Northgate CPD Requirements for DEAs and Course Providers

How many hours of CPD does your accreditation scheme require from members?

20 hours.

Given that all first year DEAs will have spent considerable time training, qualifying and learning on-the-job, do they still need to complete their full CPD quota this year?

Yes we would expect the full quota to have been achieved. We firmly believe that the first year is actually the most important as DEAs will encounter many issues associated with the use of RdSAP, mobile devices, lodgement processes and many of the “softer” skills around dealing with clients, health and safety and so on.

These things need to be addressed to ensure that the DEA can continue to work effectively. We should point out that CPD is not necessarily a chargeable course – many free energy-related seminars and government sponsored events can count.

Also Northgate has provided CPD materials free of charge (e.g. the sampling method for social housing which counted for 5 hours CPD). 

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Can your members attend courses given by external third-parties, or must they attend your own in-house offerings?

Yes, Third party courses are accepted – indeed the majority of CPD is provided by Northgate accredited 3rd parties (our DEA members’ area has details of these).

Our CPD is not just restricted to formal courses either: Attendance at seminars provided by professional bodies, government departments and even talks given by more experienced energy assessors / home inspectors can count towards CPD, providing they are approved in advance by our CPD officer. An example is that recently a group of Northgate DEAs in the South West arranged for an expert on thatched roofs to give a talk and this was approved by our CPD team. 

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Do CPD courses need to be pre-approved by your scheme to be recognised?

Preferably but in a number of special cases we have granted approval post attendance, but we would normally expect to pre-approve as we don’t want our members to attend events unnecessarily.

What guidance can you give to your members as to whether a course is worth attending, and how can they determine how much CPD credit you will award, before attending?

We have an application form for this purpose on our website. Any DEA can submit a potential CPD event for approval and we will assess each one on its merits and agree the CPD hours accruing.

We also have links to some external (pre approved) courses / events on our website and this list is growing as we approve more and more elements. 

Are there any advertising guidelines that course providers should adhere to and DEAs should look out for to ensure the course is legitimate? For instance: should the advertisement quote something like: "This course is approved by Quidos"; "This course awards 3 CPD credits" etc...)?

We are establishing these and you can expect to see materials appearing with “Northgate approved” endorsement over the coming year. Our DEA members’ website will also contain details of these so they can be cross-checked. 

Is there a cost for submitting course material for review?

This service is covered by the membership fees for the scheme for our DEA members so there will be no direct charge to our members for submission. We will have commercial arrangements in place with training providers which are outside of this. 

How long does the review take?

We would like to know about an event at least a week prior to it happening so we can do a proper review, but the more notice we have the better. 

Do you advise how much CPD credit will be awarded (if you approve the course)?

Yes. This will be decided by us during the review process. 

Who should course providers contact to submit their proposed material?

dea@northgate-is.com

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Are you particularly focused on a particular range of topics DEAs can study, or would you consider periphery subjects like business development, accounting, and internet marketing, for example?

Our scheme approval by CLG restricts us to ensuring that CPD relates to the National Occupational Standards (NOS) and emerging developments in the energy world including UK and European initiatives. We can interpret these relatively broadly – certainly some of the “softer” elements in the NOS (E.G. dealing with clients, health and safety, handling complaints) can count towards this.

Skills around running a business such as marketing and accounting would normally not apply unless they could be firmly linked to the NOS. 

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Would you support an open standard amongst accreditation schemes whereby a course acceptable to one, would be acceptable to all?

There are some merits in this approach and we would look favourably on such a scheme. However there are some practical constraints (EG some training / events are linked directly with membership of a professional body) which we would have to take into account.

Of course, any scheme member is able to submit any material for consideration by us so we have the ability to fulfil this today from our viewpoint. 

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CPD is an important element of the scheme as we are all working in a rapidly changing environment.

Northgate appreciates that many DEAs will be constrained both financially and in time so we have ensured that our CPD requirement can be met by a range of formal and informal training, attendance of seminars and group sessions. 

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