Someone has shown us an Open CPD certificate. What is it, and what do we do with it?
The short answer
An Open CPD certificate is a verifiable record that a learner completed a piece of training, issued by the training provider in its own name. Open CPD sits alongside your approval process, so your criteria, your CPD hour values and your register stay entirely yours. What the certificate adds is a named, dated record, stated in outcomes, that you can check online in seconds.
What you are looking at
Each certificate names the learner, the provider, the learning outcomes, the skills and the CPD hours. It carries a unique Open CPD ID and a permanent record that stays exactly as it was issued. Anyone can check it online with no login, and no personal details are shown.
How to check one
Enter the certificate ID on the verification page, or follow the link on the certificate or on the learner’s public achievement page. You see the same record the learner holds.
What stays with you
- Your approval criteria, and every decision on providers and programmes.
- The CPD hour values, set on your own methodology.
- Your register of approved providers and programmes.
- Your code of conduct, and how you apply it.
Open CPD is not an extra accreditation layer. It is technology that takes care of what happens once a course is finished, so the standards you set are easier for everyone to see.
Where a provider shows your approval
Providers are encouraged to show the approval they hold, because it is in their interest. It goes in two places, both public: the provider’s profile and, for a specific course, the course’s additional information. A provider can also add your badge or an image of its choice.
It is optional, because many providers have no need of it, and we show providers where to put it. Providers add the approval, and any reference number, in the general text fields. Open CPD works with many different bodies, and each words its approval in its own way.
How it fits alongside your process
- You approve the provider and the programme, exactly as you do today.
- The provider delivers the approved training to its learners.
- The provider issues certificates and badges through Open CPD.
- Everyone verifies. Learners share their certificates, and anyone can check them online.
What this gives a professional body
Evidence your members can produce
A named, dated record, stated in outcomes, ready for audit or a competence register.
Confidence in what is presented
A certificate anyone can check online is quick to confirm and carries its own proof.
Clearer applications
Providers set out each programme as aims, skills and outcomes, a consistent structure that is easy to review.
Visibility for your brand
Certificates can be co-branded, with your name and logo beside the provider’s own.
How providers describe it
Providers say their training is accredited through Open CPD or powered by Open CPD, and that every certificate can be verified online. Open CPD provides the system. The standards, and any approval, belong to you and the provider, so providers describe your approval only where you have given it.
This is a firm line, set out in our terms and conditions (the full terms are published too). Every provider agrees to it, and Open CPD takes it seriously: where wording strays beyond it, certificates can be invalidated, and Open CPD acts wherever misuse comes to light. The result is that the same words mean the same thing wherever you meet them.
Support for the providers you approve
Open CPD helps providers get their courses ready, which makes applications to you clearer from the start.
Check one yourself
This is a real certificate issued by a demonstration provider, Riverbank Training Ltd, and the verification page checks any certificate ID.
Common questions
How does Open CPD fit with a professional body's approval process?
Open CPD provides the system for recording and verifying training. Providers set and publish their own standards, and approval stays with the professional body and the provider.
Can a provider show our approval?
Yes, if it chooses to. A provider can state it in its public provider profile and, for a specific course, in the course's additional information, and can add the body's badge or an image. It is optional, because it does not apply to every provider. There is no dedicated approval-reference field: providers add the approval, and any reference number, in the general text fields, because Open CPD works with many different bodies and each words its approval differently.
Can certificates carry our branding?
Yes. Certificates can be co-branded, with a partner name and logo beside the provider's own.
Is the record permanent?
Yes. Every certificate has a permanent record that cannot be altered after it is issued, and anyone can check it online with no login.
What does it cost a provider?
Providers start with a free 7-day trial, then pay as they go with no long-term commitment. Current pricing is on the Open CPD pricing page.
This is what your profile could look like
Every Open CPD provider gets a public profile page. It is part of your marketing: you can share it, anyone can check it, and every certificate you issue links back to it. The one below belongs to Riverbank Training Ltd, our demo company.
See it working in 15 minutes
Book a short demo and we will show you a certificate, the verification page and where a provider shows your approval.