PPD stands for Personal and Professional Development. It is a key component to qualify either an Associate or Fellow Actuary. PPD is focused on meeting practical work experience requirements. In this you are required to submit a minimum amount of credits and formal learning hours each year in order to sit exams and maintain your student membership.
Each student will have a unique deadline based on when they joined IFOA as a member.
There are three requirements for completing PPD out of which two are mandatory and one ongoing.
Every member is required to meet a minimum requirement of 3 PPD credits and 2 formal learning hours.
There are 4 sections as follows:
1. Effective communication
2. Problem solving and decision making
3. Professionalism
4. Formal learning hours
Now, these four sections are divided into two sections i.e. three (1,2,3) plus one (4).
You will get ten to fifteen options in each of the first three sections, and you need to fulfill the three PPD credits requirement from there. Either you can submit three credits from any one of the sections or you can submit one credit from each of the three sections.
Apart from this you need to include two hours of formal learning which can be in the form of meeting of local actuarial societies, technical and business presentations, company arranged training or actuarial seminars.
There are four mandatory competencies that should be completed before you qualify – which is a one time requirement and not needed to be completed every year. The four mandatory competencies are:
· Present the results of actuarial work to informed but non-technical audiences – effective communication
· Analyze and prioritize stakeholder needs when designing solutions – problem solving and decision making
· Demonstrate an understanding of the role of professional and ethical standards in an actuary’s work- professionalism
· Demonstrate an understanding of the role of peer review in professional work – professionalism
If you do not complete the mandatory competencies, your application will be returned to you for further amendments.
Qualification requirements for IFOA students who joined before 2 January 2019
| Particulars | Minimum number of months PPD requirement | Minimum number of credits required | Minimum credits per year | Minimum hours of formal learning activity total |
| Associate | 12 months (work experience) | 10 (in your account) | 3 | 2 hours |
| Fellow | 36 months | 20 | 3 | 6 hours (2 per year) |
Qualification requirements for IFOA students who joined after 2 January 2019
| Particulars | Minimum number of months PPD requirement | Minimum number of credits required | Minimum credits per year | Minimum hours of formal learning activity total |
| Associate | 24 months | 15 | 3 | 4 hours (2 per year) |
| Fellow | 12 months | A further 5 credits | 3 | A further 2 hour |
IFOA will monitor PPD through automatic reminders You will recieve 3 reminders before your deadline date – 60, 30 and 7 days prior. If you have met the requirements no reminders will be sent
Non-compliance measure – recurring non-compliance may result in being suspended from sitting for examination or inability to renew membership.
Regular Audit is done by the IFOA to ensure standard and accuracy of requirements is met. Some students are randomly selected for an audit during student journey and are asked to provide supporting evidence or details of supervisor to verify their submission.
Exemption in case of parental leave or health issues or full time education should be informed to the membership team for further discussion of your situation.
From 24 January 2022 onwards, if your annual PPD deadline passes, and you haven’t recorded the minimum of 3 PPD credits and 2 formal learning hours, you will need to pay a £50 administration fee in order to update your records so that you are compliant. You will have one week (7 days) from your payment date to ensure you have recorded that you have met the minimum PPD requirements for the previous year.
For further information visit (IFOA) Link: https://www.actuaries.org.uk/stf6tudying/personal-and-professional-development-ppd
