DVSA annual training and CPD training often get used interchangeably, but it’s important to note that there’s some clear key differences. In this article, we’ll aim to define what DVSA Annual Training is as well as why CPD is not the same thing.

CPD stands for ‘Continuing Professional Development’. It can also be referred to as Continuing or Continual Professional Development. CPD is a very broad piece of training, aimed to bring subjects from a wide variety of topics to your professional training record.

CPD typically covers topics such as, but not limited to:

• Health & safety training.
• Fire safety in the workplace.
• GDPR training.

Bringing CPD closer to the MOT industry, we can also include topics such as, but not limited to:

• Special notices.
• Matters of testing blog.
• New equipment and vehicle types.

Annual Training is specifically what the DVSA call the annual training requirement. This is your 3 hours of training based on the DVSA stipulated topics each year, that runs from 1st April to 31st March.

The DVSA Annual Training is very specific, unlike CPD which is very broad.

The Annual Training must, and can only cover the topics set by the DVSA each year. These are the same topics as the Annual Assessment.

Now that we know what CPD and Annual Training is, let’s compare them and understand why CPD is not Annual Training.

CPD as we know is a very broad training element. It has no set topics and can include things such as Health and Safety to MOT equipment training. Annual Training on the other hand is very specific, and can only be based on the topics set by DVSA such as drivers view of the road, or corrosion assessment.

Since the DVSA Annual Training requirement is to train 3 hours on the set topics, it is not possible to include CPD topics as part of this requirement, since ‘Health and Safety’ is not one of the DVSA Annual Training topics.

Yes. The DVSA state (in Section E3 of the MOT Testing Guide), that 3 of the ongoing requirements all MOT testers MUST keep up to date with is to:

• Study all relevant special notices.
• Train on any new or modified equipment..
• Study/train on significance and correct functioning of new features introduced on vehicle types likely to be tested (such as EV or hybrid vehicles).

These are very clearly different to the Annual Training topics, and as such, cannot be classed as Annual Training. Taking this further, any training a tester does complete on these topics cannot be claimed as part of their 3 hours of DVSA Annual Training.