CPD frequently asked questions

If you hold a building or pool building licence or certificate as an individual, you are required to do CPD.

If you want to keep your licence or certificate you must do CPD.

Yes, if you want to keep your licence or certificate you must do CPD. This means you will keep up-to-date with new products, systems and technologies as well as legal responsibilities both for your benefit and the benefit of your consumers.

As long as you want to keep your licence or certificate, you must do CPD.

Yes, if you want to keep your licence or certificate you are required to do CPD.

Yes, and each case is assessed on its own merits. The circumstances for granting exemptions are limited and in most cases relate to serious illness or misadventure at the time of your renewal application. Go to the record keeping page for more information.

You must keep a diary record of your CPD activities, along with evidence whenever possible, such as a certificate, academic record or attendance record or a receipt if you purchase or hire learning resources. If you are audited by Fair Trading you can then prove that you complied with the CPD requirements.

The training provider or organiser should provide a standard record of attendance document. You should also keep a note of the details of the session in your CPD diary. In addition, documents such as a Statement of Attainment or Certificate issued by a registered training organisation are also relevant.

You should ask the training provider or organiser to provide this information. If they are unwilling or unable to provide sufficient evidence and the activity was promoted as a CPD activity, contact Fair Trading on 13 32 20.

You should make a diary record of the name of the video, the subject matter, the length and the date you watched it.

No. It’s your responsibility to keep records of your CPD. These should be retained for three licence renewal periods just in case you are audited by Fair Trading.

You must complete all CPD requirements by the renewal date of your licence or certificate.

You declare in your licence or certificate of registration renewal that you have completed CPD requirements. Fair Trading audits these declarations by the following methods:

• requesting that you supply your supporting documents, receipts, academic transcripts etc
• cross checking this information with training providers.

Audits are conducted on both a regular and random basis.

The Home Building Act states that CPD must be completed before an application for renewal or restoration of a licence or certificate will be approved. If you do not comply with the CPD requirements Fair Trading may refuse your application until you have completed the points. Go to the record keeping page for further information.

Fair Trading may cancel a licence or certificate. In certain circumstances disciplinary action can also be taken. It’s a criminal offence under the Crimes Act 1900 to deliberately make a false of misleading statement on your application for renewal or restoration of your licence or certificate.

CPD topics are listed on the keeping you up to date page. There are a wide range of areas to choose from. In future years there may also be certain compulsory topics that you will have to cover as part of your CPD.

If a compulsory topic is chosen for CPD it will be published broadly and you’ll also be notified by Fair Trading.

Yes, this training can be included in your CPD, as long as it falls within the topic areas. It will usually earn one point per hour. If the training is delivered by a Registered Training Organisation and forms part of a qualification from a national Training Package, and includes assessment, it will earn two CPD points per hour.

No. There are a range of other types of learning activities that can count towards your CPD points, in addition to traditional face-to-face training courses. These include, attending conferences, forums and workshops, on-the-job training, internet based training and watching videos. Some registered training providers offer regional CPD courses and various industry bodies and training providers provide training via flexible delivery (correspondence/online content).

The CPD requirements are very flexible and allow a wide range of learning activities besides training courses, to count towards CPD points. For example, on-the-job learning, attending conferences and seminars, watching training videos and online learning can all count as CPD. The special needs of the industry were taken into consideration when the  Guidelines were developed.

You can participate in other learning activities besides face-to-face training to gain your CPD points, such as web-based learning, watching videos/DVDs and correspondence courses.

The training.gov.au website is Australia’s vocational education and training database. It provides a search and browse function that allows users to find specific Training Packages, Qualifications, Courses, Units of Competency and Registered Training Organisations (RTOs) that provide training in one or many states.