CPD Management System (CPDMS)


The mandatory CPD scheme is a fundamental part the legal profession’s commitment to maintaining high standards and ensuring public confidence in the services delivered by legal practitioners.

To date, the Legal Practice Board (Board) has been reliant on auditing practitioners each year as a way of ensuring that practitioners are complying with their CPD requirements, but also as a way of monitoring CPD provider (including QA providers and providers of approved single activities) compliance.

The Board has been working towards a system that will allow practitioners to more efficiently manage their CPD compliance, as well as providing a more consistent approach for CPD providers to provide information to the Board in relation to the delivery of approved CPD activities.

The CPD Management system (CPDMS) is being implemented to:

  • Allow the Board and the profession to consider the delivery of CPD, ensure there is engagement by the profession, and there is value in the delivery and content of activities focussing on genuine learning and development.

  • Enable a practitioner to easily identify the CPD activities undertaken in a particular CPD period and to ensure compliance with CPD requirements. CPD providers will be relieved of the requirement to issue certificates to practitioners upon completion of CPD.

  • Take a targeted approach to auditing CPD activities and compliance with a view to understand the nature of the profession’s compliance with CPD requirements and offer early support to those members of the profession who are in danger of not satisfying the annual requirement.

  • Assess the types of CPD activities being delivered to practitioners, track relevant trends, including courses offered and courses attended, and assess the future needs of the profession.

  • Provide feedback to the CPD providers on areas of emerging risk and to consider the value of including more effective CPD being provided across all areas of practice.

The above objectives will assist the Board’s strategic focus to be an effective, efficient and innovative leader in the regulation of legal services in Western Australia by:
 
  • Promoting competence, capability, and compliance with professional obligations.

  • Simplifying access to information and providing tools to encourage best practice and promote self-assessment.

  • Enhancing our collaborative relationship with stakeholders to promote our mandate, core functions and strategic direction.

  • Being innovative and responsive to change.

  • Using data to support a fully informed community and profession.

  • Carefully managing our resources to maintain capacity.

  • Pursuing innovative process improvements, to better achieve our purpose.

The CPDMS will allow practitioners to access records regarding their CPD compliance from one central point and apply for the approval of single activities.

The CPDMS will enable CPD providers to upload to an electronic database confirmation of completion of approved CPD activities.
From 1 April 2021 it will be mandatory for CPD providers to upload information into the CPDMS.

A practitioner’s compliance with CPD requirements can then be assessed automatically. This will allow the Board to direct its resources to auditing non-compliant practitioners and providers, and to assess the quality of the CPD being provided.

For further information please refer to:
  To access or upload please use the 'Login Now' button and enter your username and password. Once logged in you will see an 'Online Portal' button. Click on this and links for CPD Uploads (CPD Providers only) and CPD Dashboard (For practitioners) will be visible.

A copy of a sample upload file can be downloaded here.