Centre of CPD Excellence

Commercial identification and contactability

The Centre of CPD Excellence trades online at https://www.centreofcpdexcellence.com/ and publishes the following address on its Contact page: Unit 27268, PO Box 6945, London, W1A 6US. The same PO Box address appears on the ASA's published ruling page for the organisation.

A search of the Companies House register for the exact trading name "Centre of CPD Excellence" did not return a matching active limited-company record. The organisation does not appear to operate through a UK limited company under this trading name, and we have not identified the underlying sole trader, partnership, or other legal entity by reference to the public sources we use for our listings.

Companies Act 2006, sections 1200–1206 (trading disclosures) require UK businesses to disclose the name of the person or company behind a trading name on their website and in commercial correspondence. We did not identify such a disclosure on the website pages reviewed. We also note that, since 4 March 2024, PO Box addresses alone are not acceptable as registered offices for UK companies under the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023 reforms to Companies Act 2006 section 1141; while the Centre of CPD Excellence is not a Companies House registrant, we record this finding because the underlying transparency principle — that a CPD Accreditation Organisation should publish an address at which legal correspondence can reliably be served — applies to all business types in our methodology.

This finding is consistent with our previous record of this organisation, where it was listed under the heading Companies House Regs on the basis that the PO Box address renders the organisation non-traceable and non-verifiable for the purposes of the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act guidance for businesses (see The CPD Accreditation Service, The CPD Register, last updated 1 September 2025).

Source: https://www.centreofcpdexcellence.com/contact-us — accessed 30 April 2026.
Source: https://www.asa.org.uk/rulings/centre-of-cpd-excellence-a25-1314465-centre-of-cpd-excellence.html — accessed 30 April 2026.

Transparency of assessment framework

The website publishes application requirements for prospective accredited academies, including manual content requirements (front cover, company details, lesson plan, syllabus), trainer pre-requisites (minimum Level 3 teaching qualification or equivalent, 12 months' experience for advanced treatments, 6 months for foundation courses), insurance evidence, and certificate samples.

We did not identify a published assessment framework setting out the scoring criteria, the assessor identity or qualifications, or the methodology by which submitted documents are evaluated against a defined standard. The website states that a "panel of specialists" and "a panel of independent industry experts" assess applications; however, the ASA upheld a complaint that these claims were misleading because the Centre of CPD Excellence did not provide evidence to clarify who the specialists or industry experts were, or to substantiate the existence of the panel (see Section 13 — Regulatory rulings).

The website also states that accreditation is "assessed against internationally recognised standards"; the ASA upheld a complaint that this claim was misleading on the same evidential grounds.

Source: https://www.centreofcpdexcellence.com/about-accreditation — accessed 30 April 2026.
Source: https://www.centreofcpdexcellence.com/cpd-accreditation-criteria-for-training-bodies/ — accessed 30 April 2026.
Source: https://www.asa.org.uk/rulings/centre-of-cpd-excellence-a25-1314465-centre-of-cpd-excellence.html — accessed 30 April 2026.

Pricing transparency

Pricing is published on the website in tiered packages:

Registration & Accreditation for up to 5 courses — £199
Registration & Accreditation for up to 10 courses — £349
Registration & Accreditation for up to 20 courses — £549
Additional courses within allowance — £50 per course
Courses outside allowance — £99 per course
CPD point allocation for an article or event — £99 per item

Accreditation is renewable annually, payable upfront or by 12-monthly instalments (illustrated as £45.75 per month on a £549 plan).
Pricing is presented as inclusive of access to the Centre of CPD Excellence logo, directory listing, awards programme entry, and student review function.

Source: https://www.centreofcpdexcellence.com/about-accreditation — accessed 30 April 2026.
Source: https://www.centreofcpdexcellence.com/pricing-plans — accessed 30 April 2026

Terms and conditions

Terms and Conditions are published at https://www.centreofcpdexcellence.com/terms-and-conditions and are accompanied by an Academy Charter, Privacy Policy, Plagiarism Policy, Cookies Policy and Acceptable Use Policy linked from the site footer.
Observations against our methodology:

The terms address the centre's obligations to the Centre of CPD Excellence (records, equality, complaints, insurance, trainer notification) and the Centre of CPD Excellence's rights to vary terms, refuse or withdraw accreditation, and remove a centre from the directory.

The terms include a unilateral variation clause: the Centre of CPD Excellence reserves the right to change the terms at any time and notify centres by email and social media. The Competition and Markets Authority's guidance on unfair contract terms identifies broad unilateral variation clauses as a concern in B2C contracts; we record the clause factually here without making a legal assessment of its enforceability.
The terms state that no refund will be issued where the centre's accreditation is terminated for breach of the Academy Charter or Terms and Conditions, but full refunds are issued where the Centre of CPD Excellence is unable to accredit the courses submitted.

We did not identify, within the published terms, specific provisions relating to intellectual property in materials submitted for accreditation, nor explicit confidentiality undertakings binding the assessment panel in respect of submitted course content.

Source: https://www.centreofcpdexcellence.com/terms-and-conditions — accessed 30 April 2026.

Individual course assessment

The published process indicates that each course is submitted with its own title, syllabus, description, maximum student numbers, course length, pre-requisites, manual, lesson plan, and certificate sample. Per-course fees apply for additional courses within or outside the package allowance (£50 / £99 respectively), which is consistent with a per-course assessment model rather than a blanket provider-level accreditation.

We did not identify a publicly searchable register of individually accredited courses on the website at the date of access. Prospective consumers wishing to verify whether a specific course is accredited would need to enquire via the centre listing in the member directory rather than by direct course reference.

Source: https://www.centreofcpdexcellence.com/about-accreditation — accessed 30 April 2026.
Source: https://www.centreofcpdexcellence.com/ (Member Directory) — accessed 30 April 2026.

Review and renewal

Accreditation is granted on a 12-month contract and renewable annually, with payment due 30 days before contract end. The website describes ongoing evaluation activity including:

Annual reviews of insurance validity and CPD compliance
"Undercover spot checks where appropriate"
Reliance on student-submitted reviews and a "Report an Academy" function
Discretion to cancel accreditation where consistent negative feedback is substantiated within a 12-month period

The website does not publish a fixed proactive review cycle for course content (for example, scheduled re-assessment of submitted manuals against a defined standard). Continuing assurance appears to be partly reactive — driven by student feedback and reports — and partly contractual at the annual renewal point.

Source: https://www.centreofcpdexcellence.com/cpd-accreditation-criteria-for-training-bodies/ — accessed 30 April 2026.
Source: https://www.centreofcpdexcellence.com/about-accreditation — accessed 30 April 2026.

Sale of training courses or materials

We did not identify, on the Centre of CPD Excellence website, the sale of training courses or training materials directly under the Centre of CPD Excellence brand. The organisation positions itself as accrediting third-party academies in the hair, beauty, holistic and aesthetics sector rather than as a primary training provider.

The website does, however, refer applicants who do not have time to write their own manuals to a third-party provider, "Salon Expert" (www.salonexpert.co.uk), for pre-written manuals stated to "meet our accreditation standards". This is recorded under Financial relationships with third-party service providers (Section 8) below, because Salon Expert is itself a commercial training provider and product retailer rather than a neutral document supplier.

Source: https://www.centreofcpdexcellence.com/about-accreditation — accessed 30 April 2026.

Financial relationships with third-party service providers

The website references the following third-party commercial relationships:

Salon Expert (www.salonexpert.co.uk). The Centre of CPD Excellence directs prospective applicants who require pre-written training manuals to Salon Expert, stating that Salon Expert's manuals "meet our accreditation standards". Salon Expert's own published terms identify the trader as "Salon Expert trading as IATA Group", which is itself an accredited training and product provider in the same hair/beauty/aesthetics sector served by the Centre of CPD Excellence's accredited academies. The Centre of CPD Excellence website does not publish a description of the commercial nature of the referral arrangement (for example, whether referral fees, revenue share, or affiliate commission applies) at the page accessed.

Insurance partners. The website operates an "Insurance Partners" page listing insurers that academies are invited to "recommend to your students post-training". The ASA upheld a complaint (A25-1314465) that this presentation implied a direct relationship with the listed insurance partners, which the Centre of CPD Excellence had not substantiated (see Section 13).

TOTUM PRO Student card and Salon Industry Directory are listed as benefits in the (now-required-to-be-corrected) "Compare CPD Companies" comparison table; the nature of the commercial arrangement underpinning these benefits is not disclosed on the public-facing pages reviewed.

We record these relationships factually under our methodology, which looks for clear, prominent disclosure of affiliate and referral arrangements, including the nature of the compensation arrangement.

Source: https://www.centreofcpdexcellence.com/about-accreditation — accessed 30 April 2026.
Source: https://www.salonexpert.co.uk/services-training-terms-conditions — accessed 30 April 2026.
Source: https://www.asa.org.uk/rulings/centre-of-cpd-excellence-a25-1314465-centre-of-cpd-excellence.html — accessed 30 April 2026.

Ownership or control relationships with aligned commercial interests

We have not identified, from the public sources we use for our listings, an underlying UK limited-company entity for the Centre of CPD Excellence trading name, and accordingly we cannot record director or Person with Significant Control cross-references via Companies House for this trading name.

We did not identify, on the public-facing website pages reviewed, a published statement of the legal ownership of the Centre of CPD Excellence trading name or of the individuals behind the organisation.

We have not identified evidence of a common-ownership relationship between the Centre of CPD Excellence and any specific accredited academy or third-party training provider. The referral relationship with Salon Expert (Section 8) is a published commercial referral and not, on the evidence available to us, a common-ownership arrangement.

Source: https://www.centreofcpdexcellence.com/contact-us — accessed 30 April 2026.
Source: Companies House search at https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/ — accessed 30 April 2026.

Consistency of filings with advertised activity

This criterion applies primarily to UK registered companies, by reference to whether Companies House filings are consistent with website-advertised commercial activity. We did not identify a UK limited-company filing record for the Centre of CPD Excellence trading name, so this criterion is not directly applicable on the evidence available.

Source: Companies House search at https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/ — accessed 30 April 2026.

Companies House status

Not Applicable. We did not identify a UK limited-company registration at Companies House for the Centre of CPD Excellence trading name. The organisation appears to operate as a non-incorporated business (sole trader, partnership, or unincorporated association) trading under this name. Where a CPD Accreditation Organisation is not a UK limited company, the Companies House status criterion is not directly engaged; however, the absence of a Companies House registration is itself relevant to the Commercial identification and contactability criterion (Section 1) because identification of directors and Persons with Significant Control via Companies House is one of the routes by which our methodology verifies commercial identifiability.

Source: Companies House search at https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/ — accessed 30 April 2026.

Website status

The website https://www.centreofcpdexcellence.com/ was live and accessible at the date of access. Operational pages reviewed include the home page, Contact Us, About Accreditation, Pricing Plans, CPD Accreditation of Training Bodies, Academies FAQ's, Terms & Conditions, Pre-Requisites, Compare CPD Companies, and a Member Directory. The site also publishes a Blog and supports academy/student login.

Source: https://www.centreofcpdexcellence.com/ — accessed 30 April 2026.

Regulatory rulings and public enforcement records

Issuing body: Advertising Standards Authority (ASA)
Ruling reference: A25-1314465 Centre of CPD Excellence
Date of ruling: 18 March 2026
Outcome (in the regulator's terminology): Upheld on three issues
Number of complaints: 1
Complainant: The CPD Register Ltd
Direct link: https://www.asa.org.uk/rulings/centre-of-cpd-excellence-a25-1314465-centre-of-cpd-excellence.html — accessed 30 April 2026.

The ASA Council upheld three issues:

Claims in the "Compare CPD Companies" comparison table were misleading and not substantiated — breaching CAP Code rules 3.1 (Misleading advertising), 3.7 (Substantiation), 3.32 (Comparisons with identifiable competitors), and 3.39 (Price comparisons).
The comparison was not verifiable, in that the page did not direct the audience to information allowing them to check each element of the comparison or understand how figures were calculated — breaching CAP Code rule 3.34 (Comparisons with identifiable competitors).
Claims that the Centre of CPD Excellence had a "panel of specialists" and "independent industry experts", that its accreditation met "internationally recognised standards", and that it had a direct relationship with the listed insurance partners, were misleading and not substantiated — breaching CAP Code rules 3.1 and 3.7.

The ASA action statement records that the ad must not appear again in its current form and that the Centre of CPD Excellence was told to ensure future comparative claims and price comparisons are not misleading, are supported by documentary evidence, and can be verified by the audience; and not to make claims about panels of specialists, independent industry experts, accreditation against internationally recognised standards, or imply official relationships with insurance partners unless they hold adequate documentary evidence to substantiate those claims.

Readers are directed to the ASA's published decision as the authoritative source. The CPD Register does not characterise, summarise or interpret the substance of the ruling beyond the regulator's own terminology.

Note on third-party reference within the ruling: The ruling records that the Centre of CPD Excellence's "Compare CPD Companies" comparison table included the criterion "Approved by the CPD Regulatory Office". The CPD Regulatory Office is itself the subject of an upheld ASA ruling (A24-1247544, https://www.asa.org.uk/rulings/cpd-regulatory-office-a24-1247544-cpd-regulatory-office.html), in which the ASA upheld claims that the CPD Regulatory Office had misleadingly implied a working relationship with government bodies. We record this link factually because reliance on a third-party "approval" that has itself been the subject of an upheld misleading-advertising ruling is materially relevant to the Centre of CPD Excellence's comparative claim.

This finding is consistent with our previous note in The CPD Accreditation Service (The CPD Register, updated 1 September 2025) regarding the CPD Regulatory Office ruling, and updates our published record on the Centre of CPD Excellence to reflect the new directly-applicable ruling of 18 March 2026.

Distinguishing CPD from regulated qualifications

The Centre of CPD Excellence does not, on the basis of the pages we reviewed, market its own accreditation as a regulated qualification. Its blog article Accreditation Vs Qualification explicitly distinguishes between CPD-accredited courses ("usually shorter in length and approved or verified by an independent company") and qualifications listed on the Regulated Qualifications Framework (RQF) issued by Awarding Organisations such as VTCT, City & Guilds, TQUK and Highfield Qualifications.

The published trainer pre-requisites include holding "an Ofqual backed award such as AET, PTTLS or equivalent" — this references trainer-level qualifications held by the academy's own staff and does not represent a claim that a Centre of CPD Excellence-accredited course is itself a regulated qualification.

We note one consumer-protection point: the website's reference to assessment against "internationally recognised standards" was found by the ASA to be misleading (Section 13). Consumers should not interpret CPD accreditation by the Centre of CPD Excellence as equivalent to a regulated qualification, an Ofqual-recognised award, or a recognised international standards body certification.

Source: https://www.centreofcpdexcellence.com/blog/accreditation-vs-qualification — accessed 30 April 2026.
Source: https://www.centreofcpdexcellence.com/about-accreditation — accessed 30 April 2026.

Use of the words "Accreditation", "Institute", or "Standards" / sensitive words and expressions

The trading name "Centre of CPD Excellence" does not, on its face, contain any of the controlled or sensitive words and expressions listed in Annex A — Sensitive words and expressions, or words that could imply a connection with government (Companies House / GOV.UK guidance at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/incorporation-and-names/annex-a-sensitive-words-and-expressions-or-words-that-could-imply-a-connection-with-government).

We record this section for completeness given that "Accreditation", "Institute" and "Standards" are sensitive words requiring approval where used in a UK company name. The Centre of CPD Excellence trading name uses the words "Centre" and "Excellence", which are not on the controlled list, and does not, in its name alone, imply a connection with government, a regulatory body, or a recognised standards body.
We separately note (and have recorded under Section 13) that the ASA upheld a complaint relating to the Centre of CPD Excellence's marketing claim that its accreditation was assessed against "internationally recognised standards"; that finding concerned the substance of the marketing claim and is distinct from the question of sensitive words in the trading name itself.

Source: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/incorporation-and-names/annex-a-sensitive-words-and-expressions-or-words-that-could-imply-a-connection-with-government — accessed 30 April 2026.

Reference to previous CPD Register record

This listing supersedes and updates The CPD Register's previous record of the Centre of CPD Excellence published in The CPD Accreditation Service (last updated 1 September 2025), in which the organisation was listed under the heading Companies House Regs on the basis that:

The organisation is not registered at Companies House as a limited company;
The organisation publishes a PO Box address only, which is not consistent with the appropriate-address principle introduced by the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023; and
It was therefore the view of The CPD Register that the organisation was non-traceable and non-verifiable for the purposes of identifying business owners and serving legal correspondence.

The PO Box address remains unchanged at the date of this updated review (Unit 27268, PO Box 6945, London, W1A 6US). The Companies House finding remains unchanged. The principal new finding in this updated review is the ASA upheld ruling of 18 March 2026 (Section 13), which is recorded as a primary-source regulatory ruling under our methodology.

Source: The CPD Accreditation Service, The CPD Register, last updated 1 September 2025.
Source: https://thecpdregister.com/centre-of-cpd-excellence — accessed 30 April 2026.

Further Information about this organisation

Website

https://centreofcpdexcellence.com/

Companies House Number

Not Applicable — no UK limited-company entity identified trading under this name

Companies House Incorporation Date

N/A

ICO Number

Not identified on the ICO public register against this trading name

ICO Registration Date

N/A

Physical Office Published

PO Box only — Unit 27268, PO Box 6945, London, W1A 6US (per ASA ruling and Contact page)

Telephone

Yes

Live Chat

Pricing Published

Yes — published in tiered packages (£199 / £349 / £549) on the About Accreditation page

Accreditation Criteria Published

Partial — application requirements published; full assessment framework / scoring criteria not published

Activities Individually Accredited

Yes — applicants submit per-course documentation; per-course fee of £50 within allowance / £99 outside applies for additional courses

Review Frequency

Annual renewal (12-monthly contract); described as continuous evaluation including reliance on student reviews

Last Updated

30th April 2026

Disclaimer

We do our best to ensure that all information is accurate and up to date. If you are part of the above-mentioned organisation and some of the information, we have found is inaccurate please contact us at [email protected] so we can rectify this for you.

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