ASA ruling on Continuing Professional Development accreditation service

The Advertising Standards Authority is currently investigating companies offering CPD (Continuing Professional Development) accreditation services and this ruling forms a part of that investigation.

The advertisements by The Professional Development Consortium Ltd t/a CPD Standards Office investigated were two paid-for Meta ads, the first including the text ‘CPD accreditation from the UK’s leading body can help you’, and the second including the same along with additional text stating ‘Discover how CPD accreditation can open doors to new opportunities’ along with the call to action, ‘DOWNLOAD TODAY!’.

The CPD Register Ltd challenged whether the claim was misleading and could be verified. The CPD Standards Office stated that the wording was not misleading as it was not a headline claim and any ambiguity was unintentional. The ads were stated to be comparative in nature, and there was no evidence of consumer harm.

The ASA upheld the complaint, concluding that consumers were likely to understand the claim to mean that CPD Standards Office was the CPD accreditation body with the largest market share in the UK and would be understood as a comparison with identifiable competitors.