HCPC courses, for the fifteen professions on the HCPC register, are searched for in two situations: a concern has been raised with the HCPC about your conduct, honesty, records, confidentiality, consent or a boundary with a patient or a colleague, and you need to show what you have done about it before the Investigating Committee meets; or you are planning CPD for renewal and want learning on the standards of conduct, performance and ethics with a certificate you can put in your profile. This guide sets out, from the HCPC's own pages, what the HCPC asks for in a written response and at a hearing, what its CPD standards require, which of our courses fits each kind of concern, and what they cost. Each online course is £79 (£50 with Bulk Buy 10) for 2 CPD hours, online and self-paced, with a dated certificate, and Probity & Ethics is CPD certified and accredited by The CPD Certification Service.
A concern raised with the HCPC?
You have a letter from the HCPC, or your employer has told you a referral is being made, and the question is what the Investigating Committee will see from you. A completed course on the subject of the concern, with a reflection, is one of the "actions you have taken to put things right" that the HCPC invites in your written response. If the concern is about your fitness to practise as a whole, our fitness to practise course works through insight, remediation and the risk of repetition.
Planning HCPC CPD?
The HCPC sets no hours and approves no activities; it audits a random sample of each profession at every renewal and asks for a written profile with evidence. A course on ethics, professionalism, records or boundaries, with a certificate and a note on what changed in your practice, is evidence that fits the five CPD standards.
In short
- The HCPC does not run, approve or endorse CPD courses. Its CPD standards ask for a mixture of relevant learning, a continuous record, and evidence of benefit to your practice and service users.
- After a concern, the HCPC invites a written response within 28 days of sending you the allegation; its own examples of what to include are a timeline, your learning, and the actions you have taken to put things right.
- The CPD course to take is the one on the subject of the concern, with Insight and Reflection for the response itself.
- Each CPD course is £79 (£50 with Bulk Buy 10) for 2 CPD hours with a dated certificate; any 3 CPD courses for £200, 5 for £300 or 10 for £500. All the CPD courses linked from this guide are by Probity & Ethics, written by Dr Shehzad Iqbal.
- Every HCPC remediation course, with the courses grouped by the type of concern, is on one page: HCPC remediation courses.
What the HCPC does with a concern, and where a course fits
The HCPC's page on what its investigation involves sets out the stages. If a concern is within the HCPC's remit at triage, it carries out an initial investigation, gathering information from a number of sources, and it says it tells you when it has commenced an investigation, or as early as it can where that is not possible at once; it may also notify your employer and request information from them. It then assesses the concern against its threshold criteria, "to decide whether the concern, and the information we have gathered, amounts to an allegation that a registrant's fitness to practise may be impaired", taking into account whether the matter could breach the HCPC's standards. If the threshold is not met the case is closed. If it is met, formal allegations are drafted and referred to the Investigating Committee, which decides whether there is a case to answer. Some concerns, "serious violence, sexual offences or serious or sustained dishonesty" among them, meet the threshold at triage and go straight to the Investigating Committee.
The point at which a course matters is the written response. Once the allegation is drafted the HCPC sends it to you with the information it has gathered and invites you to respond in writing within 28 days; you can ask for up to a further 28 days, and beyond that you apply to the Investigating Committee. You do not have to respond, but the HCPC says it "will help the Investigating Committee panel make a decision if they have information from you", and it gives examples of what to include: "a timeline of events that gave rise to the concern, and, if this applies, any learning from the events and any actions you have taken to put things right". A completed course on the subject of the concern is an action you have taken, and your reflection on it is the learning. The HCPC does not pass your response to the person who raised the concern.
If the Investigating Committee finds a case to answer, the case goes to a final hearing before a panel of the Health and Care Professions Tribunal Service: a Conduct and Competence Panel for misconduct, lack of competence, a conviction or caution, or a determination by another regulator; a Health Panel for health cases; an Investigating Panel for an incorrect or fraudulent register entry. The HCPC shares the evidence it will rely on at least 42 days before the hearing and asks for yours at least 28 days before. Our guides to the HCPC fitness to practise stages and an HCPC investigation cover each step in more detail.
Contact your union or professional body, or a solicitor, before you respond. The HCPC says so on its own page for registrants, and a response written with advice, with the evidence of what you have done attached, is read differently from one written in a hurry.
One course, one question: What an HCPC Professionalism Course Covers for HCPC Registrants.
The standards a concern is measured against
The HCPC's standards of conduct, performance and ethics, in force since 1 September 2024, "set out, in general terms, how we expect our registrants to behave", and the HCPC says it uses them "if someone raises a concern about a registrant's practice". There are ten:
Our guide to the HCPC standards explains each one with the conduct that breaches it.
Which HCPC course for which concern
Start from the allegation as the HCPC has drafted it, or from the concern as your employer has described it, and take the course on that subject. Then add the two short courses that are about the response itself.
- Conduct or professionalism (behaviour at work, attitude, social media, a complaint about manner): Professionalism and the Professional Standards for HCPC Regulated Professionals, with Ensuring Professionalism and Boundaries in Use of Social Media where the concern is online.
- Honesty (a false record, a claim, a CV, a timesheet, a conviction not declared): Probity for Healthcare Professionals. The HCPC names "serious or sustained dishonesty" among the concerns that go straight to the Investigating Committee, so this is the concern where showing insight early matters. Whether the course is enough on its own, and what to send with it, is in Is an HCPC Probity Course Enough for an Honesty Concern?.
- A boundary with a patient or a colleague (a relationship, a dual relationship, contact outside work, a gift): Ethical Boundaries with Patients and Colleagues or Professional Boundaries for Clinicians.
- Records (late, missing, altered or inaccurate notes): Professionalism in Documentation for Healthcare Professionals.
- Confidentiality (a disclosure, a lost device, a message to the wrong person, a look at a record you had no reason to open): Ensuring Confidentiality in Healthcare Practice.
- Consent, privacy or a chaperone: Privacy, Consent and Chaperone in Healthcare Practice.
- Candour (not being open after something went wrong): Duty of Candour in Healthcare Practice.
- Competence or patient safety: Ensuring Clinical Competence and Patient Safety.
- For the response itself: Module on Insight, Module on Reflection and How to Deal with a Complaint or Investigation; and, where the Investigating Committee or a panel has asked what will stop it happening again, How to Ensure a Similar Mistake or Misconduct Will Not Be Repeated.
If you are not sure, our chooser page Which course do I need? asks three questions and names the course.
HCPC CPD: what the standards ask for
The HCPC's CPD page is plain about what it does not do: "We do not set a number of hours or points that you have to complete and we do not 'approve' or 'endorse' any CPD activities." A search for HCPC accredited courses therefore finds no list, because there is none. What the HCPC does ask is set out in its five standards of continuing professional development. A registrant must:
- maintain a continuous, up-to-date and accurate record of their CPD activities;
- demonstrate that their CPD activities are a mixture of learning activities relevant to current or future practice;
- seek to ensure that their CPD has contributed to the quality of their practice and service delivery;
- seek to ensure that their CPD benefits the service user;
- upon request, present a written profile, their own work and supported by evidence, explaining how they have met the standards.
The HCPC says CPD "is any activity from which you learn and develop, not just course attendance", that it audits a random sample of each profession at every renewal, and that if you are audited it asks for the activities from the past two years and the evidence for them. An online course on the standards of conduct, performance and ethics fits the second standard as one kind of activity among others, and the certificate, the course outline and a short note on what you changed in your practice are the evidence for the third and fourth. The same note is the reflection the Investigating Committee reads if a concern is ever raised.
Our HCPC courses and the Bulk Buy offer
Two courses are written for the HCPC register as a whole, to the standards of conduct, performance and ethics; the topic courses below cover the subject of a particular concern. Every course is online, self-paced, 2 CPD hours, with a dated certificate that records the course title, the hours and the date.
Written to the standards of conduct, performance and ethics
Ethics and Ethical Standards for HCPC Regulated Health and Care Professionals
Service users' interests, consent, confidentiality, honesty, candour, boundaries with a patient or a colleague, and record keeping, each tied to the HCPC standard it comes from.
- £79 (£50 with Bulk Buy 10)
- 2 CPD hours
- Certificate on completion
Courses that work alongside them
The Bulk Buy offer is any 3 courses for £200, 5 for £300 or 10 for £500, so a registrant answering a concern can take the subject course with How to Deal with a Complaint or Investigation in one order, and a department can cover its CPD on the standards in one order. The two short modules, Module on Insight and Module on Reflection, are £49 each for 1.5 CPD hours and count towards the Bulk Buy packages. Not sure where to start? Book a free 15-minute call with Dr Shehzad Iqbal.
Related guides: the HCPC fitness to practise stages, an HCPC investigation, the HCPC standards and professionalism course for healthcare professionals.
Guides that help
The CPD courses linked from this guide, Fitness to Practise for Healthcare Professionals, Ethics and Ethical Standards for HCPC Regulated Health & Care Professionals, Ethical Boundaries with Patients and Colleagues and Ensuring Effective Communication as Healthcare Professionals, are by Probity & Ethics, written by Dr Shehzad Iqbal, CPD certified and accredited by The CPD Certification Service (provider no. 13197) and offered since 2020.
Key Takeaways
- Which course should I take for an HCPC complaint or investigation? Match the course to the allegation — Which course do I need? lists them by concern; for HCPC registrants, the HCPC ethics and HCPC professionalism courses follow the HCPC standards of conduct, performance and ethics.
- Will a course help my HCPC investigation? A course is evidence of insight and remediation, which the HCPC case examiners or Investigating Committee look for — strongest with a written reflection and changes in your practice. No course can guarantee an outcome.
- When should I send the certificate and reflection to the HCPC? With your written response, before the HCPC case examiners or Investigating Committee decide — or before an HCPC final hearing or a review if the case has gone further.
- Can I finish the course before my deadline, and is it CPD accredited? Yes — it is online and self-paced with a certificate on completion, and CPD certified and accredited by The CPD Certification Service, counting towards your HCPC CPD record.
Frequently asked questions
What is an HCPC remediation course?
An HCPC remediation course is an online course on the subject of a concern raised with the HCPC, such as honesty, record keeping, confidentiality, consent or a boundary with a patient or a colleague, completed to show the Investigating Committee or a panel that you understand the concern and have changed your practice. Ours are £79 (£50 with Bulk Buy 10) for 2 CPD hours, self-paced, with a dated certificate for your written response and your CPD profile, CPD accredited and certified by The CPD Certification Service. The HCPC does not approve or endorse any course; what matters is that it answers the concern.
What are HCPC courses?
They are courses written for the professions on the HCPC register, such as paramedics, physiotherapists, occupational therapists, radiographers, operating department practitioners, dietitians, speech and language therapists, biomedical scientists and practitioner psychologists. Ours are online remediation courses on ethics, professionalism, boundaries, honesty, records, confidentiality, consent and communication, each written against the HCPC's standards of conduct, performance and ethics, used after a fitness to practise concern and recorded as CPD. They are not run by the HCPC: the HCPC is the regulator, and it says it does not approve or endorse any CPD activity.
Does the HCPC approve or accredit CPD courses?
No. The HCPC's own CPD page says it does not set a number of hours or points and does not 'approve' or 'endorse' any CPD activities. It asks registrants to identify their development needs, choose activities to meet them, keep a record, and show at audit how the learning has benefited their practice and service users. So a search for HCPC accredited courses finds no such list; what matters is that the course is relevant to your practice and that you can show its benefit.
Which course should I take after an HCPC fitness to practise concern?
The one on the subject of the concern. For a concern about conduct or professionalism, Professionalism and the Professional Standards for HCPC Regulated Health and Care Professionals; for honesty, Probity for Healthcare Professionals; for a boundary with a patient or a colleague, Ethical Boundaries with Patients and Colleagues; for records, Professionalism in Documentation; for confidentiality, Ensuring Confidentiality in Healthcare Practice; for consent, Privacy, Consent and Chaperone. Add Module on Insight and Module on Reflection for the response itself. Our chooser page, Which course do I need, walks through it.
How do I use a course in my response to the HCPC?
The HCPC invites a written response within 28 days of sending you the allegation, and its own examples of what to include are a timeline of events, any learning from the events, and any actions you have taken to put things right. A completed course is one of those actions: attach the dated certificate, name the standard the course addressed, and add a short reflection on what you now do differently. Take advice from your union, professional body or a solicitor before you send it.
What does the HCPC's threshold mean for my case?
After its initial investigation the HCPC assesses the concern against its threshold criteria to decide whether it amounts to an allegation that your fitness to practise may be impaired, taking into account whether the matter could breach the HCPC's standards. If the threshold is not met, the case is closed with no further action. If it is met, formal allegations are drafted and referred to the Investigating Committee, which decides whether there is a case to answer. Serious concerns, such as serious violence, sexual offences or serious or sustained dishonesty, go straight to the Investigating Committee from triage.
Can the same course count as CPD for my HCPC renewal?
Yes. The HCPC says CPD is any activity from which you learn and develop, that it should be a mixture of activities relevant to your practice, and that you must keep a continuous, accurate record and, if audited, present a written profile with evidence from the past two years. A 2-hour online course with a dated certificate and your note on how it changed your practice meets that description, whether you took it after a concern or as part of your development plan.
How much do your HCPC courses cost?
Each online course is £79 (£50 with Bulk Buy 10) for 2 CPD hours, online and self-paced, with a dated certificate on completion. The Bulk Buy offer is any 3 courses for £200, 5 for £300 or 10 for £500. The two short modules, Module on Insight and Module on Reflection, are £49 each for 1.5 CPD hours and count towards the Bulk Buy packages. Probity and Ethics is CPD certified and accredited by The CPD Certification Service.
Sources
This guide is based on the following HCPC pages, checked on 27 October 2026.
