How many CPD hours do UK electricians need per year?
The number most electricians have heard is 30 hours a year. It is a scheme benchmark rather than a legal minimum, and understanding the difference saves a lot of anxiety before an assessment.
Updated 2026-08-16
Where the 30-hour figure comes from
Competent person scheme guidance, including NICEIC's, points at roughly 30 hours of relevant development per year for a qualified supervisor. NAPIT and other operators use comparable expectations. No Act of Parliament states a number.
Treat 30 hours as the level at which an assessor stops asking follow-up questions, not as a threshold that makes you non-compliant if you land at 26.
What a realistic year looks like
Most electricians reach the benchmark with one substantial course plus routine smaller activity.
- · One accredited course: 14 to 40 hours depending on the subject
- · Manufacturer and wholesaler training: 2 to 6 hours
- · Regulation update reading and amendments: 3 to 8 hours
- · Technical webinars and trade events: 2 to 5 hours
Quality beats quantity at assessment
Assessors ask what changed in your practice. Ten well-documented hours that visibly altered how you specify surge protection carry more weight than forty hours of attendance certificates with no reflection attached.
Planning it without losing billable days
Split the year: one formal qualification booked into a quieter month, then short online units in the evenings. Certi Academy units are built in 20 to 40 minute blocks precisely so the hours accumulate without clearing a diary.