The Register of Exercise Professionals (REPs) has introduced a new points system to record Continuing Professional Development (CPD), as part of efforts to make the system "easier to understand, manage and keep up to date" for its members.

The new points requirement for REPs members is 10 CPD points over 12 months, replacing the previous 24 point requirement over two years.

Health and fitness professionals on the register can accrue points by regularly undertaking professional activities – such as attending workshops and conferences and completing courses and qualifications.

The new system was agreed by the REPs Advisory Committee – consisting of health and fitness industry stakeholders including employers, healthcare professionals, and governing bodies.

The move is part of efforts to modernise REPs, which was acquired in 2017 by Sports Coach UK – which has since changed its name to UK Coaching.

REPs was initially founded by SkillsActive, the sector skills council for the active leisure industry, in 2002 as part of an industry-wide initiative to professionalise the fitness industry to enable government collaboration and funding.

Ministers had made it clear they could not work with an industry which didn't adhere to professional standards.

REPs grew to become the biggest skills register in the world, but ran into difficulties in 2015, culminating in a crisis in early April 2016 when it was forced to deny it might close.

In March 2017, soon after it had required REPs, UK Coaching appointed standards and quality assurance organisation PD Approval to provide endorsement services for REPs.

Commenting on the new CPD system, Andy Whiting, group business development director at UK Coaching, said: “This is an important step for REPs and its members.

"We want to ensure we are a register with up to date health and fitness professionals, and this new system allows us to ensure that our members are remaining relevant.

"We simplified the existing system to ensure that we can support members to keep up to date within their specialism and widen their scope of practice with quality assured training.

“We are also taking into consideration that CPD can be completed in many ways with the increasing use of technology in education.

"We want to recognise these programmes through our quality assurance process, making them readily accessible to our members as part of our offer.”