To think that quangos asking people to re-register professionally every 2 years or 19 months is unfair on parents of under 5s?

[Concordia]

My profession (along with many others) has recently been registred by the Health Professions Council (quango). This means that i need to keep track of my CPD and how it meets comptencies for my job. It protects the public so that people without my qualifications cannot use my job title. All well and good. But, by having to renew every two years, it effectively means that you cannot take a career break of say 3 years until your child is in nursery. Now I know lots of people enjoy going back to work within a few months or a year, or have to do so for financial reasons, but surely, we shouldn't force everyone to? It seems as if this is another way of the government reinforcing its view that the best people to look after under 5s is definitely NOT their parents (after all, if their parents look after them less tax is paid!)Sorry, rant over. I know its important to keep up to date but i've had a letter now saying it'll be 19 months between checks shortly. That really does seem unfair.

I sympathise. I won't be able to register in 2012 because I won't have enough hours (nurse). I will just about scrape through this year.

yanbu and I agree that it's another example how the government wants to force parents to return to work quickly after having children.

P*es me right off actually

No, YANBU. This system is taking away parents' choice to decide when to return to work, and whether to do so full/part-time etc. As I keep saying on MN, it's a mad old world.

What do you think you'll do, Concordia, or haven't you got that far yet?

YANBU. I'm in the same situation, though in a different profession. Given a (real) choice I'd have liked to be a SAHM (no financial reason to go out to work). But I have to keep up my CPD, and if I don't there is no way I'd be able to re-enter the profession after a career break. What's worse, I have to re-register EVERY YEAR. So I work free-lance from home just to keep my qualification alive.

Now, I know why these rules exist, and they are definitely a good thing. But, like you, I wish they'd give parents of under-5's a chance to take a break.

I don't know what to do. The rules are only just coming in, and at the moment I'm on maternity leave. But I was hoping to extend that by just a couple of years. I've been in my job 10 years so it'd be a shame to give it up altogether. And to have two years off and then try to spend three years retraining would be barmy. I think I will probably end up working part time but i would have liked the option to give up altogether and be a SAHM for a bit. Been thinking about it and it's not just parents of under 5s that would suffer with this - what if you were seriously ill for a bit, or had an elderly relative to care for? It's all very mad.
I'm not a nurse but i know quite a few nurses whose registration has lapsed for these reasons. Then in a few years time we will be saying - where have all those experienced nurses gone?

I lost my registration to my professional body when I had DT's as I didn't do any CPD whilst pregnant or on maternity leave and it covered 2 financial years. It really pissed me off as I don't work in a profession where my skills need to be that up to date.

I can see the point for something like nursing though - surely if you take 5 years out you need some kind of training to go back to work - this area moves so quickly and the work is so important.

And another thing, even if you work part time you have to do same amount of CPD - which invariably means weekend courses which are family time. Poo. It is a fine balance because you still want good standard practitioners but it is a pain in the arse! Ps can you tell I am in dire need of CPD hours?!

Yes, I am happy to try to keep up to date. But i don't work in a medical field or with life and death issues. I have done the job for 10 years and in any 19 month period it hasn't changed vastly. I think this is really overkill and very unfair.

you should be able to keep your cpd going somehow, or there should be a return to profession course for those that have a lapsed registration...

Must admit, I was when I first moved over here and found out about all this registration malarky ( nurse)....but have come to the conclusion that it is actually a good thing really, and raises the profile of the proffession, etc...
in germany you could qualify as a nurse 20 years ago, not work for like 10 and just go back into it, without having to show that you still have the skills needed, and that seems to me wrong now...
mind you my nursing registration is lapsed, but am not thinking of returning to nursing anyway, so, doesn't matter to me...