That consequence tells us what the mandate is intended to achieve. MedCo CPD is not an optional educational benefit. It is part of the continuing permission to undertake first fixed-cost medical reports in relevant road traffic accident soft-tissue and whiplash claims.
The real question is whether experts and those instructing them treat it with the same seriousness.
Accreditation is only the starting point.
Medical experts must complete MedCo’s initial accreditation process before they can be selected to provide the relevant reports through the system. The initial programme covers clinical assessment, occupant kinematics, treatment, prognosis, chronic pain, legal procedure, good medical practice and the whiplash reforms. MedCo estimates that the accreditation training takes 30 to 40 hours. Initial training establishes a baseline but it cannot account indefinitely for changes in procedure, reporting standards, legislation or the problems identified through later audits. That is the purpose of annual CPD.
After completing initial accreditation, an expert enters the CPD programme. For new experts, the obligation begins at the start of the first CPD academic year following completion of their accreditation. An expert who completes initial training partway through an academic year does not therefore have to complete the annual requirement retrospectively for that same period.
This separation between initial training and continuing development matters. Initial accreditation asks whether the expert is ready to enter the system. CPD asks whether they remain equipped to work within it.
The current requirement.
The MedCo CPD academic year runs from 1 June to 31 May.
For the 2026–2027 academic year, the MedCo Board has set the annual requirement at six hours. Experts may select from the available training modules until those hours have been completed. Courses may be taken in any order, and previously completed material may be revisited.
Six hours may appear modest. The figure should not be confused with the entirety of an expert’s professional development. MedCo CPD is directed towards the work performed within the MedCo system. It sits alongside, rather than replaces, the wider learning, appraisal and professional responsibilities attached to the expert’s clinical practice, annual requirement is also only part of the position.
MedCo may introduce mandatory modules during the academic year. These can carry their own completion date and may be required even where the expert has already completed the six annual hours. The next mandatory module for the 2026–2027 year is expected to be announced later in the CPD period.
An expert who completes six hours early cannot therefore assume that nothing further will be required before 31 May.
Mandatory means mandatory.
The point was demonstrated in February 2026, when MedCo introduced a Quality Assurance course as a compulsory module for all experts.
Experts were given four weeks to complete it. Those who failed to meet the deadline were liable to suspension until the module had been completed. The course was additional to the ordinary six-hour requirement for the 2025–2026 academic year.
This was more than another item in a training catalogue. MedCo stated that mandatory modules may address recurring issues identified through quality assessments and audits. That is how focused CPD should operate. Training is most useful when it responds to actual weaknesses in practice. If quality reviews show repeated problems with prognosis, diagnosis, causation, report structure or compliance, the education programme should address those problems directly.
The uncomfortable implication is that some training topics will arise because experts are getting matters wrong. That should not be treated as an institutional embarrassment. A system that collects evidence of poor practice but does not adjust its training would be far more concerning.
Completing hours is not the same as developing practice.
A numerical requirement will always encourage some degree of box-ticking. An expert can finish six hours without changing a single habit. They may repeat familiar modules, allow the material to run in the background or treat the assessment as an obstacle to regaining access to instructions.
MedCo has recognised this risk. Although experts may repeat courses completed in previous years, they are strongly advised to select a reasonable variety of modules. The Education and Training Committee monitors patterns of completion and may contact experts who repeatedly select the same material.
That monitoring is sensible. CPD should reflect the expert’s actual reporting work and areas of risk.
An expert producing high volumes of reports should ask what errors or uncertainties recur in their own practice. Are prognosis periods being supported adequately? Are non-tariff injuries being addressed separately? Are relevant records being considered? Is the distinction between reported history and established fact clear?
The value of CPD lies in what changes after the module closes.
Medical reporting organisations also have a role. Training should be reflected in report templates, peer review, feedback and quality-control processes. There is little point teaching experts about a reporting failure while operational systems continue encouraging the same failure.
No carry-over and no quiet extension.
Additional CPD hours cannot be carried into the next academic year. An expert who completes more than the required six hours receives no reduction in the following year’s obligation. That rule may feel inflexible, but the annual cycle exists to maintain current knowledge. Completing several modules in one period does not remove the need to engage with later legal, procedural or quality developments.
Experts can monitor their progress through the training section of their MedCo accounts. The record shows completed and outstanding training, and a CPD certificate can be downloaded once the requirement has been met. MedCo also sends periodic reminders however,responsibility nevertheless remains with the expert. A missed reminder does not preserve accreditation.
Suspension affects more than the expert.
Failure to complete the required annual CPD results in suspension. A suspended expert is no longer eligible to receive instructions for the first fixed-cost medical report through MedCo. Outstanding hours must be completed before the suspension can be lifted, and those catch-up hours do not count towards the requirement for the new academic year.
For a shortfall arising from the 2025–2026 requirement, MedCo’s current notice provides a six-month period to complete the missing training before the expert’s account is withdrawn. Withdrawal is substantially more serious. The expert cannot simply reactivate the previous status and must reapply, including completing the full initial accreditation training again.
Medical reporting organisations and authorised users should therefore check that an expert remains operational before issuing an instruction. Past accreditation does not prove current eligibility.
This is not merely an allocation problem. If an instruction is sent to an expert whose status has been suspended, delay may follow, appointments may need to be rearranged, and the claimant may have to be reassigned. A simple status check can prevent avoidable disruption.
The mandate should be treated as quality control.
The MedCo CPD requirement is sometimes presented as an annual administrative deadline. That understates its purpose.
The mandate connects continuing education with operational status. It allows MedCo to direct attention towards recurring reporting problems and to require rapid training where an issue cannot wait until the next accreditation cycle.
Its effectiveness, however, depends on more than completion statistics. The modules must respond to current practice. Experts must apply what they learn. Medical reporting organisations must reinforce it through meaningful review. Six hours cannot make a careless expert careful. It can, however, remove the excuse that standards, reforms or recurring reporting failures were never brought to their attention.
MedCo accreditation permits an expert to enter the system. The CPD mandate makes continued participation conditional on keeping up with it.
