The Office of the Immigration Services Commissioner is making substantial changes to its CPD scheme with immediate effect. You can read about the changes on the OISC website.

To help those affected, Free Movement is running a special offer of a 50% discount for the first year of Free Movement membership for OISC advisers and organisations who are not currently members. See below for details. Offer closes end of July 2016.

The major changes to the OISC CPD scheme are, in short:

1. With immediate effect there is no longer a requirement for OISC advisers to undertake a set number of CPD hours of training per year. However, OISC advisers will still need to show they have undertaken appropriate training or learning to maintain their competence.
2. Any training undertaken can be with any training provider; there are no longer any accredited training providers.
3. The OISC’s own free CPD training website is being closed on 30 September 2016.

However, OISC advisers do still need to show that they are undertaking continued professional development activities and maintaining their competence. The OISC say this will be spot checked and audited based on a declaration made at each organisation:

that each adviser has identified their CPD requirements and taken action to address them, so as to maintain their competence.

Basically, the OISC is following the same approach to CPD training as that now being adopted for solicitors and barristers.

With the free OISC CPD training due to disappear in short order but immigration law moving increasingly fast and growing ever more complex, Free Movement is available to help OISC advisers. Free Movement can help you prove you are up to date with monthly update courses, podcasts and quizzes as well as the main blog and offers skills and knowledge training on a growing variety of topics and active practitioner forums. A template training plan is available here to show examples of how Free Movement can meet your training needs.

Free Movement members may also claim a 10% discount for live face to face training with HJT Training.

If you would like to join up and you are an OISC adviser or organisation, we are offering a 50% discount for your first year of membership if you are not currently a Free Movement member and you are OISC registered. The offer is time limited and will close at midnight on 1 August 2016. Use code OISC50GROUP for groups or OISC50SOLO for individuals as you go through the sign up process.

You can cancel at any time. If you want to maintain your membership after the first year the cost will revert in the second and subsequent years to the full cost of £200 plus VAT for individuals or £500 plus VAT for groups of up to 10.