audit we may still request to see a sample of your CPD as part of the audit process, which you can upload into your Document Vault.

5. What happens if I do not engage with the CPD Audit requirement?

It is a requirement of your IMechE membership and Professional Registration with the Engineering Council to complete CPD and comply with the CPD audit requirements to provide evidence on completion when selected for audit.

Failure to engage with the Institution’s CPD audit requirement will result in you automatically being placed in the following year’s audit so that you are given every reasonable opportunity to comply. If after inclusion in your second successive CPD audit you still have not complied with the CPD audit requirement, you will be placed on the CPD Audit sanctions process, which may lead to the removal of your membership and professional registration.

6. What is the CPD Audit Sanctions Process?

Continuing professional development (CPD) is understood across most professions to be the systematic acquisition of knowledge and skills, and the development of personal qualities, to maintain and enhance professional competence. 

All registered grades (Eng Tech, IEng, CEng) of all Professional Engineering Institutions (PEIs) have an obligation to maintain their competence through CPD and support the learning of others.  This obligation is embodied within the Engineering Council Regulations and IMechE Code of Conduct.

In 2013, the Engineering Council approved a new CPD Code and Policy, which places an obligation on the Professional Engineering Institutions (PEIs) to carry out annual audits of their registered members’ CPD activity and to apply sanctions on those that do not engage in the audit process.  For IMechE, the sanctions process came into effect in 2019.

Before any member faces sanctions the process is as follows: 

  • Member(s) are randomly selected to take part in the annual audit.  Notification is communicated in multiple formats including email, letters and phone calls. 
  • Where a member does not engage in the CPD audit to which they have been randomly selected to partake in, they will be automatically entered into the following year’s CPD audit and marked as a non-engaged member.
  • If the member still does not engage in the CPD audit as a non-engaged member, their name will be brought to the Continuing Professional Development Assessment Committee (CPDAC), which will endorse the initiation of the sanctions process against said member.
  • A written formal sanctions letter (Removal of Membership for non-compliance with the CPD audit) will be sent from the Chief Executive to the member’s registered postal address by a registered mail service. This will also include:
    • a final request for the member-facing sanctions to submit the appropriate statement which most closely reflects how they record and submit their CPD record if applicable; or alternatively advise the Institution that they are no longer professionally active.
    • A notice that the member will have 3 months in which to provide this information.
    • Once the 3-month deadline has passed, should the member still not have responded to the audit request, the IMechE is required to remove the member from the Engineering Council register and IMechE membership. 

The end-to-end process takes approximately 30 months.

As a member, it is important to uphold professional registration and maintain membership with the IMechE by following the guidelines set forth by the Engineering Council regulations and IMechE Code of Conduct.

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CPD Tools

    Part of the Career Developer suite, this is a tool for professionally registered members (EngTech, IEng or CEng) to record their experience and professional activity, providing a strong framework for career progression and professional development.

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