Consultation on draft guidance for a Continuing Professional Development (CPD) scheme

Closed 3 Jan 2023

Opened 23 Sep 2022

Contact

020 7580 5861

communications@arb.org.uk

Feedback updated 7 Jun 2023

We asked

From September 2022 to January 2023, we consulted to invite views on a draft of the guidance before it is finalised. The consultation asked for feedback on key parts of the guidance, including the activity-based nature of the scheme, suggestions on mandatory topics, views on the reflective statement, as well as the inclusivity of the scheme and further recommendations.

You said

We received 1,350 unique responses in total. Most responses (96%) were from registered architects (1,302) including registered architects who are also academics (65). We received responses from people across the country and the profession, with responses from different sized practices and architects at various stages in their career.

A majority (58%) of respondents agreed that recording activities is a good way of measuring CPD that has been undertaken. Sixteen percent of respondents strongly agreed and 42% agreed with this draft proposal. Twelve percent disagreed, 19% strongly disagreed and the remainder neither agreed nor disagreed.

ARB recommended that architects carry out a minimum of eight CPD activities over the year (which will include activities carried out in respect of mandatory topics). Views on this proposal were split, with slightly more respondents agreeing (44%) than disagreeing (41%).

Fifty-five percent of respondents made recommendations for mandatory topics, with the most popular recommended topics from respondents being regulatory changes (24%), sustainability (22%) and safety (21%). These topics have also been raised with ARB through previous engagement and research exercises. 

Overall, respondents did not support the proposal for a reflective statement (68%), wherein an architect would need to discuss how their chosen activities supported their development. The most common concerns around the requirement of reflective practice were that it was too bureaucratic (32%) and took time away from fee-earning work (18%).

Two-hundred and eight (15%) respondents were recorded expressing a concern about the scheme relating to money, disabilities, caregiving responsibilities, online access, location or gender. Affordability and the exclusion of those on lower incomes was the most common concern, raised by 65 (5%) respondents. 

The full report can be accessed here. 

We did

Following a positive response to both the principles underpinning the scheme in our last survey, and to the activities-based nature of the scheme we proposed in this consultation, ARB intends to introduce the outcomes focused CPD scheme. This means that architects will need to carry out CPD activities every year and confirm they have undertaken it when they pay their retention fee in order to remain registered. Architects are free to identify their own CPD activities. If an architect has developed professionally and can apply what they have learnt to their practice, then it can be considered continuing professional development.

There will be no minimum number of activities that an architect must complete. ARB will suggest, not but mandate, that architects undertake eight activities a year.

Based on feedback from respondents on mandatory topics, ARB will make it an initial requirement of the scheme that architects carry out CPD on sustainability and building safety in a way that is relevant to their practice.  development areas when the scheme launches. We will issue guidance to support architects in doing so, and work with professional bodies to signpost knowledge sources. We will we review the CPD scheme as it embeds to better understand its effectiveness, and consider whether different areas of architecture should be the subject of mandatory CPD in the future.

Following feedback on the equality, diversity and inclusion implications of the scheme, we will develop and test the online portal so that it is accessible and we will offer reasonable adjustments. Basing the scheme on activities and giving architects the flexibility to define their own activities makes the scheme inclusive; architects can opt for activities based on the best learning style for their needs and their practice, and that need not cost money.

A reflective statement is a crucial outcome-focused aspect of the scheme. Concerns from respondents focused on how this requirement would be implemented rather than its underlying purpose and benefit. ARB will retain the reflective statement but will consider how to improve our guidance on the statement so that its value is better understood, and so that it is straightforward for architects to complete. We will also pilot the scheme so we can better understand how it operates in practice, and consider whether suggestions made by consultees would improve the process.

ARB will finalise the scheme based on the conclusions above and feedback we have received from our pilot study. We will publish updated, final guidance by the end of 2023. The scheme is expected to be launched in 2024, becoming mandatory for registered architects from January 2025. We will share further information on the detail of the scheme and the result of the pilot is planned for later in 2023.

Published responses

View submitted responses where consent has been given to publish the response.

Overview

ARB has been given new powers in the Building Safety Act 2022 to monitor the training and development architects carry out throughout their careers. When ARB’s new CPD scheme is introduced, it will be mandatory. All architects on the UK Register will have to confirm they have undertaken CPD on an annual basis, as a condition of their ongoing registration.

This consultation invites views on the detail of ARB’s scheme before it is finalised and introduced. Draft guidance on the scheme has been published, so that architects can review the requirements and understand what will be asked of them. By completing the consultation survey, architects and anyone interested in the scheme can share their views before ARB finalises and introduces it.

ARB’s role in CPD

Architects play an important role in creating a built environment that inspires people, in which we can all be safe and live well, and that helps to tackle the fundamental challenges our planet faces.

The Architects Registration Board (ARB) is an independent professional regulator, established by Parliament as a statutory body, through the Architects Act 1997. We are accountable to government.

The law gives us a number of core functions:

  • To ensure only those who are suitably competent are allowed to practise as architects. We do this by approving the qualifications required to join the UK Register of Architects.
     
  • We maintain a publicly available Register of Architects so anyone using the services of an architect can be confident that they are suitably qualified and are fit to practise.
     
  • We set the standards of conduct and practice the profession must meet and take action when any architect falls below the required standards of conduct or competence.
     
  • We protect the legally restricted title ‘architect’.

We want to be able to demonstrate architects’ commitment to a culture of continued learning throughout their professional lives, which will uphold public confidence in the competence of the profession.

This CPD scheme connects an architect’s commitment to maintaining competence to their continued right to registration. Therefore, undertaking yearly CPD and confirming it has been undertaken will be a condition of registration for all architects and compulsory.

After carrying out our own research and engaging with the profession, we have developed new draft guidance on the CPD architects will be expected to carry out to remain on the Register. To view the guidance please click here. 

For more information, please visit our Frequently Asked Questions page.

Our proposals are as follows:

  • Architects will need to carry out CPD every year and confirm they have undertaken it when they pay their retention fee in order to remain registered.
     
  • There is no minimum number of activities or hours that an architect must complete. Architects can do the CPD that is most relevant to their practice, in a way that works best for them.
     
  • Architects may have to do CPD on core topics mandated by ARB. If ARB does choose to mandate a topic, this will be communicated to architects in advance and with guidelines to assist them.
     
  • CPD can be recorded on the ARB platform, or another compatible platform identified in ARB’s guidance. Architects will need to record the CPD activities they carry out and the outcomes from them. They will also need to write a reflective statement on the development they have carried out over the last 12 months, and their future development requirements.

    Check ARB’s guidance before using a different platform.
     
  • ARB will annually review a selection of architects’ CPD records. If you are selected to be reviewed, ARB will write to you asking for documentation about your CPD.

The consultation will comply with ARB’s Code of Practice for consultations.

Why your views matter

We are now asking for views on the draft guidance before it is finalised and comes into force.

This consultation will be open for three months and will close on Tuesday 3rd January 2023. ARB will analyse all responses and consider changes to the CPD scheme guidance based on the responses. Views raised will be used to consider whether the proposed CPD scheme will help architects demonstrate architects’ commitment to a culture of continued learning throughout their professional lives and provide public confidence in the competence of the profession.

The ARB Board will make a decision about whether to approve the guidance and when to introduce it. We expect to run a pilot for the scheme in 2023 and launch the scheme in full 2024. Extensive communication activities will take place to inform all architects on the UK Register in advance of the scheme’s implementation.

Audiences

  • Anyone from any background

Interests

  • Continuing Professional Development