IET CPD: What Electrical Engineers Must Do and Record

IET CPD is the continuing professional development that members of the Institution of Engineering and Technology are expected to carry out, plan and record. According to the IET, the requirement for members to undertake and record CPD is written into its Rules of Conduct. If you are professionally registered (CEng, IEng, EngTech or ICTTech), you must also follow the Engineering Council's CPD Code. The IET's guidance says professionally active members should aim for at least 30 CPD hours per calendar year. That is a recommendation, not a fixed rule, and the Engineering Council itself sets no minimum number of hours.

This guide is for UK-based electrical, electronic and other IET members. It separates what is mandatory from what is only recommended, so you can see what you must do and what is good practice.

IET CPD at a glance

What is mandatory

The IET Rules of Conduct

The IET states in its CPD guidance that the requirement for members to undertake and record CPD is written into its Rules of Conduct. In other words, CPD is part of being an IET member, not an optional extra. The guidance document we reviewed is undated, so check the CPD pages on theiet.org for the wording currently in force.

The Engineering Council's CPD Code

The IET says professionally registered members must follow the Engineering Council's CPD Code. The Engineering Council says the requirement for CPD is set out in the UK Standard for Professional Engineering Competence and Commitment (UK-SPEC), and that "recording of CPD undertaken is mandatory for registered engineers and technicians".

Its CPD Code for Registrants says that CEng, IEng, EngTech and ICTTech registrants should take all necessary steps to maintain and enhance their competence through CPD. In practice the code asks you to:

• take ownership of your learning and development needs, and develop a plan (in discussion with your employer, as appropriate);
• undertake a variety of development activities, both in line with that plan and in response to other opportunities;
• record your CPD activities;
• reflect on what you have learned or achieved and record those reflections;
• evaluate your activities against any objectives you have set, and record that evaluation;
• review your learning and development plan regularly; and
• support the learning and development of others, for example through mentoring or sharing expertise.

If you are unsure which registration category fits you, our guide to the difference between CEng, IEng and EngTech explains the three titles.

What the IET recommends: the 30-hour aim

The IET's guidance says that professionally active members "should aim to undertake a minimum of 30 CPD hours per calendar year". It suggests the hours can be spread across three areas:

• personal technical skills;
• job-specific technical skills; and
• personal soft skills.

The word to notice is "aim". The Engineering Council says plainly that its CPD Code does not specify a minimum amount of time to be spent on CPD each year, and its policy statement favours an outcome-based approach over relying only on hours or points. So 30 hours is the IET's benchmark. Treat it as a sensible target, but remember that what counts is what you learn and how you apply it.

What counts as CPD: the TWAVES categories

The IET groups CPD activities under the acronym TWAVES. Using several categories over the year is the IET's suggestion, and it is one of the things reviewers look for.

For an electrical engineer this might mean a short course on a new edition of a wiring or design standard, a technical visit to a substation, supervising an apprentice on a project, or reading a technical journal with notes on what you will change at work.

Plan, do, record, review

The IET describes a four-step Cycle of Learning:

• Plan activities that help you develop your career and fill gaps in your professional knowledge.
• Do the activity, thinking about all the TWAVES options.
• Record it in the IET's Career Manager system or by your preferred method.
• Review whether it met your need. If it did, plan the next step; if not, plan more CPD in the same area.

Career Manager is the IET's online tool, accessed at theiet.org/career-manager. The IET is clear that you can use it or your own method. What matters is that you keep a record, which fits the Engineering Council's position that recording is mandatory but the tool is not prescribed.

What happens if your records are sampled

Under the Engineering Council's rules, professional engineering institutions carry out annual random samples of professionally active registrants' CPD records. The IET says it has monitored a random sample of members' CPD records since 2017. The IET's guidance lists six things it considers when a record is reviewed:

• whether you included a CPD plan (the IET calls it a Planning Report) and whether your CPD relates to it;
• whether you reached the recommended 30 hours for that year;
• whether you covered a range of TWAVES categories;
• whether you mixed soft and technical skills;
• whether you linked your CPD to UK-SPEC competences; and
• whether you included a brief reflection on how you benefited.

The Engineering Council's policy statement adds that registrants who are not professionally active, such as those who are retired or on a career break, may request exemption from a sample. It also says that professionally active registrants who persistently fail to respond to requests for their CPD records risk removal from the Engineering Council Register. We could not verify from the IET what outcomes follow a review, so we do not describe them here.

A simple yearly routine

• January: write a short plan with two or three objectives tied to your job and your next career step.
• Through the year: log each activity soon after you do it, with one or two sentences on what you learned.
• Mid-year: check whether you are covering technical and soft skills, and more than one TWAVES category.
• December: review the year against your objectives and set next year's plan.

Civil engineers will find a parallel approach in our post on ICE CPD for civil engineers, and you can find more guides on Learnsignal's CPD hub.

Frequently asked questions

Is IET CPD compulsory?

According to the IET, the requirement for members to undertake and record CPD is written into its Rules of Conduct. If you are professionally registered, the Engineering Council also makes recording CPD mandatory.

How many CPD hours do I need for the IET?

The IET says professionally active members should aim for at least 30 hours per calendar year. The Engineering Council sets no minimum number of hours, so this is a recommended aim rather than a rule.

Do I have to use the IET's Career Manager?

No. The IET says you can record your CPD in Career Manager or by your preferred method.

Does my employer's training count?

The IET's TWAVES categories include training and work experience such as coaching, secondments and project work, so employer-provided learning can count where it develops your competence. Record what you learned, not only that you attended.

What if I am retired or on a career break?

The Engineering Council says registrants who are not professionally active may request exemption from a CPD sample. We could not verify from the IET what reduced expectations, if any, apply, so check with the IET directly.

Closing thoughts

For IET members the picture is straightforward. Doing and recording CPD is expected of every member, the Engineering Council makes recording mandatory for registrants, and 30 hours a year is the IET's recommended aim. Plan a little, record as you go, and write a line of reflection each time, and your record will stand up to a sample review. Always confirm current wording on the IET and Engineering Council websites.

This article is general information, not regulatory, legal or compliance advice. Requirements can change, so check the current rules with the IET and the Engineering Council.