Certified Professional Development (CPD) LTD t/a The CPD Co

No terms and conditions page, service agreement, or contractual terms are published on the website. A direct check of thecpdco.com/terms-and-conditions.html returned a 404 Not Found error at the time of this review. No link to terms and conditions was found anywhere on the website, including in the footer, on the contact page, or within the accreditation process pages.

No privacy policy page is published on the website. A direct check of thecpdco.com/privacy-policy.html returned a 404 Not Found error at the time of this review. The ICO registration reference ZB858236 is displayed in the footer, but no privacy notice setting out how personal data is collected, processed, or retained is accessible from the website.

The absence of published terms and conditions means that prospective and current accredited providers have no publicly available basis on which to understand the contractual terms of their accreditation, including any obligations, renewal requirements, grounds for withdrawal of accreditation, or dispute resolution process.

Source: https://thecpdco.com/ — accessed 7th May 2026
Source: https://thecpdco.com/terms-and-conditions.html — 404 Not Found, accessed 7th May 2026
Source: https://thecpdco.com/privacy-policy.html — 404 Not Found, accessed 7th May 2026

Companies House records confirm that the sole current director and person with significant control of Certified Professional Development (CPD) Ltd is Ms Ameda Harris, appointed as director on 25th July 2025 and notified as PSC on the same date, holding 75% or more of shares and voting rights and the right to appoint or remove directors.

A review of Ms Harris's full Companies House appointments record identifies a material conflict of interest that goes beyond a formal structural connection. Ms Harris is concurrently an active director of Unicate College Ltd (company number 07872879), appointed on 14th February 2025. Unicate College Ltd is an active education and training provider incorporated on 6th December 2011, operating via the website unicatecollege.com. It describes itself as a provider of accredited courses across subject areas including Health and Social Care, Education and Training, Business and Management, Science and Healthcare, Functional Skills, and Legal Studies.

Critically, the Unicate College homepage states directly: "All of our courses are fully CPD accredited." Individual course pages confirm that certificates are issued by "the relevant accrediting body" alongside Unicate's own certificate.

Direct evidential confirmation is provided by the presence of the CPDCo accreditation logo — bearing the text "CPD / Certified Professional Development" with a graduation cap and gold accreditation ribbon — on the Unicate College website, with a green "Accredited" watermark overlaid. This logo is the same accreditation mark issued by Certified Professional Development (CPD) Ltd and displayed on thecpdco.com. Its presence on the Unicate College website confirms that Unicate College is an accredited provider of CPDCo. A screenshot of this logo as displayed on the Unicate College website has been retained as evidence at the time of this review.

Given that Ms Harris is simultaneously the sole controlling director of both Unicate College Ltd (the training provider) and Certified Professional Development (CPD) Ltd (the CPD accreditation body), and that both companies share the same registered office address — The Bristol Office, 2nd Floor, 5 High Street, Westbury-on-Trym, Bristol, BS9 3BY — this constitutes self-accreditation by a related party under common control. The same individual controls the accreditor and an accredited provider. No independent assessment of Unicate College's courses by a genuinely independent party is possible under this arrangement.

No conflict of interest policy, disclosure, management arrangement, or acknowledgement of this relationship is published on either website. The relationship is not disclosed to prospective CPD training providers considering whether to apply to CPDCo for accreditation, nor to learners purchasing Unicate College courses on the basis that they are "fully CPD accredited."

Ms Harris also holds a resigned directorship at Watkisandco. Limited (company number 13075301, now dissolved), a company sharing the surname of Alando Watkis — the founding director of Certified Professional Development (CPD) Ltd who resigned in June 2025. No adverse inference is drawn from this connection on the basis of the public record alone, but it is recorded in the interest of completeness.

Source: https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/officers/ax5WSzLj48RuGOwiCvqS_xhQLGI/appointments — accessed 7th May 2026
Source: https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/07872879 — accessed 7th May 2026
Source: https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/07872879/officers — accessed 7th May 2026
Source: https://unicatecollege.com/ — CPDCo accreditation logo observed and screenshot retained, accessed 7th May 2026
Source: https://unicatecollege.com/fundamentals-of-general-sciences.html — accessed 7th May 2026

The following claims published on the website are unsubstantiated and are recorded here as matters of concern under the CAP Code (the UK Code of Non-broadcast Advertising and Direct & Promotional Marketing), specifically rules 3.1 (misleading advertising) and 3.7 (substantiation), which apply to marketing communications on websites.

"Over 30 years of unrivalled expertise"
The homepage states that the organisation stands as "a pillar of excellence with over 30 years of unrivalled expertise in education, professional training, and quality assurance." Certified Professional Development (CPD) Ltd was incorporated on 27th January 2025. The company has therefore been in existence for approximately 15 months at the time of this review. The claim of "over 30 years" of expertise cannot be attributed to the company as a legal entity. No named individuals, biographical information, or supporting evidence is provided anywhere on the website to substantiate any claim of 30 years of expertise at an individual or organisational level. This claim is materially inconsistent with the company's incorporation date as recorded at Companies House and, in the absence of substantiation, is liable to mislead prospective customers about the organisation's history and experience.

"Internationally Recognized Accreditation"
The About Us and Become a CPD Provider pages claim the organisation offers "Internationally Recognized Accreditation aligned with industry benchmarks" and that accreditation provides "global recognition." No evidence is provided of the international bodies, frameworks, jurisdictions, or mechanisms by which the organisation's accreditation is recognised internationally. The organisation was incorporated in January 2025 and, at the time of this review, provides no information on any accredited providers or completed accreditations beyond its own related party. This claim is unsubstantiated.

"Trusted by Professionals & Employers across multiple sectors"
The About Us page states the organisation is "Trusted by Professionals & Employers across multiple sectors." No evidence of this trust — such as independent accredited providers, case studies, testimonials, or independent endorsements — is provided on the website. The organisation was incorporated in January 2025 and no evidence of trading activity at any scale beyond its related party is available from the public record.

"Over 3.4 million professionals worldwide engage in or create CPD courses"
The homepage presents this statistic followed by an invitation to join CPDCo and "become part of a growing network of accredited providers." This statistic appears to describe the global CPD market in general rather than the organisation's own network. Its placement in this context is liable to mislead prospective customers into believing the organisation has a network of 3.4 million professionals, when no such network is evidenced. No source is cited for the statistic.

"We set the benchmark for CPD accreditation"
The CPD Explained page states: "At Certified Professional Development (CPD), we set the benchmark for CPD accreditation." No basis for this claim is provided. The organisation was incorporated in January 2025 and no evidence of sector-wide standing, independent recognition, or benchmarking authority is presented.

These claims, individually and collectively, present a materially misleading impression of the organisation's experience, scale, reach, and authority. They are inconsistent with verifiable facts available from the company's public record and from the website's own content.

Source: https://thecpdco.com/ — accessed 7th May 2026
Source: https://thecpdco.com/about-us.html — accessed 7th May 2026
Source: https://thecpdco.com/cpd-explained.html — accessed 7th May 2026
Source: https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/16209874 — accessed 7th May 2026
Source: CAP Code (Edition 12), rules 3.1 and 3.7 — https://www.asa.org.uk/type/non-broadcast/code-section/03.html — accessed 7th May 2026