Continuing professional development (CPD)

Guidance on how to get the most from CPD.

First published

10 November 2020

Updated

28 August 2026

Written by College of Policing

Definition

Continuing professional development (CPD) in policing is an essential part of professional development review (PDR) conversations and people processes. It is ongoing, formal or informal, learning and development. CPD enables you to maintain and enhance the skills, knowledge and experience you need to be confident and competent in your role.

In the context of this definition, “maintaining” covers individuals taking responsibility to ensure they:

remain competent and effective in their roles
keep their knowledge and skills up to date, in line with any changes to legislation or practice advancements and in line with existing national standards

In the definition of CPD provided, “enhancing” emphasises that the purpose of CPD activity should not be restricted to maintaining current competence. CPD supports lifelong learning and is a commitment to seeking to improve competence, whether this is:

within the scope of an existing role
for lateral progression
for vertical progression (including promotion)

Effective CPD is:

a joint responsibility, with you and your force working together to support your development
a balance between your needs and ambitions and the requirements of the organisation
support to ensure you remain professionally skilled through a process that recognises and builds on existing competence
having a positive effect and impact on your professional practice

In a dynamic working environment, CPD contributes to:

helping individuals adapt to change
enhancing role satisfaction
promoting a culture of continuing learning and development
equipping individuals to be confident and competent in undertaking their role

CPD also includes training or learning activities in a wide range of formal or informal ways, aimed at fostering the highest personal and professional standards.

There is further information on the types of CPD and how to get the most out of them available in our downloadable CPD guidance.

CPD model

We've developed a CPD model to:

help explain how CPD works
give you a framework on which to base your activities
highlight how you record your activity as part of a PDR process to help get the most out of your CPD
underpin the need to implement learning, consider the impact and share good practice
promote self-awareness to support professional development

The model involves a cycle of:

self-awareness – of skills, knowledge and competence required and achieved
planning – opportunities and methods for maintaining and developing competence, through PDR conversations
development – undertaking development, implementing and applying learning and knowledge into everyday practice
review – reviewing the effect, the impact and further opportunities for development

Self-awareness

This stage gives you the opportunity to think about:

how you are doing
where you are going in your career
what skills, knowledge, experience or competencies would help you in reaching your goals

Development needs can be identified in various ways:

Using a reflective approach, enabling you to structure thoughts around your current situation and consider what you might be able to change or develop.
Your force may have coaching and/or mentoring sessions that are designed to help you identify your current development needs or career goals.
Exploring the policing professional profiles (PPP). These can assist in identifying different roles in policing and what development may be required to undertake them.

Planning

This stage focuses on combining personal reflections with career advice. This enables clear and achievable objectives to be identified as part of the PDR conversation.

During a PDR conversation, you and your line manager should think about:

ensuring that objectives are relevant, agreed, specific, clearly identified with measures of success, realistic and achievable
taking time to discuss achievements, development opportunities, CPD available and how to use CPD within daily work practices
whether attending an external institution, such as a university or college, would be appropriate to gain formal recognition and transferable qualifications
arranging a secondment or shadowing opportunity in another area of the force or volunteering to lead a project or task, as appropriate

Development

This is the stage in the model where identified development opportunities are undertaken. These could be:

formal development opportunities, such as training courses
informal opportunities, such as watching a role-related video on YouTube, reading, completing self-study or having a professionally focused conversation with a colleague

A lot of learning and development opportunities happen in the workplace and are likely to be ‘informal learning’ activities. It is important to focus on an approach that best suits your circumstances, time and available resources.

You should keep a record of what you have learned, to inform your PDR conversation and consider how to apply the learning in your practice.

Review

This stage of the model is where the knowledge and skills gained from CPD activity are put into practice. Reflection helps developmental activities be more effective. It encourages you to consider what impact the learning has had on your professional practice.

Putting learning into practice is about finding the appropriate opportunity. It is important to think about the following:

Discussing what has been learned with a line manager and colleagues, highlighting the need for an opportunity to use knowledge or skills in practice.
Working with your line manager to help plan future work. This may be looking at a specialist deployment or working on another project.
Cascading learning in a training session or workshop for colleagues. Sharing knowledge and skills will help consolidate learning and help further development.
Recording the process of what was undertaken and the impact it had.

Remember that it can take time to see the effects of learning on professional practice.

There is a list of questions that may be helpful to reflect on in this stage available in our downloadable CPD guidance.

CPD guidance

We've created core guidance to help forces enhance and further embed good practice for CPD. It includes further information on the CPD model, types of CPD and additional resources.

Go to CPD guidance

Related resources

To decide on the next steps in your development you can: