Sanctions for non-compliance

Under section 2.7 of the Actuaries’ Code, members are required to keep their competence up-to-date. As a way of ensuring this, members are required to comply with the mandatory Continuing Professional Development (CPD) scheme, both undertaking the CPD required of them and recording, at the end of each CPD year, that they have done so.

Each year a number of members nevertheless fail to record the CPD which they have completed. This failure to record CPD can result in referral to the Disciplinary Scheme. Not only is this unnecessarily stressful for the members involved, it is disproportionately costly to both members and the profession in terms of time and resources.

The profession wishes to assist members who have completed their CPD requirement but failed to record this to avoid immediate referral to the disciplinary process and to bring themselves into compliance with their obligations under the Scheme. To achieve this, we have introduced a system of administrative changes and sanctions.  These arrangements, whilst recognising that failure to comply with the CPD scheme remains a disciplinary offence, allows those members who fall foul of the recording requirements some additional time to bring their records up-to-date before the profession initiates a referral to the Disciplinary Scheme. The arrangements are intended to form a more proportionate response to the problem of non-recording.

Full details of the new arrangements - which affect members in Category 2 of the CPD scheme only - can be found within the professions CPD Schemes which can be accessed via the associated documents section on the right hand side of this page.

In summary, the arrangements and associated administrative sanctions are set out in the following timeline:

30 June           

CPD year ends.

31 July           

Deadline for Members to make CPD records compliant.

1 August        

On-line recording system closes.

Upon making payment of an Administration Fee of £50 to the profession, non-compliant Members may submit details of their completed CPD to the profession's Membership Team until 30 September.

Only CPD completed on or before 30 June may be recorded.

1 October       

Members who have not recorded sufficient CPD at this date -  whether they have failed to complete sufficient CPD or simply failed to record it - will:

• Incur a Charge of £750;
• Have their name published within a list of non-compliers with the CPD regime for the past year on the profession’s website; and
• Have their non-compliance recorded within their entry in the Actuarial Directory on the profession’s website.

12 November  

Deadline for payment of the Charge applied. Failure to make payment of the Charge by this date will result in the matter being referred under the Disciplinary Scheme.

Members who pay the £750 charge will not be required to update their CPD record before doing so. It will therefore be possible to pay the charge in respect of a year in which sufficient CPD has not been completed. However, members should be clear that payment of the charge will not provide exemption from the Actuaries’ Code requirement that members keep their competence up-to-date and do not act where they do not have the appropriate level of relevant knowledge and skill.

The profession cannot, of course, condone any failure to comply with the CPD scheme, especially if this is repeated. For this reason, if a charge or administrative fee has been paid in respect of a CPD year, the opportunity to pay a charge or fee will not be available again to a member during a 10 year period.

We hope that members will see these changes as constituting a more proportionate response to a failure to record CPD, as well as being a desirable step, in the public interest, in encouraging compliance with the Scheme’s requirements. They should also encourage compliance in a more cost-effective way, with consequent benefits for the public, individual members and the profession.

We shall continue to ensure that members are reminded, as the end of the CPD year approaches, of their obligations under the Scheme, and to do what we can to help members ensure they comply with them. If you have any questions on any aspect of the Scheme and, in particular, how it affects your own circumstances, please do not hesitate to contact the profession at cpd_feedback@actuaries.org.uk and we will do our best to assist.