OT  CPD: frequently asked questions answered

CPD is the education scheme that was launched by the GOC on 1 January, 2022, which all registrants must complete in order to remain on the regulator’s register and therefore legally practice in the UK. It replaced CET. Click here to read more about the requirements of the CPD cycle.

The current CPD cycle started on 1 January 2022 and runs for a three-year period, ending 31 December 2024. A new CPD cycle will begin on 1 January 2025 and will run for three years ending 31 December 2027.

On 1 January 2022, the GOC launched the new three-year education cycle and moved to CPD. This replaced past CET requirements. New changes included a mandatory Personal development plan (PDP), a mandatory Reflective exercise, registrants uploading their own CPD points, and a range of domains to meet. For more information on the new CPD requirements for registrants, including a breakdown of the points required by different registrants, read the AOP’s A guide to obtaining your CPD points page.

Each GOC CPD cycle is three years. The current CPD cycle runs 1 January 2022 to 31 December 2024. The next CPD cycle will run from 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2027. For more information, visit the GOC website.

Domains refer to the different areas of practice that you need to cover throughout your CPD in each three-year cycle. There are four core domains which must be covered by all registrants: Clinical practice, Communication, Leadership and accountability, and Professionalism. All registrants must complete at least one CPD activity in each of the four core domains. Specialty optometrists and contact lens opticians must also meet the requirements of a Specialty domain. For more information on the CPD requirements for registrants, please read the AOP’s A guide to obtaining your CPD points page.

This is the type of point a CPD exam/event is accredited for by the GOC. The GOC’s CPD requirements state that at least 18 points in each cycle must be interactive. Interactive CPD is designed to help registrants learn alongside their peers and involves either physical attendance with others, such as lectures, workshops or peer review events, or distance learning which includes an element of interaction with others.

When you pass a CPD exam with OT, we will create a certificate for you that can be found in your ‘MyAOP/OT CPD.’ You can download your certificate here. This can be used as evidence when declaring your points on your ‘MyGOC, MyCPD.’ Similarly, when you attend an AOP event, a certificate will be created within 10 working days of attendance and can be found in your ‘MyAOP/Events.’

Following registrant-led or provider-led peer review and for self-directed CPD, registrants need to complete a Reflection statement within the GOC’s ‘MyGOC, MyCPD’ section of the website to capture the learning covered in the session.

Before you can declare any CPD points on your ‘MyGOC, MyCPD’ platform with the regulator, you will need to fill in a Personal development plan (PDP). If you have completed your PDP and are still experiencing problems, please contact the GOC.

As part of the CPD education cycle, registrants must upload a Personal development plan (PDP) when logging into the GOC portal for the first time and before you can upload CPD points. Your PDP must contain learning outcomes, how and when you plan to achieve them, and why they are important. Your PDP should demonstrate maintenance of your core skills and may also anticipate changes to evolving areas of practice.You may update your PDP later in the CPD cycle if your interests develop or the scope of your practice changes. You can see an example PDP here.

All registrants are required to reflect on their learnings towards the end of a three-year education cycle. You should do this with a peer and declare this on your MyCPD on the GOC’s website. The GOC has recently released a Reflective exercise template for registrants to use. OT has also produced an advice video on completing your Reflective exercise that can be watched on our website.

For more information on the new CPD requirements for registrants, read the AOP’s A guide to obtaining your CPD points page.

As part of the GOC’s CPD requirements, all registrants must complete at least one peer review activity per cycle and complete a Reflection statement afterwards. Both optometrists and dispensing opticians count as peers of each other for the purposes of the peer review exercise. If you hold specialty registration (AS/SP/IP) or a contact lens optician specialty, you must undertake at least one peer review with peers holding the same specialty.

A peer review involves discussing and reflecting on case scenarios with your peers. There are two types of peer review: a registrant-led and a provider-led peer review. A registrant-led peer review consists of an activity where one registrant takes the role of leader, and a small group discusses their own anonymised cases. See Setting up a peer review group. Provider-led peer review requires registrants to review specific cases or topics in advance by a CPD provider, often in a larger group led by facilitators, with delegates split into smaller discussion groups.

The GOC may make alterations to CPD requirements for the next cycle, which will run from 2025–2027. OT is currently not aware of any planned changes, but AOP members and OT subscribers will be notified if any changes are to be made.

Visit OT’s CPD listing page for all exams that are currently live. More exams are released monthly. If you are an AOP member, visit the Events and education page on the AOP website for an up-to-date list of CPD available. Please note, OT will close all of its CPD exams on 29 December. The last AOP CPD event will be held on 5 December.

OT CPD exams can be found in the CPD and education area of our website. The AOP also provides a range of CPD education for members, delivered through its Events team. This includes:

• Themed webinar days
• Peer reviews and discussion workshops
• Professional development courses
• Locum Clinical Skills Conferences
• A career break event
• The Hospital and Specialty Optometrists Conference
• Online and in-person partnered events with industry such as Johnson & Johnson Vision, Alcon, CooperVision and Moorfields Private Eye Hospital.

You can learn more about AOP events here.

OT’s CPD is currently only available to AOP members and OT subscribers. To take OT CPD you can either subscribe to OT or join the AOP.

For support on logging into our website, please visit our Logging in FAQs. 

We release new CPD exams every month. Please check back on our website soon.

OT will release its 2024 CPD Survival Pack, containing seven CPD exams (including one interactive CPD video exam), in autumn 2024. This pack is designed to support AOP members and OT subscribers through the final hurdle of the CPD cycle by providing additional opportunities to earn CPD points covering all four core domains. The first six exams will be released on 14 September, with the video exam following on 2 November. All Survival Pack exams will be open until 29 December. It will be available in the CPD and education area of the OT website. 

The closing dates for all live OT CPD exams, including articles, clinical interpretation and videos, can be viewed on OT's CPD listing page on its website.

If you have failed a CPD exam provided by OT, you can retake it once more in an attempt to gain a CPD point/s.

To view a list of all CPD you have taken with OT, including passed, failed and incomplete, log in and navigate to the ‘MyAOP/OT CPD’ area on our website, where you will find a list that can be filtered by date.

If you have taken and passed a CPD exam with OT, you can download your certificate on our website under the ‘OT CPD’ tab in your MyAOP. Please log in and navigate to the ‘MyAOP/OT CPD’ area.

If you have completed an OT CPD exam and passed, your certificate will be automatically available in the ‘MyAOP, OT CPD’ area on the OT website. If you have attended an AOP event, you will be notified via email within 10 working days that your certificate is ready to download from the ‘MyAOP, AOP Events’ area on the AOP website. If you have not received a certificate after this time period, email the AOP’s events team.

In the current CPD education scheme, the GOC has stated that it is the responsibility of the registrant to upload and declare their CPD points. Therefore, we no longer upload points to your ‘MyGOC, MyCPD’ account. Please log in to your ‘MyGOC, MyCPD’ account to declare your points. You can watch OT’s video detailing how to do that.

The easiest way to locate the CPD you need is to add the six-digit CPD reference number detailed on your certificate to the first search field on the GOC’s ‘MyGOC, MyCPD’ website, while leaving all other search fields empty.

Past CET and CPD articles and exams, dating back to October 2015, can be found in the Education library on the OT website. You can search the Education Library for what you are looking for via a keyword search, date or topic. Unfortunately, we no longer hold articles that were published before October 2015.

The answers to CPD exams will be available online, in OT’s Education library once the exam has closed. If you have taken an exam, passed or failed, a link to the answers will be emailed to you by OT.

OT CPD is provider-led, as OT and the AOP is a GOC-registered CPD provider. Self-directed CPD is learning from sources other than a GOC-registered CPD provider. You can undertake self-directed CPD if you wish to do so as long as you obtain at least 18 points during the cycle from a CPD provider.

Self-directed CPD must be relevant to your scope of practice and needs to be logged on your ‘MyGOC, MyCPD’ with evidence of completion along with a short, written reflection statement explaining why it is relevant to your scope of practice.

OT’s CPD Videos offer interactive CPD points. We release six interactive CPD videos a year. Additionally, if you are an AOP member, visit the Events and webinars page for more details on the education that is available, which may include content accredited for interactive CPD points.

You can search and check this on the GOC’s website when logged in to your ‘MyGOC, MyCPD.’ Alternatively, visit OT’s CPD homepage for details of exams being released the following month.

Visit the OT CPD listing page to view the latest CPD available, including exams accredited for specialty optometrists and contact lens opticians. If you are an AOP member, you can also visit the Events and education page of the AOP website to see what CPD is available for specialty optometrists and contact lens opticians.

OT does not currently offer peer review. However, if you are an AOP member, visit the Events and webinars page for more details on the education that is available, which may include online peer reviews.

Firstly read the GOC’s guidance about the PDP. At the start of the current CPD cycle, in 2022, OT’s clinical editor and AOP head of education, Dr Ian Beasley, shared insight into his PDP, which can be found here. During the CPD cycle, OT has shared advice from the GOC on completing your PDP, which can be read here.

Firstly read the GOC’s guidance about the Reflective exercise. OT has produced an advice video on the Reflective exercise, which can be watched on our website.

The GOC has an exceptions policy for you to consider, which can be read here. Before progressing, read the AOP’s advice on this policy, and contact the AOP’s professional discipline team with any questions by email.

If the audit is currently underway, keep an eye on your emails and your ‘MyGOC, MyCPD’ account for any messages from the record reviewer. If the audit has been completed and you need advice, speak to the AOP’s legal and regulation team.

For guidance on CET/CPD claims, visit the AOP’s advice page.