Continuing professional development
Every member carries the same annual requirement: 22 points. 10 are included in the membership fee and provided by HICS: a 6-point HICS core, drawn from the body’s own standards such as the Code and the scope of practice, and at least 4 points of ethics. The other 12 are earned from courses HICS has accredited, or from recognised activities. A member pays the provider for those, and pays HICS nothing to have an accredited course counted.
Why it works this way
HICS provides the part it is the standard-setter for, and includes it in the fee: its own Code and scope, the year's legal changes, and the ethics minimum. A body that let members learn its own rules elsewhere would not know its members had read them. This part it can vouch for, because it wrote it.
The rest is continuing education about practice, not about HICS, and there is no reason HICS should be the only source of it. So the remaining 12 points are earned from an open market of courses HICS has accredited. Members get real choice, providers get a reason to seek accreditation, and no member is tied to a single source for their development.
The requirement
One point is one hour. There is no separate scale by category, and no reduced obligation for experience: a senior counsellor carries the same annual requirement as a newly accredited one.
| Category | Points a year | Of which ethics | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| CategoryHICS Accredited Counsellor (HAC) | Points a year22 | Of which ethics4 minimum | Note10 points included in the fee; 12 from the market. |
| CategoryHICS Accredited Senior Counsellor (HASC) | Points a year22 | Of which ethics4 minimum | Note10 points included in the fee; 12 from the market. |
| CategoryHICS Accredited Supervisor (HAS) | Points a year22 | Of which ethics4 minimum | Note10 points included in the fee; 12 from the market, of which 4 must be supervision-specific. |
The Code of Conduct, the Scope of Practice and its limitations, the duty to refer, and the year's regulatory and legislative updates. This is the standard-setting content of the body itself, and no external course can stand in for it. It is included in the fee and completed with content HICS provides.
At least 4 of the 22 points must be ethics content, in every category. It cannot be met by doing more of something else. HICS provides these points and includes them in the fee.
The rest of the requirement is earned from courses HICS has accredited, or from recognised activities. A member pays the provider for a course as they would anywhere, and pays HICS no fee to have an accredited course counted. A course HICS has not accredited can still be submitted for assessment, for a flat fee.
Up to 4 of the 12 can come from recognised activities instead of a course.
Recognised activities are: peer consultation groups; mentoring less experienced members; being mentored by a more experienced member; structured reflective practice.
The core is checked at renewal, with a defined grace. A member who has not completed the 6 core points by the renewal date receives an urgent notice and one calendar month to complete them; if the core is still incomplete at the end of that month, renewal is blocked. The other renewal requirements carry no grace period.
Where the rest comes from
HICS provides and includes the core and the ethics points. The remaining 12 are earned from the market, and a course counts toward them in one of two ways.
Most are courses HICS has already accredited. The provider submitted the course and carried the cost of accrediting it, so a member pays the provider for the course and pays HICS nothing to have it counted.
A member may also count a course HICS has not accredited. They submit evidence of it, HICS assesses it against the same published standard, and the points are allocated if it passes. Because that assessment is work HICS does rather than the provider, it carries a flat administrative fee, charged once per course and never per point.
What HICS provides
HICS commissions and owns the content it includes in the fee: the core and the ethics points. It covers, at minimum:
[TO CONFIRM: the prescribed module list, and the development cost per module]The prescribed modules are in development, and will be published here as they become available.
HICS is not a training provider and does not intend to become one. It owns the curriculum and contracts its development and delivery, on terms set for the member’s protection.
For training and CPD providers
Any training or CPD provider may apply to have a course accredited for HICS CPD points, against published criteria, assessed by a committee carrying a majority of members unconnected to the provider under assessment. Providers pay an application fee and an annual renewal fee. That fee is what buys the points, so a member pays HICS nothing to have an accredited course counted. A course a provider has not accredited can still count on the member’s own submission, for a flat fee.
What CPD sits alongside
CPD is one of four conditions a member must satisfy each year, alongside supervision, the Code declaration and the fee. Meeting it on its own does not renew a membership.