CORU CPD for Social Workers: 30 Credits, Reflection and Audit

There were 5,757 social workers on the CORU register at 30 June 2025, making it the second-largest of the ten registration boards with live registrants. Every one of them carries the same continuing professional development obligation, and for social workers a large part of it is already being done — it simply is not being recorded.

The rule, in one paragraph

CORU asks every registrant to demonstrate 30 CPD credits in each 12-month period. The period runs from your registration or renewal date, not the calendar year. One hour of new or enhanced learning counts as one credit, and you assign the credits yourself based on what you actually learned and how it affected your practice. Repeating an activity you have already completed earns nothing unless it produces genuinely new learning. For the full picture across all professions CORU regulates, see our guide to CORU CPD requirements.

Three rules that catch people out

Surplus credits do not carry forward. Thirty-five credits this period does not give you a five-credit head start next period. Each 12 months stands alone.

Portfolio maintenance is capped at four credits. Keeping your CPD records organised is legitimate CPD, but only up to four credits in any period.

It applies even when you are not practising. On leave, between roles, working abroad, or not currently in practice — the obligation follows your registration, not your employment.

What counts in social work practice

CORU publishes a deliberately broad list of eligible activities, and several of them map directly onto work social workers already do:

• Supervision. This is the one most often missed. Formal supervision is explicitly eligible, and most social workers have it scheduled already.
• Peer review and reflective practice groups. Also explicitly eligible, and routine in most teams.
• Case reflection on complex or critical cases. CORU names reflecting on critical incidents and complex cases as eligible learning.
• Research and professional reading — practice guidance, research papers, inspection findings.
• Legislation and policy updates, including changes to child protection and safeguarding frameworks.
• Court skills and report writing, where the learning is new to you.
• Writing protocols or publishing case studies and articles.
• Learning from day-to-day work, which CORU lists in its own guidance.

There is no required split between formal and informal activity and no category caps. CORU asks for a range and a balance, which means a portfolio built entirely from one activity type is the thing to avoid.

Supervision is the most under-claimed credit in social work

If you have monthly supervision and each session produces an hour of genuinely new learning, that is a meaningful share of your 30 credits before you attend a single course. The condition is that you record what you learned and reflect on it — a note that supervision took place is not enough. Where your employer keeps supervision records, those records are not automatically your CPD evidence; the reflection has to be yours.

The carry-forward problem in caseload-driven roles

Social work CPD tends to cluster around quieter periods, and a heavy year followed by a light one is common. Because surplus credits cannot be carried forward, front-loading does not protect you — each 12-month period is assessed on its own.

What an audit actually asks for

Your Registration Board may select you for a CPD audit. If it does, you submit four things: records of the activities that produced your 30 credits of new or enhanced learning; your evaluation and reflection on that learning; a review of your learning needs for the coming 12 months; and a plan of the activities you intend to undertake.

The reflection is a separate item from the activity record, and it is the part most often missing. A line confirming that you attended something is not reflection — CORU wants your assessment of what changed in your practice as a result.

Keep your records for as long as you remain on the register. Deferral of an audit is considered case by case, and CORU states explicitly that workload is not a sufficient reason. Our guide to how CPD requirements compare across NMBI, the Medical Council, CORU and the PSI sets out how this differs from the other Irish regulators.

No course is “CORU-approved”

CORU does not accredit or approve CPD activities or providers. If a provider tells you a course is CORU-approved, that approval does not exist. What matters at audit is whether the activity produced new learning that you can evidence and reflect on. That gives you a very wide range of eligible activity — and it puts the responsibility for judging relevance on you.

Practical steps

Find your own renewal date and align your personal learning plan to it, because that is the period an audit covers. Record reflection as you go rather than in the week before renewal. And keep a running total, since there is no carry-forward to absorb a shortfall.

If you are newly registered, our guide to the CORU registration process covers what happens before the CPD obligation begins, and what CORU is and what it regulates explains the wider framework.

For a comparison with the position in England, our guide to NMC revalidation shows how a three-year cycle with a fixed hour count differs from CORU's annual credit model.

What 30 credits looks like over a year

An illustrative portfolio for a social worker in a statutory team. Credits are assigned by the registrant, so these are indicative.

This is one illustration, not a template to copy. CORU asks for a range and a balance of activities, and the credits you claim must reflect learning that was genuinely new to you.

Frequently asked questions

Does the 12-month period run with the calendar year?

No. It runs from your registration or renewal date. Two colleagues who registered in different months will have different CPD periods and different deadlines.

Can I carry extra credits into next period?

No. Surplus credits are lost at the end of each period. There is no mechanism to bank them.

Do I still need CPD if I am on leave or working abroad?

Yes. The obligation attaches to your registration, not to whether you are currently practising. CORU states it applies to everyone on a register, including those on leave and those working overseas.

How many credits can I claim for keeping my portfolio up to date?

Up to four in any 12-month period. Record-keeping is legitimate CPD but it is capped.

Is there an approved list of CORU CPD courses?

No. CORU does not accredit or approve CPD activities or providers. Any claim that a course is “CORU-approved” is inaccurate. What matters is whether the activity produced new learning you can evidence and reflect on.

What happens if I am audited and fall short?

Your Registration Board will engage with you about the shortfall. Deferral of an audit is considered case by case, and CORU states that workload is not a sufficient reason for deferral.

Does repeating mandatory training count every year?

Only if it produces new learning for you. CORU is explicit that repeating an activity earns no credits unless there is genuinely new learning — so a refresher that covers changed guidance may count, while an identical repeat may not.

Can employer-held supervision records be my CPD evidence?

They evidence that supervision happened, but the reflection has to be yours. An audit asks separately for your evaluation of what you learned and what changed in your practice, so keep your own short note alongside the service record.

I work for an agency across several services. Does that complicate things?

Not for the obligation itself — it follows your registration. In practice it makes record-keeping more important, because learning spread across placements is easy to lose track of.