FAQs and getting help

If you’re studying a CIPD qualification, you’ll need to be a member of the CIPD for the duration of your studies. This is so you can submit your assignments and we can moderate your results. Your study centre will provide us with the details of the qualification you’re studying, which you’ll need to confirm in order to complete your registration with us. 

You'll also gain professional membership following the successful completion of your qualification.

• Foundation level qualifications achieve Foundation membership.
• Associate level qualifications achieve Associate membership.
• Advanced level qualifications achieve Associate membership with the possibility to gain Chartered status via the Upgrading Assessment route.

Once we’ve received your details from your study centre, you’ll be sent an email from the CIPD with a link to join as a Student Member (if you aren’t a member already). Register for membership using the same email address you provided to your study centre to ensure we can find your qualification details. You'll be able to amend your contact details later if you need to. 

If you don’t receive this email, check with your study centre that they've registered you correctly and have your correct email address. If you’re still having trouble, please contact our customer services team or call us on +44 (0) 20 8612 6208. 

If you’re already a member, you'll still receive an email asking you to confirm your qualification details. If you don’t receive this, check with your study centre that they've registered you correctly and have your correct email address. If you’re still having trouble, you can contact our customer services team. 

As a member, you'll have access to a wide range of resources and guides that will support your studies. These are listed in the Study resources section of the Student Member area, organised by qualification level and unit, making it easier to find the resources you need. You can also explore a wide range of resources within the CIPD Knowledge hub. 

For all materials directly related to your qualification, such as compulsory reading lists and resources tailored to meet your course’s specific learning outcomes and assessment criteria, please refer to your study centre. While the CIPD’s resources offer useful insights and further reading in your area of interest, your study centre provides the essential resources required to complete your qualification. 

The People Management website has current and past articles from the magazine. 

The Citation Resolver on the CIPD member-only EBSCO Discovery Service lets you carry out targeted searches for specific journal articles and has Research starters on some topics. We've put together tips and tutorials on the same page to help you with your search. 

For CIPD research reports, guides, factsheets and podcasts, search the CIPD website for current resources or our CIPD Knowledge archive for older items and reports by other organisations.  

You can also buy CIPD textbooks from Kogan Page where CIPD members get a 20% discount. 

We don't have downloadable forms or templates on our website. However, CIPD members can get 50% off HR-inform Pro which has more than 900 model customisable documents, including letters, forms, contract clauses and policies. 

A great way to make yourself stand out is to get some work experience while you study. For example, St John Ambulance is often looking for volunteers to work in HR for them, and this can be as little as three hours a week.  

You can find a list of volunteering jobs on the People Management website.

We also offer volunteering opportunities to help support our members’ professional development. Find out about our volunteering opportunities. 

Your study centre should: 

• Make reasonably sure that this is the right qualification at the right level for you. 
• Clearly outline all costs and payments (including the cost of CIPD membership). 
• Ensure you are aware of the duration of your studies and how to access resources. 
• Inform you of important deadlines, including submission deadlines for assessments. 
• Provide constructive and useful feedback on your assessments and answer any queries. 
• Tell you what their Service Level Agreements (SLAs) are for dealing with queries and marking your work, and keep to those SLAs.

If you experience any issues with your study centre, reach out to them first and follow their complaints procedure to try to resolve the issue. 

If you’ve not reached a solution at the end of the complaints procedure, and feel that you’ve exhausted all options with your study centre, you can escalate your complaint to the CIPD. Follow the complaints process in our complaints policy. If we need to, we'll investigate the issue and work with you and your study centre to find a suitable solution. 

Study centres will initially mark unit assessments and then submit the relevant unit result to the CIPD at the start of the moderation window. The CIPD moderates a sample of your study centre’s marking for each unit to ensure fairness. 

Make sure you maintain CIPD membership during your studies so that your results can be submitted for moderation. 

New assessments for all core units are released in June each year. They remain active for 12 months, expiring at the end of June the following year.  

No – your study centre will set the deadline for your core unit assignment, which will be before the assessment expiry date. The deadline will dictate the timeframe you have to complete the assignment.    

Check with your study centre when your submission deadline will be. They can also advise when the core unit assessment expiry date is.  

We recommend you plan your studying according to your study centre’s deadline and the core unit assessment expiry to ensure you can complete your assignment. If you miss the expiry date, you’ll need to complete the next core unit assessment, released every June. 

Guided learning hours (GLH)

Guided learning hours, or GLH, is the time spent by a learner being taught or instructed under the direct supervision of a lecturer, supervisor, or tutor. This can either be online or face-to-face and can include class time, tutorials, live online sessions, and structured online learning. 

Total qualification time (TQT)

Total qualification time, or TQT, is the total number of hours it’s estimated that an average learner will take to complete a qualification. It includes GLH, independent study time, reading and preparation for scheduled sessions and assessment undertaken without the supervision of a lecturer, supervisor or tutor. 

Credit values

Each qualification has been assigned credit. Credit is calculated by dividing TQT hours by 10. For example, if the TQT for a qualification is 240 hours, the credit value for that qualification is 24 credits. 

The time for each qualification varies and you should speak to your study centre to find out more. 

After your study centre has submitted all your results to us at the end of your course, we complete the necessary checks and confirm successful completion of your course. Following moderation, we’ll confirm your results with your study centre and within the following four weeks we’ll email you with a copy of your qualification certificate and send you a hardcopy. 

If you also achieve a higher membership level, we'll email you a new digital membership badge and certificate within 10 working days of receiving your qualification certificate email. Check the timeline for further details and next steps

Check that your name, postal and email addresses are up to date, to ensure prompt receipt of your certificate. You can do this by checking your details on your profile on the CIPD website. 

Qualification certificates for university programmes will be awarded by the university. They'll contact you about these certificates and will also notify us when you've successfully completed your qualification. Once we've processed your qualification, we'll email you a result confirmation letter to your preferred email address. 

If you achieve a higher membership level, we'll email you a new digital membership badge and certificate within 10 working days of receiving your result confirmation letter. 

If you don’t fully complete or pass your CIPD qualification, you’ll still receive confirmation of the modules you’ve completed, but you’ll not receive the full qualification. Consult with your study centre for more information. 

If you've completed an Advanced Diploma, you can apply to have your professional experience assessed to upgrade to Chartered Member or Chartered Fellow. It’s free of charge if done within 12 months of gaining Associate Member grade. If you’re unsuccessful at your first attempt, later applications are subject to fees. 

The first step is to complete an our upgrade readiness checker  to find out if you're ready to upgrade. See our page on upgrading membership for more information.  

If you’re looking to progress your membership but don’t meet the criteria for upgrading, you may be eligible for Experience Assessment. 

Whether you already know what your next steps are, or you’re still figuring it out, you can find out about the support with your next steps here.