Chartered status

In order to retain Chartered Trading Standards Practitioner (CTSP) status, you will be required to submit the following each year, to prove ongoing competency is being maintained.

• a personal development plan for the forthcoming year (using the mandatory form 2 PDP). To be signed off by you and your internal line manager
• a minimum of 20 hrs CPPD certificates (copies only) with a minimum of 10 hrs core trading standards activities to be demonstrated. Events where no certificate was issued should be listed on the evidence schedule and signed by you and your internal line manager. Should you not receive a certificate or this is lost, the submission should be accompanied by an agenda and learning outcomes, from the event in question, if neither are available a CPPD claim form should be completed and signed by the candidate and line manager 
• an evidence schedule document (using the form 4 Evidence Schedule), listing training courses attended and relating to the above certificates. To be signed by you and your internal line manager

Certificates demonstrating TS qualifications are only required with the first submission to obtain CTSP status, copies of these certificates are not required to be seen again, nor are they required if CTSP status is lapsed and then reinstated.

Although you may submit your annual CTSI CPPD confirmation certificate, this is not in itself an acceptable level of evidence to retain CTSP status. Both your initial application and subsequent retention submissions are verified independently by external verifiers. CPPD certificates obtained throughout the year must be included in the submission.

The CPPD year runs on a calendar basis, and submissions should be tailored accordingly.

Comments from CTSI verifier on previous cycles

The verifiers would like to provide all candidates with the following feedback with regards to future submissions.

• personal development plan, evidence schedule, CPPD Claim forms: Many candidates did not include the required signatures on their documents. CTSI have informed candidates previously that where applicable the form 2 4 and CPPD claim forms need to be signed by the candidate and line manager
• personal development plans: Many using the form 2 were short on information and/or relevant dates. CTSI understand that when preparing a PDP some information will not be available, (such as the specific date of a course) however should the candidate be required to attend a refresher or has been delegated a new task an approximate date of when this should be achieved is required. If in doubt refer to the CTSI form 2
• additional guidance for the measure of success column includes: Attendance/completion at a course in itself does not demonstrate what you have learned from attending the course/meeting. The candidate needs to expand on these points giving examples of how it was beneficial and how this will be applied to work situations. Use of terms such as 'specialist knowledge' should be supplemented with comments on how this will be achieved
• evidence: Some candidates are including all CPPD obtained in the calendar year, this is unnecessary. Please note only 20 hrs evidence needs to be supplied. If further evidence is required, CTSI will return to the candidate accordingly
• evidence schedules: candidates are asked to note the CPPD year runs on a calendar basis, any other dates will not be accepted and therefore the submission returned to the candidate
• evidence schedules: Items listed on the form 4 should be accompanied by the appropriate evidence, do not list on your form 4 if no evidence can be provided
• examples: we have attached a sanitised CTSP submission sample of an actual submission which met the current CTSP and CPPD 10% review criteria. We would advise candidates follow these as examples of best practice
• CPPD Claim Form: Candidates are asked to complete and sign the form as near as possible to the event, ideally within a calendar month, as advised in the CPPD handbook. Some candidates completed the forms 12 months after the event. This is unacceptable   
• Form 4: Candidates are advised to list if an item is core or non-core hours on form 4. Full definitions of core CPPD activities can be found in the CPPD handbook

We hope the following information will help smooth future submissions.