15 October 2025
With the ICAEW Continuing Professional Development (CPD) deadline on 31 October, it’s time to check whether your team’s hours are up to date.
The deadline falling on Halloween feels fitting. Miss it and the consequences can be quite terrifying.
ICAEW’s new CPD regime launched on 1 November 2023, and most firms have been finding their rhythm since then.
Logging hours, categorising roles, squeezing in that mandatory ethics hour between client deadlines, it’s all part of the process.
However, the honeymoon period of finding your feet with the new regime is now over.
The ICAEW has confirmed that from 1 November 2025, missing hours, incorrect categorisation or lack of verifiable evidence could very well lead to formal penalties for your firm.
The amount of professional development you and other members of your team are expected to complete depends on your work.
For example, a junior accountant won’t be expected to do the same amount of training as the finance director. They’re welcome to if they want, but it’s not an official requirement.
All ICAEW members must:
By verifiable, we mean you need to be able to prove you completed it. This could be with an email confirming your attendance at a webinar, a certificate of training completion, records of on-the-job learning from one of your managers and mentors amongst other options.
To figure out how many hours of training you need, you will fall into one of the institute’s three categories, which you can read all about here: CPD categories | ICAEW.
For those working in practice:
For those working outside practice:
If you would like help confirming which one you fall into, we’re happy to help, so just drop us a message.
Remember, firms must ensure staff understand their obligations, complete the training and keep accurate records.
If ICAEW asks to see your CPD logs, you should be able to provide activity records, evidence and a rationale for the category.
Lucky for you, our platform makes compliance simple and stress-free.
If you’ve struggled to manage your team’s professional development this year and are thinking about ways to improve next year, we’d love to talk.
We offer a wide range of courses, including compliance essentials such as Preventing Sexual Harassment, Anti-Money Laundering and Anti-Bribery (plus refresher courses).
Then for personal development, we have courses to boost management skills, communication, organisation and more.
There is something for everyone, whether someone wants to sharpen their leadership or just feel a bit more on top of their inbox.
You can browse all of our courses in our e-brochure to find the right ones for you.
One of our platform’s best features is the handy ‘nagware’. It automatically chases your team and reminds them to complete training, so the responsibility doesn’t fall to one overworked colleague.
We’re sure they they’d rather be doing literally anything else.
Reporting has also never been simpler. You can download a full report showing exactly what training each member of your team has completed.
There will be no last-minute scrambles to patch together spreadsheets, because you’ll already have proof of CPD when the ICAEW come knocking.
Book a demo with us to find out how we can help you meet your CPD deadlines.