Should my conference offer CPD points?

Your conference should offer CPD points when its delegates must log CPD hours and the maths clears. At the Faculty of Public Health’s published £360 fee for a 1-day commercial event, plus 12 assumed admin hours at £30, accreditation costs about £720: you break even at 29 delegates paying a £25 premium, or 5 extra delegates at £150 margin.

At a glance:

• Published fees: The Royal College of Ophthalmologists charges £300 + VAT to approve CPD points for a commercial organiser’s event; the Faculty of Public Health (FPH) lists £360, £582 and £804 in columns headed Day 1, Day 2 and Day 3 for a commercial, fee-charging event; VAT is not stated.
• Quoted fees: The CPD Standards Office publishes no fixed price; it quotes per organisation and per number of events.
• Lead time: FPH asks for applications about 6 weeks before the event and does not accredit retrospectively; the CPD Standards Office assesses within 30 days of a complete submission.
• Demand test: RICS members must complete at least 20 hours of CPD each calendar year, with at least 10 structured. Audiences with a rule like that are the ones CPD points move.

Rules of thumb:

• If accreditation costs about £720 and you add a £25 CPD premium, you need 29 delegates paying it to break even (720 ÷ 25 = 28.8, rounded up).
• If you do not raise the price, the same £720 needs only 5 extra delegates at an assumed £150 margin each (720 ÷ 150 = 4.8, rounded up).
• If your break-even count is under 10% of expected paid delegates, accredit; between 10% and 25%, accredit only with a premium you have tested; above 25%, skip (thresholds explained below, from the worked example).
• If the event is less than 6 weeks away, an FPH-style accreditor is already out of reach, because FPH asks for about 6 weeks and never accredits after the event (FPH guidance).

What is the CPD Break-Even Delegate Count?

The CPD Break-Even Delegate Count for a 1-day commercial event accredited at FPH’s £360 fee runs from 11 to 96 premium-paying delegates, depending on how many admin hours you spend and what premium you charge. The formula is: (accreditor fee + admin hours × hourly cost) ÷ per-delegate price premium = delegates who must pay the premium. If you keep the ticket price flat, divide the same cost by your contribution margin per ticket instead to get the extra delegates you need.

The fee is FPH’s published figure for a 1-day commercial, fee-charging event. Every other input is a labelled assumption: no public source publishes CPD admin hours or the premium delegates pay, so use your own numbers.

All break-even figures are rounded up to the next whole delegate. The admin hours are not padding: FPH asks providers to submit a programme mapped to public health competence areas, speaker CVs, a delegate evaluation form, and sponsorship and conflict-of-interest details, then to keep attendance records and feedback forms for 24 months and issue attendance certificates stating the credits (FPH guidance).

FAQ: CPD points for conferences

How much does it cost to get a conference CPD accredited?

Published fees are £300 + VAT per commercial event at the Royal College of Ophthalmologists and £360 for a 1-day commercial event at the Faculty of Public Health. The CPD Standards Office quotes per organiser. Add your own admin hours to get the true cost.

Can I get CPD points after my conference has happened?

Not from FPH, which states it does not accredit events retrospectively and asks for applications about 6 weeks before. Check your accreditor’s rule before you print any credit claim.

How many CPD points is a one-day conference worth?

Under FPH rules, 1 credit per hour of education time, capped at 5 credits for a full day and 3 for a half day. Other bodies set their own counts.

Can I charge more for a CPD-accredited conference?

Sometimes. The CPD Standards Office says “in some cases” organisers can charge more, but no independent public figure exists. Test a premium with past attendees and use the break-even formula to see how many must pay it.

Does one approval cover my conference every year?

Not automatically. RCOphth approval covers repeat runs within 12 months if content, speakers and teaching hours stay the same; after that, or if anything changes, you apply again.

What do accreditors charge to approve conference CPD points?

Published accreditor fees start at £300 + VAT per commercial event at the Royal College of Ophthalmologists and £360 for a 1-day commercial event at the Faculty of Public Health (VAT not stated), with the CPD Standards Office quoting case by case.

All three pages were read on 15 November 2026. The fee you pay depends on which body your delegates answer to: a profession-specific college carries weight with its own members, while a general accreditor covers mixed audiences.

How long before my conference do I need to apply for CPD?

The Faculty of Public Health asks for an application about 6 weeks before the event and notifies the outcome normally within 4 to 6 weeks of the invoice being paid, so 8 weeks out is the safer start.

None of the three pages describes an automatic renewal: RCOphth’s approval covers repeat runs only within 12 months, and FPH treats each event as its own application. If tickets are already on sale, our guide on when to start selling conference tickets covers how the selling window is paced, so you can place the credit announcement inside it.

How many CPD points can a conference day carry?

FPH allocates 1 CPD credit per hour of “real education” time, capped at 3 credits per half day and 5 per full day, so a 2-day public health conference carries at most 10 credits.

Because the cap is per day, a packed 8-hour day still earns 5 FPH credits. Other organisers publish their own totals: IPM Congress lists 6 CPD for its Whole-Person Health Conference and 6.5 for its Integrative Mental Health and Integrative Oncology conferences in 2026, awarded by named professional bodies. State the credit number in your marketing exactly as the accreditor allows: FPH gives organisers the wording “FPH has accredited this activity for up to X CPD points” (FPH accreditation of events).

Does my audience actually need CPD hours?

RICS requires members to complete a minimum of 20 hours of CPD each calendar year, at least 10 of them structured, and audiences under a rule like that are where CPD points change booking decisions (RICS CPD).

Ask whether your delegates’ body sets an hours requirement and accepts accredited external events. If yes, an accredited day answers a question the delegate already has to solve every year, and it gives their manager a reason to approve the spend. That is the strongest use of CPD points: put the credit count into the approval letter (our convince-your-boss letter guide covers how to write one). If your audience is founders, marketers or sales teams with no CPD rule, the badge is decoration and the fee is a cost with no lever.

Whether an accredited session counts is always the member body’s rule, not the accreditor’s. The CPD Standards Office claims accredited events see delegates stay longer, more group bookings and, “in some cases”, higher fees (CPD Standards Office); treat that as the accreditor’s own marketing claim, not a measured benchmark. We found no independent public study of how much CPD lifts conference registrations.

When should a conference skip CPD points?

A conference expecting 300 paid delegates has a 25% skip line at 75 delegates, so the heavy scenario’s 96 delegates at a £10 premium fails while the typical 29 at £25 passes at 9.7%.

These thresholds are a decision rule built from the worked example, not an industry benchmark. Skip CPD as well when you cannot meet the lead time or the programme is mostly sponsor content (FPH requires sponsorship to be declared and may refuse an event contrary to its ethos). A cheaper test is to ask last year’s attendees whether they would pay a stated premium for accredited credits before you pay any fee, then price the tiers from the answer; see early-bird ticket pricing.

How do CPD points fill seats once you have them?

An accreditation earns back its £720 only if those 5 credits per day reach the delegates who need them before they book, which means past attendees and lapsed registrants first.

Put the credit count in the agenda header and confirmation email, then tell last year’s attendees directly. Our guide to increasing conference attendance explains why calling past attendees comes first, and medical organisers should read increasing attendance at medical meetings, which covers accredited credit and US CME data. If you would rather hand follow-up to a team that calls, texts and messages your registrant list, that is what an event marketing agency or the event organiser lead generation service does.

Sources

1. Faculty of Public Health: how to get your event accredited (fees, credits, 6-week lead time, records)
2. Faculty of Public Health: accreditation of events (promotional wording)
3. Royal College of Ophthalmologists: approval of CPD points (£300 + VAT, 12-month repeat runs)
4. CPD Standards Office: events and conferences (30-day assessment, 14-day Fast Track)
5. CPD Standards Office: cost (quoted, no fixed price)
6. RICS: CPD requirements (20 hours a year, 10 structured)
7. IPM Congress: CPD points (6 to 6.5 CPD per conference, 2026)