Social Work England CPD: a reflective record example

What Social Work England asks you to record for CPD, how peer reflection works, and a worked example.

What Social Work England asks for

To renew your registration each year, you must record your continuing professional development on your Social Work England online account. You need to record at least two pieces of CPD during the year, and at least one of them must include a reflection with a peer.

A sample of social workers is asked to submit their CPD for review each year, so it is worth recording as you go rather than in a rush at renewal.

What counts as CPD

CPD is anything that develops your practice. It does not have to be a formal course.

Training, courses or webinars.
Reading, research or reviewing guidance.
Learning from a case, a piece of feedback or supervision.
Shadowing, mentoring or a reflective discussion.

What matters is not the activity itself but what you learned and how it changed your practice.

What to include in a CPD record

What the activity was, briefly.
What you learned from it.
How it has changed, or will change, your practice and the people you support.
For at least one entry: your peer reflection, described below.

The peer reflection requirement

At least one of your CPD records each year must include reflection with a peer. This means you discuss a piece of your CPD with another person, often a colleague or fellow social worker, and record what came out of that conversation: what they added, what you saw differently, and how it shaped your practice.

You are not being marked on the discussion. You are showing that you tested your learning against another person’s view rather than keeping it to yourself.

A worked example

What the CPD was: I completed a half-day course on the Mental Capacity Act and then read the updated local safeguarding guidance that came with it. I chose it because a recent case had left me unsure whether I had judged capacity on a decision-by-decision basis or had drifted into a blanket assumption.

What I learned: capacity is decision-specific and time-specific, and a person is not to be treated as unable to make a decision just because it looks unwise. I realised I had been recording capacity as a single overall judgement rather than tying it to the particular decision in front of the person, and I understood more clearly the line between an unwise decision and one a person genuinely lacks the capacity to make.

How my practice changed: soon afterwards I worked with an older man, Mr A (details changed), who wanted to return home after a hospital stay against the ward’s advice. Before, I might have led with the risks. Instead I assessed his capacity for that specific decision, at that time, and recorded my reasoning against each part of the functional test. He could understand, retain and weigh the information and communicate his decision, so I supported his choice and arranged a package of care to reduce the risks he had accepted. I made sure his voice, and not only the professionals’ concerns, was central to both the meeting and the record.

Peer reflection: I discussed the case with a colleague in the hospital team. She challenged me on whether I had genuinely offered all practicable support before assessing capacity, or had assumed it. That was fair. I had not documented the communication aids I offered him. I have since added that to my recording, so the support given is visible and not just the conclusion I reached.

How this evidences the Social Work England professional standards:

Standard 1, promote the rights, strengths and wellbeing of people: I kept Mr A’s wishes and strengths central rather than defaulting to a risk-led decision made for him.
Standard 3, be accountable for the quality of my practice and the decisions I make: I recorded clear, decision-specific reasoning against the functional test that I can stand behind if it is reviewed.
Standard 4, maintain my continuing professional development: I identified a real gap from my own casework, addressed it through the course and reading, and applied the learning straight away.
Standard 5, act safely, respectfully and with professional integrity: I balanced the man’s autonomy with a proportionate plan for the risks he had chosen to accept, rather than overriding him for safety alone.

Keep it anonymous

Do not include anything that could identify a person, a family or a colleague in your CPD record. Remove names, places and identifying detail, and reflect on what you learned rather than on who was involved.

Record your CPD by speaking

ReflectReady has a Social Work England template. You say what happened, including your peer reflection, in your own words, and it sorts them under the headings ready to read, edit and keep for your renewal. The AI only sorts your words, it never writes them, and it helps you keep the record anonymous. Free to try.

Sources: Social Work England: CPD guidance.