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There are several routes into CIPD membership. Each designed to suit different career stages and learning preferences.

Complete a CIPD qualification

Each CIPD qualification level leads to membership at different levels:

• Foundation Certificate in People Practice - leads to Foundation membership.
• Associate Diploma in People Management or Organisational L&D -  leads to Associate membership.
• Advanced Diploma in Strategic People Management or L&D - leads to Associate membership. You can then upgrade to Chartered status depending on your eligibility.

 Complete a CIPD accredited degree

These are Bachelors and Masters degrees designed, developed and delivered by universities that are mapped to CIPD qualifications and have been accredited by the CIPD.  

Upon successful completion, you will be awarded a degree by the university you study with. You can also gain CIPD membership through:

• Undergraduate degrees - leads to Associate membership.
• Postgraduate degrees - leads to Associate membership. You can then upgrade to Chartered status depending on your eligibility.

Experience Assessment

If you have significant HR or L&D experience but don't want to gain a qualification, you can apply for membership via Experience Assessment. Based on your experience you may be eligible for one of the following membership levels:

• Associate
• Chartered Member
• Chartered Fellow

Affiliate Membership

Affiliate membership offers you access to CIPD's resources and benefits. Ideal if you’re not looking to gain professional CIPD membership status.

Membership during your studies

When studying a qualification, whether it's a CIPD qualification or an accredited university programme, you'll need to be in active CIPD membership.

If you’re studying a CIPD qualification, membership is needed so that your study centre is able to submit your unit results to the CIPD. This is so they can be confirmed and counted towards completing your qualification.

If you’re unsure whether membership is required for your programme, please check with your study centre.

Successfully complete your CIPD qualification or accredited degree and you'll gain professional membership

For CIPD qualifications:

• Foundation Certificate in People Practice - leads to Foundation membership.
• Associate Diploma in People Management or Organisational L&D -  leads to Associate membership.
• Advanced Diploma in Strategic People Management or L&D - leads to Associate membership. You can then upgrade to Chartered status depending on your eligibility.

For accredited degrees:

• Undergraduate degrees - leads to Associate membership.
• Postgraduate degrees - leads to Associate membership. You can then upgrade to Chartered status depending on your eligibility.

Joining or confirming membership

Once your study centre/university registers you with us, CIPD will email you.

• If you pay your own fees: Follow the link in your email to join and pay the joining and membership fees. Find the latest membership fees here. Once you've joined, you'll be asked to confirm your qualification.
• If your centre/university pays: Register your membership and confirm your qualification via the email link.
• If you’re already a member: Confirm your qualification via the email link.

Tip: Use the same email address as your email invitation to ensure we can match your details. You can update your contact details via you CIPD 'my profile' later.

Need extra help?

Didn't receive the email or are being asked for payment incorrectly? Check with your study centre that your details on your registration are correct. If issues persist, contact Customer Services.

Live chat

Our customer service team is available Monday to Friday (excluding bank holidays), 7am-7pm (UK).

During these hours, you can start a conversation by clicking the round chat icon. Displayed in the bottom-right corner of the screen.

Other ways to contact us

Click here for additional contact options

Our membership year runs from 1 July to 30 June. You can join at any time, but your join date may affect the length of your initial membership term.

If you join on a 6-month term:

Your membership will renew on 1 July, regardless of your join date.

If you join between January and June:

You can choose a longer first-year membership, so your renewal still falls on 1 July the following year:

• 18-month membership – available if you join from January
• 15-month membership – available if you join from April

After your first renewal, all memberships run on a 12-month term. Your renewal date remains 1 July each year.

Receipts for online or phone payments

When you renew, you’ll automatically receive an email receipt once your payment is processed.

On the Renewals Portal, you’ll also have the option to:

• Download your receipt from the thank-you page, or
• Log in later to download your most recent receipt at any time.

If you pay by Direct Debit instalments

After each instalment is taken, you can download the latest payment receipt from the Renewals Portal.

If you need copies of earlier instalment receipts, please contact our customer services team (details below).

Important: Renewals Portal availability

The CIPD Renewals Portal is unavailable from December to April. During this period, all receipt requests must be made through customer services.

Receipts for previous membership years

For copies of receipts from earlier membership years, please contact customer services, who can retrieve these for you.

Need extra help?

Live chat

Our customer service team is available Monday to Friday (excluding bank holidays), 7am-7pm (UK).

During these hours, you can start a conversation by clicking the round chat icon. Displayed in the bottom-right corner of the screen.

Other ways to contact us

Click here for additional contact options

At the end of your CIPD qualification, your study centre will need to submit all your outstanding results to us for moderation. We'll complete the necessary checks and confirm successful completion of your course.

Please check you are in active CIPD membership for your study centre to be able to submit your final unit results to the CIPD. This is so they can be confirmed and counted towards completing your qualification.

If you’re in the UK, we'll send you an SMS between week one and three of your final moderation. This SMS will include a link to the timeline to show where you are in the final moderation process.

A follow up SMS will also be sent to prompt you to check your personal details, which you can check via your My Profile, ahead of distributing your qualification outcome. It's important that you keep your contact details up to date. Check that your name, postal and email addresses are up to date, to ensure prompt receipt of your certificate.

Following moderation, we’ll confirm your results with your study centre. Within the following four weeks we’ll email you a copy of your qualification certificate. You'll also be sent a hardcopy in the post.

If your preferred address is based in the UK, we’ll send your printed qualification certificate to that address. If your preferred address is based outside the UK, we’ll send it to your study centre to forward on to you. 

If you also achieve a higher membership level, we'll email you a digital membership badge and certificate. You can expect this within 10 working days of receiving your qualification certificate email.

Check out this timeline for a visual representation of the process.

During busy periods there may be a slight delay to our usual timeframes. On occasion we may split certificates into batches to process them more efficiently.