CPD Overview

FOR THE LATEST SCHEDULED CPD, PLEASE VISIT OUR EVENTS CALENDAR HERE.

Continuous Professional Development

The Institute of Economic Development (IED) is committed to developing and promoting the highest standards of professional conduct, education and training among economic development practitioners.

The IED encourages its members to maintain and extend their knowledge and skills throughout their professional career regardless of the length of their work experience. The aim of the Continuing Professional Development (CPD) scheme is to help members meet their individual career aspirations and learning goals by providing a structured framework for measuring and recording their achievements.

Who needs to do CPD?

The IED requires ALL associate and full members to log at least 40 hours of CPD over a two year period. Half of all CPD logged – 20 hours – needs to consist of formal CPD activity (see below for what is classed as formal and informal training).

If CPD records are not fully completed with the requisite number of hours, Full members will automatically be downgraded to Associate members and a requalification process and associated fees will be incurred.

Associates eligible for upgrade to Full Member status will need to go through a CPD review and there will be a one-off fee of £100 for this.

Who does not need to do CPD?

Student members are not required to take part in the Scheme, although some may want to do so as part of their own personal development programme.

Likewise, Fellows are not subject to any CPD requirements although they may wish to continue to log activity if they wish.

Are there any exceptions?

CPD requirements apply for all associate and full members, regardless of the number of hours they work in a week.

Members on maternity/paternity leave or any other form of long term leave are still subject to full CPD requirements (although membership payment can be deferred during this time).

Other exceptional circumstances to be reviewed on a case by case basis.

How will we monitor CPD?

CPD records of associate and full members will be reviewed once a year, at the time of renewal. In addition, we adopt a random sample monitoring of all submissions and in those checks, we ask for more detailed info/evidence of CPD (such as certificates of training courses).

Members will receive regular automated emails (every 3 months and weekly in month leading up to 2 year deadline) to remind them to complete their CPD and if their deadline for upload is getting close.

Remember, if a full member does not complete their CPD record, they will automatically be downgraded to an Associate Member.

What counts as CPD?

Many different activities can qualify as CPD and members need to consider which are most appropriate. It is not just about academic or technical expertise, CPD also includes the development of personal qualities needed to carry out managerial and technical duties. Neither is CPD restricted to formal training courses. We recognise the relevance of other methods of learning especially for example peer group learning and shared experience and the CPD scheme goes some way towards bringing these approaches together.

The scheme is, nevertheless, weighted to reflect the degree to which activities reflect professional rather than personal development.

There is a requirement to complete 20 hours (50%) of formal CPD over the two year CPD cycle. Examples of activity that counts as formal CPD include:

· training courses/seminars relating to economic development competencies

· continuing education resulting in qualifications

· long term research projects

· courses in relevant but non economic development subjects (e.g. languages, IT etc) that have a direct influence on professional competence

· Attendance at any IED conferences or meetings to count as formal CPD, unless it is purely a networking event

· Going through a module/all of the IED’s Excellence In Economic Development Standard would count as CPD

The remainder of the CPD requirement – 20 hours in a 2 year cycle – can be made up of more informal training and development. Examples include:

· Development of business, personal, management skills that have an impact on professional competence

· Any in house training relating to economic development competencies

· special project work

· preparation and presentation of papers/articles/blogs on relevant topics either for delivery or for publication

· attendance at meetings/conferences (other than IED conference) – all need to have a link to how improves professional competence in economic development role

· structured reading (e.g. reading of IED bulletin every month equates to 6 hours a year)

· participation in local business or voluntary groups where skills are developed that impact professional competence

A full day’s training equates to 7 hours of CPD.

There is no carry forward – i.e. anything over 40 hours achieved in year 2 cannot be carried forward into year 3.

How will we help our members access relevant CPD?

The IED has worked to develop a CPD programme which covers the most popular topics that our members have told us you want. Recent courses have included:

• Introduction to economic development
• How to write successful funding bids
• Delivering place competitiveness
• Social value and inclusive growth
• Business case development including Green Book
• Inward investment attraction and the financial conversation
• Delivering rural growth
• Getting the best value from public contracts and procurement
• Sustainable economic growth and the low carbon economy.
   

For the latest schedule of CPD courses running, please visit our events calendar.

Please note that along with our CPD training programme for this year, we are happy to provide any of these courses, or courses on other topics, directly to colleagues in your organisation or local network at your own venue. Please do get in touch with us for more details on this, other colleagues have found this to be a cost effective option for internal training.

How to log your CPD activity?

Members will be required to log CPD activity online in the members only section of the IED website. This can either be done at regular intervals, as CPD is completed, or at the end of the CPD cycle.

You will need to log the date the CPD was undertaken, categorise it as either formal or informal training, give a brief description of the activity and the number of hours recorded. Remember a full day’s training equates to a maximum of 7 hours.

How will we promote CPD achievements?

We will congratulate all members who achieve CPD completion and another 2 years as an MIED.

The Institute urges employers to support its members in their efforts to improve their competence and effectiveness via CPD. To have access to a continually developing, competent economic development professional makes good business sense for the employer whilst individuals who commit themselves to CPD will become more effective contributors to their employers’ and clients’ businesses.

If you have any queries about the CPD scheme, please do not hesitate to contact us.